Appendix:Polish pronouns

First-person pronouns
The first person uses the pronouns and. These pronouns inflect for number and case, but not for gender.

Using mnie instead of mi puts stress on the pronoun.

Second-person pronouns
The second person uses and. These also do not inflect for gender. These forms are used between peers or people familiar with each other. When addressing someone in a formal context, the pronouns, , are used instead, and the sentence changes to third person, with the pronouns coming after the verbs.

Using ciebie or tobie instead of cię or ci puts stress on the pronoun.

Third-person pronouns
The third person uses and its inflected forms, , ,. The third person pronouns inflect for number, case and gender.

Note that in Polish, nouns have lexical gender, so that for non-personal objects and  would be rendered as  upon translation to English.

Using jego or jemu instead of go or mu puts stress on the pronoun. The forms niego, niemu, niej, etc. are only used after prepositions: Na niego patrzę, I look at him, but Jego widzę, I see him. -ń is a short masculine form suffixed to prepositions, for example: nań, doń; Patrzę nań, I look at him.

Formal second- and third-person pronouns
The formal second- and third-person pronouns, inflect for number and case. For couples and groups of people of mixed gender, the pronoun is used. Sentences in formal second person put the pronouns after the verbs to distinguish them from sentences in third person where these words are used as simple nouns.



The dated pronoun was used for unmarried women. In modern usage, it is usually considered patronizing, and replaced with. In addition to these, many nouns that specify a title or a honorific can be used as pronouns in the formal second person in the same way:, (for a priest), , , , , , , etc.

First person
The first-person possessive pronoun inflects for number, case and gender of the object, as well as the number of the subject.

Singular subject: mój
The form in the accusative, equal to the genitive, is used for personal and animate objects, while, equal to the nominative, is used for inanimate objects. This rule is also in force for and. Additionally, there is an alternative short declension, which is literary and used e.g. in poetry. It elides -oj- and converts -oi- to -y-, except at the end of the word.

Plural subject: nasz
The form used for plural subject is. It inflects exactly like the hypothetical adjective naszy, but loses the -y in masculine nominative singular and masculine inanimate accusative.

Second person
In the second person, the pattern is the same as in the first person. The pronoun inflects for number, gender and case of the object, as well as the number of the subject.

Singular subject: twój
The second-person possessive pronoun has exactly the same inflection as. As before, there is also a literary alternative short declension.

Plural subject: wasz
The plural pronoun inflects exactly like.

Third person: jego, jej, ich
The third person possessive pronoun inflects only for gender and number of the subject. The forms are:

Impersonal: swój
The pronoun does not indicate the person and number of the subject. It inflects like and, and like them, has a literary alternative short declension.

Demonstrative pronouns: ten, tamten
The demonstrative pronouns, inflects for gender, number and case of the subject. The pronoun derives from  +. It is used only in the third person. There is no demonstrative pronoun for first and second persons. Note the change from -ę to -ą ending in feminine accusative singular of tamten.

Interrogative and relative pronouns: kto, co, jaki, który, czyj
The pronoun is used to ask for a choice from a potentially uncountable set. Sometimes it is also used to connect subordinate clauses that refer to a similar category of objects, but this usage is proscribed. It inflects like adjectives.

The pronoun is used for two purposes: to connect subordinate clauses and to ask for a choice from a gramatically countable number of options.

The pronoun inflects for number, gender and case like an adjective.

Finally, we have the pronoun and its related forms,  and.

Indefinite pronouns: ktoś, coś, jakiś
The pronouns and  specify unknown grammatical objects.

The pronoun is used when the particular object is not known, only its category. Examples:

This pronoun inflects for number, gender and case. The inflection is exactly like, but with -ś added to the end in every case.

The pronouns and  indicate that the sentence applies to any object that matches the category. They are formed from the relevant form of the pronouns, and the suffix -kolwiek.

Negative indefinite pronouns: nikt, nic
The negative pronouns are and. They work similar to their English equivalents.

Selective indefinite pronoun: niektórzy
The selective pronoun is used when the sentence refers only to some people in a group. When used as pronoun rather than as an adjective, the word is often pejorative.

Reflexive pronoun
The reflexive pronoun, used like "yourself" or "myself" in English, indicates that the subject is both the origin and receiver of the action, e.g. Widzę się w lustrze (I see myself in the mirror). It inflects for case, but not for person, number or gender. The long form is used when detached from the verb. Note that the reflexive pronoun is distinct from the particle in reflexive verbs, which never inflects.

pl:Aneks:Język_polski_-_zaimki