The grammar of the Polish language is complex and characterized by a high degree of inflection, and has relatively free word order, although the dominant arrangement is subject–verb–object (SVO). There commonly are no articles (although this has been a subject of academic debate), and there is frequent dropping of subject pronouns. Distinctive features include the different treatment of masculine personal nouns in the plural, and the complex grammar of numerals and quantifiers.^[1]

Regular morphological alternation

Certain regular or common alternations apply across the Polish inflectional system, affecting the morphology of nouns, adjectives, verbs, and other parts of speech. Some of these result from the restricted distribution of the vowels i and y, and from the voicing rules for consonants in clusters and at the end of words. Otherwise, the main changes are the following:

• vowel alternations, arising from the historical development of certain vowels, which cause vowel changes in some words depending on whether the syllable is closed or open, or whether the following consonant is soft or hard;
• consonant changes caused by certain endings (such as the -ie of the locative case, and the -i of the masculine personal plural), which historically entailed palatalization of the preceding consonant, and now produce a number of different changes depending on which consonant is involved.

Nouns

Polish retains the Old Slavic system of cases for nouns, pronouns, and adjectives. There are seven cases: nominative (mianownik), genitive (dopełniacz), dative (celownik), accusative (biernik), instrumental (narzędnik), locative (miejscownik), and vocative (wołacz).

Number

Polish has two number classes: singular and plural.

It used to also have the dual number, but it vanished around the 15th century. It survived only in a few relicts:

• body parts that naturally come in pairs have synchronically irregular plural and other forms
  • oko ("eye") – pl. oczy, genitive plural oczu, instrumental plural regular oczami or irregular oczyma; but not in the sense of "drop of fat on a liquid", which is declined regularly
  • ręka ("hand, arm") – pl. ręce, locative singular regular ręce or irregular ręku, instrumental plural regular rękami or irregular rękoma
  • ucho ("ear") – pl. uszy, genitive plural uszu, instrumental plural regular uszami or irregular uszyma; but not in the sense of "a handle (of a jug or a kettle, etc.)", which is declined regularly
• certain proverbs, e.g. Mądrej głowie dość dwie słowie (lit. "two words are enough for a wise head"), with dual dwie słowie (modern dwa słowa)

Gender

Note that for true nouns (not for adjectives), there are three cases that always have the same ending in the plural, regardless of gender or declension class: dative plural in -om, instrumental plural in -ami or -mi, and locative plural in -ach; the only apparent exception being nouns that are in fact inflected as previously dual nouns, ex. rękoma instrumental plural of ręka "hand".

Inflection

There are three main genders (rodzaje): masculine (męski), feminine (żeński) and neuter (nijaki). Masculine nouns are further divided into personal (męskoosobowy), animate (męskożywotny), and inanimate (męskorzeczowy) categories. Personal and animate nouns are distinguished from inanimate nouns in the accusative singular; for the latter the accusative is identical to the nominative. In the plural, the masculine personal nouns are distinguished from all others, which collapse into one non-masculine personal gender (niemęskoosobowy).

The following tables show this distinction using as examples the nouns mężczyzna 'man' (masc. personal), pies 'dog' (masc. animate), stół 'table' (masc. inanimate), kobieta 'woman' (feminine), okno 'window' (neuter). The following table presents examples of how a determiner ten/ta/to ("this") agrees with nouns of different genders in the nominative and the accusative, both singular and plural. Adjectives inflect similarly to this determiner.

For verbs, the distinction is only important for past forms in the plural, as in the table below:

The numeral dwa ("two"), on the other hand, behaves differently, merging masculine non-personal with neuter, but not with feminine:

Morphological endings

Gender can usually be inferred from the ending of a noun.

Masculine:

• masculine nouns typically end in a consonant
• some nouns, describing people, end in -a, specifically:
  • all nouns ending in -sta, equivalent to English "-ist", e.g. artysta ("artist"), kapitalista ("capitalist"), konserwatysta ("conservative"), socjalista ("socialist")
  • all nouns ending in -nauta, equivalent to English "-naut", e.g. argonauta ("argonaut"), astronauta ("astronaut"), kosmonauta ("cosmonaut")
  • last names
  • first names Barnaba, Bonawentura, also Kuba (diminutive of Jakub)
  • emotionally charged nicknames, e.g. beksa ("crybaby"), łamaga, niezdara, oferma (all three of which mean "a clumsy person")
  • some other nouns, e.g. satelita ("satellite"), wojewoda ("voivode"); hrabia ("count") and sędzia ("judge") – both partially declined like adjectives
• some personal names end in -o, e.g. Horeszko, Kościuszko; those decline in singular like feminine nouns ending in -a
• some nouns, which were originally adjectives, end in -i and -y; those decline in singular like adjectives

