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Grammar

Terms Glossary
Cases (Przypadki)
Tenses (Czasy)
Verbs (Czasowniki)
Nouns (Rzeczowniki)
Adjectives (Przymiotniki)
Pronouns (Zaimki)
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  1. Home
  2. Grammar
  3. Cases (Przypadki)
  4. Genitive Case (Dopełniacz)
  5. Introduction

Genitive Case (Dopełniacz) - Introduction

What is a Case?
The Genitive Case (Dopełniacz) is the second case in the Polish language. It is primarily used to express possession. Most instances of the word "of" in English translate to Polish as the Genitive Case.
butelka mleka- a bottle of milk
mleka - Genitive Case
mleko - Nominative Case
książka mamy- mother's book
mamy - Genitive Case
mama - Nominative Case
For more information about usage, see the article on Genitive Case Usage .
Each case has its own interrogative words that it answers. The Genitive Case answers the questions kogo? and czego?.
  • kogo?- refers to people
  • czego?- refers to things, animals, and abstractions
The interrogative words of a case can be used to form a question about that part of the sentence. The following examples illustrate this concept.
Example
kogo?
Nie widzę nauczyciela.- I don't see the teacher.
Kogo nie widzę?- Whom do I not see?
czego?
Potrzebuję pomocy.- I need help.
Czego potrzebuję?- What do I need?
Jarek Hajduk

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Cases - Noun Declension

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Genitive Case (Dopełniacz) - Usage