Ahh possessive pronouns… My cat, your cat, his cat… Possessive pronouns determine who the subject of the sentence belongs to, while also only referring to the owner only by their pronoun. Clozemaster has a nice guide for this, but I will make a table in this notebook as well. The guide is at the link below: https://www.clozemaster.com/blog/polish-possessive-pronouns/ And below is a table with the possessive pronouns in Nominative.
| Number Liczba |
Of the Owner | Singular Liczba pojedyncza |
Plural Liczba Mnoga |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Of the Noun | Person Osoba |
1 os. | 2 os. | 3 os. | 1 os. | 2 os. | 3 os. | |
| English | My | Your | Her | His / Their | Our | Your | Their | |
| Singular Liczba pojedyncza |
♂ Męski Male |
Mój | Twój | Jej | Jego | Nasz | Wasz | Ich |
| ⚲ Nijaki Neuter |
Moje | Twoje | Nasze | Wasze | ||||
| ♀ Żeński Female |
Moja | Twoja | Nasza | Wasza | ||||
| Plural Liczba Mnoga | ♂ Male Personal ♂ Męski osobowy |
Moi | Twoi | Jej | Jego | Nasi | Wasi | Ich |
| Non-male personal Niemęskoosobowy |
Moje | Twoje | Nasze | Wasze | ||||
The way the possessive pronoun will change depends on the Object it’s acting upon. For example, “This is my cat”. Cat - Kot is masculine, so my will be mój. “To jest mój kot”. The gender of the owner in this case doesn’t change the inflection, but it changes which word to use when saying his or her, same as in English. For example “His cat - Jego kot”, “her cat - jej kot”. But it doesn’t matter, say, for the phrase “our cat” if the group of people is composed of men or women.
| Male Singular | |
|---|---|
| Mój kot jest mały | My cat is small |
| Twój koń je ciasteczka | Your horse is eating cookies |
| Jej kot jest dobry | Her cat is good |
| Jego słoń jest duży | His elephant is big ;) |
| Nasz kot kocha jedzenie | Our cat loves food |
| Nasz duży słoń | Our big elephant |
| Wasz pies je mięso | Your (pl) dog is eating meat. |
| To jest wasz pies | This is your (pl) dog. |
| Ich pies je mięso | Their dog is eating meat. |
| - | |
| Female Singular | |
| Moja kaczka jest smaczna | My duck is tasty |
| Twoja kawa | Your coffee |
| Jej herbata jest nowa | Her tea is new |
| Jego mysz jest mała | His mouse is small |
| Nasza ryba nosi koszulę | Our fish wears a shirt (Duolingo, am I right?) |
| Wasza kaczka je śniadanie | Your duck is eating breakfast |
| Ich kaczka lubi wodę | Their duck likes water. |
| - | |
| Neuter Singular | |
| Moje mięso jest dobre | My meat is good |
| Twoje wino nie jest dobre | Your wine is not good |
| Jej wino jest dobre | Her wine is good |
| Jego dziecko jest złe | His child is angry |
| To jest wasze śniadanie | This is your (pl) breakfast |
| Wasze dziecko pije mleko | Your child is drinking milk |
| Nasze jabłko jest duże | Our apple is big |
| Ich dziecko je ser | Their child is eating cheese |
| - | |
| Male Personal Plural | |
| Moi mężczyźni jedzą kolację | My men are eating dinner |
| Moi ludzie mają wino | My people have wine |
| Twoi chłopcy jest dobrzy | Your boys are good |
| Wasi chłopcy mówią po angielsku | Your boys speak English. |
| Wasi ludzie są źli | Your people are bad. |
| Nasi mężczyźni jedzą ciasteczka | Our men are eating cookies. |
| - | |
| Non-male personal Plural | |
| Moje kobiety jedzą obiad | My women are eating lunch |
| Twoje ciasteczka są smaczne | Your cookies are tasty |
| Twoje dziewczynki | Your daughters |
| Nasze pomidory są dobre | Our tomatoes are good |
| Wasze dzieci lubią ciasteczka | Your children like cookies |
Finally Duolingo introduces cheekily this example: Mam jej psa - I have her dog But isn't this in accusative? You might ask, and indeed it is. But it's the only accusative Duolingo will give us up to now. That's because three pronouns in Polish are pretty stable no matter the conjugation and if you look at the table in the previous section you might have noticed.
| Jej | Her |
|---|---|
| Jego | His |
| Ich | Their |
These three pronouns stay the same throughout all cases, and so you only need to memorize them in this form. Isn't that great?