Feminine:

• feminine nouns typically end in -a
• some nouns end in a soft or hardened consonant:
  • all abstract nouns ending in -ść, e.g. miłość ("love"), nieśmiałość ("shyness"), zawiść ("envy"), etc.
  • some concrete nouns ending in -ść: kiść ("bunch"), kość ("bone"), maść ("ointment"), ość ("fishbone"), przepaść ("chasm"), wieść ("news")
  • -b: głąb ("depth")
  • -c: moc ("power"), noc ("night"), pomoc ("help"), przemoc ("violence"), równonoc ("equinox"), Wielkanoc ("Easter"), wszechmoc ("omnipotence")
  • -cz: Bydgoszcz, ciecz ("liquid"), dzicz ("wilderness"), klacz ("mare"), kokorycz ("corydalis"), rzecz ("thing"), smycz ("leash")
  • -ć: brać ("company"), chuć ("lust"), jać ("yat"), mać (archaic for "mother"), płeć ("sex, gender"), sieć ("net")
  • -dź: czeladź (a collective term for servants of one master during the Middle Ages^(pl)"), gołoledź ("black ice"), krawędź ("edge"), łódź ("boat"), miedź ("copper"), odpowiedź ("answer"), powódź ("flood"), spowiedź ("confession"), wypowiedź ("utterance"), zapowiedź ("announcement")
  • -j: kolej ("railway")
  • -l: kąpiel ("bath"), myśl ("thought"), sól ("salt")
  • -ń: baśń ("fable"), czerń ("the colour black, blackness"), czerwień ("the colour red, redness"), dłoń ("palm"), goleń ("shin"), jaźń ("self, ego"), jesień ("autumn"), kieszeń ("pocket"), krtań ("larynx"), otchłań ("abyss"), pieczeń ("roasted meat"), pieśń ("song"), pleśń ("mould"), przestrzeń ("space"), przyjaźń ("friendship"), przystań ("haven"), skroń ("temple"), waśń ("feud"), woń ("odour"), zieleń ("the colour green, greenness")
  • -p: Gołdap
  • -rz: macierz ("matrix"), twarz ("face")
  • -sz: mysz ("mouse"), wesz ("louse")
  • -ś: Białoruś ("Belarus"), gęś ("goose"), oś ("axis"), pierś ("breast"), Ruś ("Ruthenia"), wieś ("village")
  • -ź: gałąź ("branch"), rzeź ("slaughter")
  • -ż: grabież ("pillage"), młodzież ("youth"), odzież ("clothing"), podaż ("supply"), sprzedaż ("sale"), straż ("guard"), uprząż ("harness")
  • -w: brew ("eyebrow"), brukiew ("rutabaga"), marchew ("carrot"), konew ("jug"), krew ("blood"), rukiew ("watercress"), rzodkiew ("radish"), żagiew ("torch")
• words ending in -ini are feminine, e.g. bogini ("goddess"); also pani ("Mrs")
• feminine last names ending in a consonant are invariable

Neuter:

• neuter nouns typically end in -o
• verbal nouns, which are always neuter, end in -e, e.g. jedzenie, śpiewanie, etc.
• diminutives ending in -ę are always neuter, e.g. źrebię ("foal"), dziecię ("child")
• Latin loanwords ending in -um : invariable in the singular, declinable in the plural by removing the -um ending and replacing it by neuter plural endings ; the genitive plural is in -ów contrary to other neuters that have no ending → muzeum, muzea (N. pl.), muzeów (G. pl.)
• loanwords ending in -i are neuter and invariable, e.g. kiwi, Brunei, Burundi
• acronyms ending in a vowel (in pronunciation), e.g. BMW ; if an acronym is native, its gender may also be equal to the gender of the noun in the full version of the acronym

Semantic membership

The distinction between personal, animate and inanimate nouns within masculine nouns is largely semantic, although not always.

Personal nouns are comprised by human nouns such as mężczyzna 'man' or sędzia 'male judge', personal names of men, as well as the noun bóg 'male god' and proper names of male gods (e.g. Rod "Rod", Jowisz "Jupiter").

