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🏃 Compendium
Grammar
PL
Polski — Forming adverbs from adjectives
Most Polish adverbs of manner come from adjectives. The adjective ending is dropped and replaced by -o or -e, as in dobry → dobrze and cichy → cicho.
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How it works
✓ Rule
Drop the masculine adjective ending -y/-i and add -o or -e. Stems ending in a hard consonant usually take -o (cichy → cicho, gorący → gorąco), while stems whose consonant softens before -e take -e (ładny → ładnie); dobry is irregular, giving dobrze.
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Examples
| Adjective → adverb | Ending / meaning |
|---|---|
| dobry → dobrze | -e · well (irregular) |
| ładny → ładnie | -e · nicely, prettily |
| cichy → cicho | -o · quietly |
| gorący → gorąco | -o · hotly, hot |
| szybki → szybko | -o · quickly |
| tani → tanio | -o · cheaply |
| ciekawy → ciekawie | -e · interestingly |
| zły → źle | -e · badly (softening z → ź) |
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Good to know
⚠ Note
Before -e many stem consonants soften or shift: t → ć, n → ń in ładny → ładnie, and z → ź in zły → źle. Do not confuse the adverb with the neuter adjective: cicho (adverb, 'quietly') looks like ciche (neuter 'quiet') but ends in -o, not -e.