Genitive case (II) - LearnPolish

FUNCTION

1) Used to imply possession. Often corresponds with English possessive addition 's or the preposition of:

samochód prezydenta (the president's car)

2) after packaging units:

puszka piwa (a can of beer)

3) after numerals higher than four and expressions describing amounts like dużo (many), mało (few), pół (half), ćwierć (quarter)

pół litra (half a liter)

4) after certain prepositions such as dla, do, od

dla siostry (for <sb's> sister)

5) for the direct object in a negative sentence (but only if the positive sentence used the accusative!):

Kot nie pije mleka. (The cat doesn't drink milk.)

INFLECTION

This is a general overview of how nouns can behave in genitive. Note that this is not a complete set of rules.

Typical endings for masculine nouns are –A and –Y in singular and –ÓW, -Y, -i in plural
Typical ending for neuter nouns is –A and –U in singular and nothing in plural
Typical endings for feminine nouns are –Y and –I in singular and –Y, -I or nothing in plural

	masculine	neuter	feminine
singular	-a, -u	-a	-y, -i
plural	-ów, -y, -i removal of final vowel	removal of final vowel	–y, -i, removal of final vowel

MORE DETAILS
Feminine nouns ending with –A

In most cases you will just need to add -Y to form the singular genitive and remove -A to form the plural genitive.
The singular genitive will quite often be like plural nominative.

Singular nominative	Singular genitive	Plural genitive
ryba	ryby	ryb
ulica	ulicy	ulic
rada	rady	rad
szafa	szafy	szaf
skała	skały	skał
kura	kury	kur
dziura	dziury	dziur
kasa	kasy	kas
karta	karty	kart
wystawa	wystawy	wystaw
analiza	analizy	analiz
plaża	plaży	plaż

Ending –la
Replace A with I to form the singular genitive, remove A to form the plural genitive

fala	fali	fal
sal	sali	sal

Ending –ka
Replace A with I to form the singular genitive, replace KA with EK to form the plural genitive

piłka	piłki	piłek
bułka	bułki	bułek

Ending –ja-, -ia, -ea
Replace A with I to form both the singular genitive and the plural genitive

relacja	relacji	relacji
idea	idei	idei

Feminine nouns which do not end in A will generally have –Y added to form both singular and plural genitive

noc	nocy	nocy
mysz	myszy	myszy
twarz	twarzy	twarzy

Masculine nouns
Masculine nouns will have –A or –U added, though –A is more common. There are some rules helping to determine if –A or –U should be added. To create plural genitive the ending –ÓW is added in most cases.

-A ending in singular

- all animate nouns, including personal

pan	pana	panów
kot	kota	kotów
prezydent	prezydenta	prezydentów

- names for tools

telewizor	telewizora	telewizorów
klucz	klucza	kluczy

- dishes

słoik	słoika	słoików
garnek	garnka	garnków

- units of measurement

metr	metra	metrów
kilogram	kilograma	kilogramów

-numerals (tysiąc, milion)

tysiąc	tysiąca	tysięcy
milion	miliona	milionów

- months

maj	maja
listopad	listopada

- parts of the body

nos	nosa	nosów
ząb	zęba	zębów

- sports and games

tenis	tenisa
bilard	bilarda

- fruits and vegetables

banan	banana	bananów
kalafior	kalafiora	kalafiorów

- proper names

Volkswagen	Volkswagena	Volkswagenów
Tomasz	Tomasza	Tomaszów

-U ending in singular
- inanimate nouns of foreign origin

teatr	teatru	teatrów
system	systemu	systemów
weekend	weekendu	weekendów

- abstract nouns

ból	bólu	bólów
smutek	smutku	smutków
uśmiech	uśmiechu	uśmiechów

- uncountable

sok	soku	soków
pieprz	pieprzu

- nouns indicating some areas or spaces

las	lasu	lasów
park	parku	parków
pokój	pokoju	pokojów / pokoi
basen	basenu	basenów
bar	baru	barów
autobus	autobusu	autobusów

- constructions

płot	płotu	płotów
mur	muru	murów
stół	stołu	stołów

- acronyms

PAN

PAN-u

Sometimes both versions are correct

wieczór	wieczora / wieczoru	wieczorów
poranek	poranka / poranku	poranków
przystanek	przystanka / przystanku	przystanków

-I is added to form the plural genitive if the basic form finishes with –Ń

Singular nominative	Singular genitive	Plural genitive
koń	konia	koni
słoń	słonia	słoni

Neuter nouns
Neuter nouns ending in -O will have the -O replaced with -A to form singular genitive. The final vowel is dropped to get the plural genitive.

Singular nominative	Singular genitive	Plural genitive
płuco	płuca	płuc
drzewo	drzewa	drzew

Złoty

Złoty is actually an adjective and is inflected like adjectives.

Singular nominative	Singular genitive	Plural genitive
złoty	złotego	złotych

Be aware of possible root changes:

ROOT CHANGES IN NOUN DECLENSION

Root changes typical only for Genitive

A typical root change occurring in plural genitive is O-Ó change:
noga-nóg
droga-dróg
stopa-stóp
krowa-krów
szkoła-szkół
środa-śród