Animate nouns are largely comprised by animals such as pies ("dog") or pawian ("baboon"), many members from other life domains, as well as a number of objects associated with human activity. On the morphological level however, such nouns are only partially similar to animate nouns, having their accusative identical to their genitive only in the singular.
Some examples :

• names of fruit, e.g. ananas ("pineapple"), banan ("banana")
• names of fungi, bacteria, viruses, e.g. borowik ("cep"), grzyb ("mushroom"), wirus ("virus"), gronkowiec ("staphylococcus")
• names of consumer goods and brands, e.g. mercedes ("Mercedes car"), Nikon (as in Mam Nikona – "I have a Nikon"), papieros ("cigarette")
• names of currency, e.g. dolar ("dollar"), funt ("pound")
• names of dances, e.g. polonez ("polonaise")
• some loanwords related to information technology, e.g. blog, komputer ("computer")
• nouns related to human or human-like referents, e.g. nieboszczyk, trup (both of which mean "corpse"), robot ("robot"), wisielec ("the body of a hanged person"), duch ("ghost")

Contrary to fungi and bacteria, most plant names of masculine gender are inanimate, e.g. żonkil ("daffodil"), hiacynt ("hyacinth"), dąb ("oak"), cis ("yew tree"), which are all inanimate. The noun goździk ("carnation") is an exception as a masculine animate. Not all technological loanwords are animate either, e.g. inanimate modem, telefon ("telephone, cellphone"), and tranzystor ("transistor"). Robot can be treated as animate or inanimate.

It is common for personal masculine nouns to change gender to inanimate to create semantic neologisms, for example edytor ("editor", pl. ci edytorzy) and edytor (tekstu) ("word processor software", pl. te edytory).

For non-living objects that represent humans (e.g. in games), personal masculine nouns usually change gender to animate; for example, the word król ("king"), which is masculine-personal when referring to a monarch (pl. ci królowie), becomes masculine-animate when referring to the playing card or the chess piece (pl. te króle).

There are also a few pairs of homographs that completely change their meaning depending on their gender. Examples are:

Homographs that differ only by their gender can also occur in some Polish place names; for example, the town of Ostrów (Wielkopolski) is masculine, while the town of Ostrów (Mazowiecka) is feminine.

Declension

Typical declension patterns are as follows:

• klub ("club"; an inanimate masculine noun) – N/A klub, G klubu, D klubowi, I klubem, L/V klubie. Plural: N/A/V kluby, G klubów, D klubom, I klubami, L klubach.
• mapa ("map"; a feminine noun) – N mapa, G mapy, D/L mapie, A mapę, I mapą, V mapo. Plural: N/A/V mapy, G map, D mapom, I mapami, L mapach.
• mięso ("meat"; a neuter noun) – N/A/V mięso, G mięsa, D mięsu, I mięsem, L mięsie. Plural: N/A/V mięsa, G mięs, D mięsom, I mięsami, L mięsach.

A common deviation from the above patterns is that many masculine nouns have genitive singular in -a rather than -u. This includes all personal and animate masculines (ending in a consonant). Also masculine animate nouns have accusative singular equal to the genitive singular (in -a). Masculine personal nouns also have accusative plural equal to genitive plural, and often have nominative plural in -i.

Adjectives

Adjectives agree with the noun they modify in terms of gender, number and case. They are declined according to the following pattern (dumny means "proud"):

• masculine singular: N/V dumny, G dumnego, D dumnemu, A dumny (for inanimate nouns)/dumnego (animate), I/L dumnym
• feminine singular: N/V dumna, G/D/L dumnej, A/I dumną
• neuter singular: N/V/A dumne, G/D/I/L as masculine
• plural: N/V/A dumne (but for masculine personal nouns N/V dumni A dumnych), G/L dumnych, D dumnym, I dumnymi

For a table showing the declension of Polish adjectival surnames, ending in -ski/-ska or -cki/-cka, see Declension of adjectival surnames.

Most short adjectives have a comparative form in -szy or -iejszy, and a superlative obtained by prefixing naj- to the comparative. For adjectives that do not have these forms, the words bardziej ("more") and najbardziej ("most") are used before the adjective to make comparative and superlative phrases.

Adverbs are formed from adjectives with the ending ie, or in some cases -o. Comparatives of adverbs are formed (where they exist) with the ending -iej. Superlatives have the prefix naj- as for adjectives.

Pronouns

The personal pronouns of Polish (nominative forms) are ja ("I"), ty ("you", singular, familiar), on ("he", or "it" corresponding to masculine nouns), ona ("she", or "it" corresponding to feminine nouns), ono ("it" corresponding to neuter nouns), my ("we"), wy ("you", plural, familiar), oni ("they", corresponding to a masculine personal group – see Noun syntax below), one ("they" in other cases; group where there are only girls/women).

The polite second-person pronouns are the same as the nouns pan ("gentleman, Mr"), pani ("lady, Mrs") and their plurals panowie, panie. The mixed-sex plural is państwo. All second-person pronouns are often capitalized for politeness, in letters etc.