WHAT'S GRAMMAR? / Co to jest gramatyka?
Grammar is the system of a language. People sometimes describe grammar as the "rules" of a language; but in fact no language has rules. If we use the word "rules", we suggest that somebody created the rules first and then spoke the language, like a new game. But languages did not start like that. Languages started by people making sounds which evolved into words, phrases and sentences. No commonly-spoken language is fixed. All languages change over time. What we call "grammar" is simply a reflection of a language at a particular time....
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KEY FACTS of POLISH GRAMMAR |
NO ARTICLES
There are no articles before nouns - if there is a zero article the noun has the same meaning as if there was a/an before it.
If there is "ten, ta, to" before the noun, it has a definite meaning.
noga = a leg
ta noga = the (this) leg
GENDER
Every noun has its gender which is mostly signified by its ending, but of course there are exceptions.
There is a grammatical gender - three types:
PLURALS
Plurals can be in the most extreme cases difficult even for native speakers. To describe them (and the conjugation system) is beyond the scope of this outline. Some rules are pretty easy, some are less easy.
Negation
You negate by adding "nie" before verbs.
Mogę (I can) - Nie mogę (I can’t)
Idzie (he goes) - Nie idzie (he doesn't go/ he is not going)
If an object is negated it becomes genitive instead of accusative (just for your reference - this can already be too difficult)
Mam dom (I have a house) - Nie mam domu (I don't have a house)
DECLINATION
There are 7 cases and each of them can have a different ending. If we take into consideration the fact that there is a plural and singular number, there can theoretically be up to 14 grammatical endings in case of one single word. In fact, this never happens as some endings are the same and the job becomes easier by placing a given word in several noun categories that are characterised by the same endings.
AN EXAMPLE:
KOBIETA (feminine) - a woman
1. Nominative/mianownik KOBIETA (subject)
2. Genitive/dopełniacz KOBIETY (e.g. of woman)
3. Dative/dative KOBIECIE (e.g. to/for woman)
4. Accusative/biernik KOBIETĘ (object)
5. Instrumental/narzędnik KOBIETĄ (e.g. with woman)
6. Locative/miejscownik KOBIECIE (e.g. about woman)
7. Vocative/wołacz KOBIETO!
and plural
1. KOBIETY
2. KOBIET
3. KOBIETOM
4. KOBIETY
5. KOBIETAMI
6. KOBIETACH
7. KOBIETY!
TENSES
There are no perfect tenses. There are just three tenses:
There are no articles before nouns - if there is a zero article the noun has the same meaning as if there was a/an before it.
If there is "ten, ta, to" before the noun, it has a definite meaning.
noga = a leg
ta noga = the (this) leg
GENDER
Every noun has its gender which is mostly signified by its ending, but of course there are exceptions.
There is a grammatical gender - three types:
- masculine, (ends predominantly in a consonant: dom - a house, nos - a nose)
- feminine, (ends predominantly in "a": mama - a mother, nova - a leg)
- and neuter, (ends predominantly in "o" or "e": morze - a sea, lato - a summer)
PLURALS
Plurals can be in the most extreme cases difficult even for native speakers. To describe them (and the conjugation system) is beyond the scope of this outline. Some rules are pretty easy, some are less easy.
Negation
You negate by adding "nie" before verbs.
Mogę (I can) - Nie mogę (I can’t)
Idzie (he goes) - Nie idzie (he doesn't go/ he is not going)
If an object is negated it becomes genitive instead of accusative (just for your reference - this can already be too difficult)
Mam dom (I have a house) - Nie mam domu (I don't have a house)
DECLINATION
There are 7 cases and each of them can have a different ending. If we take into consideration the fact that there is a plural and singular number, there can theoretically be up to 14 grammatical endings in case of one single word. In fact, this never happens as some endings are the same and the job becomes easier by placing a given word in several noun categories that are characterised by the same endings.
AN EXAMPLE:
KOBIETA (feminine) - a woman
1. Nominative/mianownik KOBIETA (subject)
2. Genitive/dopełniacz KOBIETY (e.g. of woman)
3. Dative/dative KOBIECIE (e.g. to/for woman)
4. Accusative/biernik KOBIETĘ (object)
5. Instrumental/narzędnik KOBIETĄ (e.g. with woman)
6. Locative/miejscownik KOBIECIE (e.g. about woman)
7. Vocative/wołacz KOBIETO!
and plural
1. KOBIETY
2. KOBIET
3. KOBIETOM
4. KOBIETY
5. KOBIETAMI
6. KOBIETACH
7. KOBIETY!
TENSES
There are no perfect tenses. There are just three tenses:
- future,
- present and
- past.
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