The most frequently asked questions about Polish grammar
- Learn Polski
- Jul 28
- 2 min read
General Grammar Questions
Is Polish grammar really that hard?Yes, Polish grammar is considered challenging due to its complex system of cases, gender, aspect in verbs, and frequent exceptions. However, with practice, it's very learnable.
How many cases are there in Polish?There are 7 grammatical cases:
Mianownik (Nominative) – who? what?
Dopełniacz (Genitive) – of whom? of what?
Celownik (Dative) – to whom? to what?
Biernik (Accusative) – whom? what?
Narzędnik (Instrumental) – with whom? with what?
Miejscownik (Locative) – about whom? about what?
Wołacz (Vocative) – Oh [name]!
How do I know which case to use?It depends on the verb, preposition, and sentence structure. This is one of the trickiest parts for learners and requires memorizing case-preposition and case-verb patterns.
🔤 Nouns and Gender
How many genders are there in Polish?There are three grammatical genders:
Masculine (which splits into personal, animate, and inanimate)
Feminine
Neuter
How do I determine the gender of a noun?Usually based on the noun’s ending:
Masculine: ends in a consonant
Feminine: ends in -a
Neuter: ends in -o or -e
But there are exceptions, especially for professions and animate/inanimate distinctions.
🔁 Verbs and Aspects
What is verbal aspect in Polish?Polish verbs come in pairs: perfective (completed action) and imperfective (ongoing or habitual action).Example:
czytać (to read – imperfective)
przeczytać (to read through – perfective)
How do I know which aspect to use?Use imperfective for:
Ongoing actions
Repeated/habitual actions
Descriptions
Use perfective for:
Completed actions
Future plans (with perfective verb in present form)
🧩 Adjectives, Pronouns, and Numbers
Do adjectives change for gender and case?
Yes. Adjectives must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case, so they decline just like nouns.
Why do numbers change depending on the noun?Numbers (especially 1–5) cause changes in case and gender:
jeden kot (1 cat – nominative singular)
dwa koty (2 cats – nominative plural)
pięciu kotów (5 cats – genitive plural)
❓Other Common Questions
What are the most common prepositions and which cases do they use?
w (in) – locative
na (on) – locative or accusative
do (to) – genitive
z (with/from) – instrumental/genitive
dla (for) – genitive
Why do Polish verbs sometimes seem to have random prefixes?
Prefixes like po-, prze-, za-, wy-, do- often change the aspect or direction of a verb. They’re part of verb formation and often signal perfective aspect.