Genitive of nouns

Foreigners learning Polish know that cases are the most difficult part ofour language. First I would like to console all the students for whom cases are acause of tears and frustration. Cases are the last thing that foreigners normallylearn to use properly. Even those students who speaks fluent Polish, makesome mistakes when it comes to cases and my advice is to accept it and keepgoing. Even if we put the wrong ending recipient still understands our message.There are seven cases in Polish and today I would like to show you how theGenitive of the nouns works.To simplify this difficult problem: a noun case is a form which a nountakes when it meets certain verb or preposition and has to play a special role ina sentence. For example verb “szukać” (to look for, to search for) always goeswith Genitive.(Ja) Szukam (kogo? czego?) Adama.I am looking for (who? what?) Adam. (Genitive form)In my opinion the Genitive case is the most difficult one in the Polish languagebecause of its varied usage and exceptions.

1. Genitive is used in negative phrases. After a negative verb the directobject stands in the Genitive case, for example:(Ja – subject) Nie mam (verb) brata (direct object). - I do not have abrother.Nie lubię tenisa. - I do not like tennis.Nie gotuję dzisiaj zupy. - I do not cook a soup today.Rose nigdy nie kupuje piwa. – Rose never buy a beer.
2. Genitive expresses possession and it is translated into English by using„of” or “ ‘s”, for example:To jest kawa Adama. - This is Adam’s coffee.Czytam książkę Stiega Larssona. - I am reading the book of Stieg Larsson.Wiem, gdzie jest ulica Mickiewicza. - I know where is Mickiewicz’s street.
3. Genitive also expresses the quantities and containers, for example:

dużo wody, więcej kwiatów - a lot of water, more flowersmało czasu, mniej komputerów - a little time, less computers

za dużo mleka - too much milkparę stołów- few tablestrochę herbaty - a little bit of teenic nowego - nothing newcoś ciekawego – something interestingbutelka wina - a bottle of winekawałek sera - a piece of cheeseplasterek szynki - a slice of hamkilogram pomidorów - 1 kilogram of tomatoespół pizzy - half of pizzaWe can use it a lot in the grocery shop.

1. The Genitive form appears as a direct object in sentences which are notnegative after the following verbs (in imperfective and perfective forms,if it exists), for example:Boję się pająków. – I am afraid of spiders.Brakuje mi czasu. - I am short of time.Ewa potrzebuje pieniędzy. - Ewa needs money.Ignacio uczy się języka polskiego. - Ignacio is learning Polish.Joseph słucha muzyki. - Joseph is listening to the music.Nienawidzę chrzanu. - I hate horseradish.Życzę ci zdrowia. - I wish you health.
2. The Genetive is often used to express a direction after the prepositions“do” (to), “z” (from), “od “, for example:Adam idzie do Ewy. - Adam goes to Ewa’s place.Peter idzie do klubu. - Peter goes to the club.Juan jedzie do Wrocławia. - Juan goes to Wrocław.Ewa wraca z Madrytu. - Ewa comes back from Madrid.Rafael wraca z Londynu. - Rafael comes back from London.
3. Let us bear in mind that any time when we must use numerals, we mustbe very careful because with numbers from 5-21, from 25 -31, from 35 -41, from 45-51 , generally after number 5 and onwards, the Genitiveplural form is used. After numbers 2,3,4, 22,23,24 32,33,34,42,43,44 or any number with 2,3,4 at the end, the Nominativeplural form is used.2,3,4 stoły, ale 5 stołów (tables)2,3,4 sukienki, ale 25 sukienek (dresses)2,3,4 komputery, ale 75 komputerów (computers)

2,3,4 kobiety, ale 578 kobiet (women)The endings of Genitive singular case are very similar to the endings ofthe Accusative case but a number of exceptions make it a little bit morecomplicated. For masculine gender in Polish, we have in the Accusativeand Genitive cases the category “alive” and “non-alive”. In Polishgrammar, “alive” means masculine people and animals, and “non-alive”means masculine objects. It does not matter for feminine and neutralGenitive forms. Let us have a look at the Genitive singular pattern:Masculine sg. Feminine sg. Neutral sg.For alive we have ending-aNie ma lekarza, psa,kurczaka. (There is nodoctor, dog, chickenhere.)

for non- alive we haveendings -u or - a !!!Nie ma papieru, zegara,ziemniaka, komputera.(There is no paper,clock, potato andcomputer here.)Nie idę do pubu, ani doklubu. (I am goingneither to the pub northe club.)

-y (after hardconsonants: p, b, w, t,d, s, z, k, g, ch, m, n, r, łand c, cz, sz, ż, dz, dż, rzNie ma kobiety, Ewy,pracy. (There is nowoman called Ewa,working here. )

-i (after soft consonantspi, bi, wi, ć, ci, dź, dzi, ś,si, ź, zi, , chi, mi, ń, ni,and k, g, l, j)Nie ma tutaj studentki zHiszpanii. (There is nostudent from Spainhere.).

-aNie ma jabłka, piwa,dziecka, słońca. (Thereis no apple, beer, child,sun here. )

It’s hard to clarify the rules as to when to use ending -a and when to useending -u for masculine non-alive words in Genitive singular. Generally

ending -a is used for tools and dishes ( Nie ma noża, widelca, komputera,talerza. - There is no knife, fork, computer, plate here.), for months (Nielubię stycznia, grudnia, kwietnia. - I do not like January, December, April.),for parts of body (Ból nosa, brzucha, palca nie pozwala mi spać. - A Pain inthe nose, stomach, finger does not allow me to sleep.), and for polish cities(Jadę do Wrocławia, Lublina, Tarnowa. - I go to Wrocław, Lublin, Tarnów.)We use ending -u in masculine singular for non-alive objects for Genitivesingular in uncountable nouns (Nie ma piasku, maku. There is no sand,poppy seed here.), collective nouns(Nie lubię tłumu, lasu. - I do not likecrowd, a forest.), foreign-international nouns ( Idę do tramwaju albo dobaru. - I go to the tram or to the bar.), and foreign cities (Często jeżdżę doLondynu, Rzymu, Madrytu, Pekinu. - I often go to London, Rome, Madrid,Beijing. Exceptions are: Jadę do Paryża, Berlina, Wiednia).Sometimes foreigners are confused when we start using people’s names. A lotof you have doubts if we talk about a man or a woman, especially with verysimilar names. For example masculine name “ Aleksander” in Nominative willbe “ Aleksandra “ and in Genitive (Nie ma Aleksandra. - Aleksander is not here.)Feminine name “Aleksandra” in Nominative becames “ Aleksandry” and inGenitive (Nie ma Aleksandry. - Aleksandra is not here). The same happenswith the masculine name “Daniel” (Nie ma Daniela.- Daniel is not here.) andfeminine name “ Daniela” (Nie ma tutaj Danieli. - Daniela is not here).At the end please have a look into the pattern of Genitive plural.Masculine pl. Feminine pl. Neutral pl.-ów (after hardconsonants) Nie maprofesorów, zeszytów,psów. (There are noprofessors, exercisebooks and dogs here).-y (after hardenedconsonants) Nie malekarzy, talerzy, węży,koszy. (There are no

Ø (after hard consonants)Nie ma żon, kobiet,bluzek, nóg. (There areno women, blouses, legshere.)-y (after hardenedconsonants) Nie ma nocy,myszy, rzeczy. (There areno nights, mice, things

Ø Nie ma piw, zwierząt,okien. (There are nobeers, animals, windowshere).

-y (after hardenedconsonants) Nie lubięwybrzeży. (I do not likecoasts.)

doctors, plates, snakes,baskets here.)-i (after soft consonants)Nie ma nauczycieli, liści,pokoi. (There are noteachers, leaves, roomshere.)

here.)-i (after soft consonants)Nie lubię kawiarni. (I donot like coffee bars. )

-i (after soft consonants)Nie ma narzędzi. (Thereare no tools here.)

This article is a general introduction to the Genitive form in Polish. I hope I havenot frightened you. It would be ideal to try and memorize these rules and startpracticing as soon as possible, but everyone has his/her own speed. We shouldaccept it and I have to tell you secretly that some forms will naturally come intoyour head …with time.

This article was published in “The Wrocław International”- Wrocław’s firstEnglish-language newspaper, May 2011, Issue 7, ISSN 2082-730X