| Singular - Liczba pojedyncza | Plural - Liczba mnoga | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polish | English | Polish | English | |
| ⚲ | Pytanie | Question | Pytania | Questions |
| ♀ | Odpowiedź | Answer | Odpowiedzi | Answers |
These questions are the classic 6 basic questions. These don’t change with gender or number of what they refer to. The answers of What and Who interact with the sentence in different declensions, so the question has to be changed too. The rest of the questions are fine like they are in any case.
| Question in English | Question in Polish - Pytanie po polsku | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative Mianownik |
Accusative Biernik |
Genitive Dopełniacz |
|
| What? | Co | Co | Czego |
| Who? | Kto | Kogo | Kogo |
| When? | Kiedy | ||
| Where? | Gdzie | ||
| Why? | Dlaczego | ||
| How? | Jak | ||
For example:
| Kto kocha tę kobietę? -- On kocha tę kobietę | Who loves this woman? (Nominative kto, tę kobietę in accusative) -- He loves this woman (Nominative) |
| Kogo kocha ta kobieta? -- Ta kobieta kocha jego | Whom does this woman love? (“Whom” is in accusative in English) -- This woman loves him (Accusative) |
| Czego nie jesz? -- Nie jem jajek | What don’t you eat? (Genitive) -- I don’t eat eggs (Genitive) |
| Co jesz? -- Jem warzywa | What do you eat? What are you eating? (Accusative) -- I eat vegetables (Accusative) |
These are descriptive questions. A bit more complicated than the basic ones, they change with gender and number too, since they relate more to a known subject. Now in this lesson, for these more complicated questions we only learn the Nominative for the moment, but they work more or less the same as adjectives, so let’s also see how they decline in the Accusative and Genitive cases. Full table at ZAIMKI PYTAJNE: “CZYJ?”, “JAKI?”, “KTÓRY?”.
| Question in English | Number | Gender | Question in Polish Pytanie po polsku |
||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative Mianownik |
Accusative Biernik |
Genitive Dopełniacz |
|||
| What kind?/ What (is it like)? *(literally means “what”, but for descriptive answers) |
Singular | ♂ | Jaki | =Nom/=Gen* | Jakiego |
| ⚲ | Jakie | Jakie | |||
| ♀ | Jaka | Jaką | Jakiej | ||
| Plural | ♂pl. mp. | Jacy | Jakich | Jakich | |
| pl.nmp. | Jakie | Jakie | |||
| Which? | Singular | ♂ | Który | =Nom/=Gen* | Którego |
| ⚲ | Które | Które | |||
| ♀ | Która | Którą | Której | ||
| Plural | ♂pl. mp. | Którzy | Których | Których | |
| pl.nmp. | Które | Które | |||
| Whose? | Singular | ♂ | Czyj | =Nom/=Gen* | Czyjego |
| ⚲ | Czyje | Czyje | |||
| ♀ | Czyja | Czyją | Czyjej | ||
| Plural | ♂pl. mp. | Czyi | Czyich | Czyich | |
| pl.nmp. | Czyje | Czyje | |||
* =Nom/=Gen : Inanimate male nouns get the Nominative, and Animate male nouns get the genitive, same as with adjectives.
Now there are a few notes on the usage of these words that we find out indirectly through the exercises. Let’s see:
| Nie słyszę pytań | I don’t hear the questions (Genitive plural of pytanie = pytań) |
| Macie pytania? | Do you have questions? * Same as in English, one “has” questions. So in Polish it’s the verb mieć |
| To dobre pytanie! | That’s a good question! |
| Twoja odpowiedź jest zła | Your answer is wrong (dobra i zła for good / correct and bad / wrong answers) |
| Czy to pytanie? | Is that a question? * In Polish, instead of “that” we use “to - it” |
| Jakie jest twoje pytanie? | What is your question? |
| Jaka jest twoja odpowiedź? | What is your answer? * Questions and answers need descriptive jaki instead of the neutral co |
| Dzieci nie znają odpowiedzi | The children don’t know the answers |
| Znamy odpowiedź | We know the answer * “Knowing an answer” uses the verb znać, not wiedzieć (so it’s not nie wiedzą odpowiedzi) |
| Co | |
|---|---|
| Co to jest? | What is this? (Nominative) |
| Co lubisz? | What do you like? (Accusative) |
| Co pije chłopiec? | What is the boy drinking? (Accusative) |
| Czego nie jesz? | What do you not eat? (Genitive) |
| Kto | |
| Kto to jest? | Who is this? (Nominative) |
| Kto pije kawę? | Who is drinking coffee? (Nominative) |
| Kto zna tego chłopca? | Who knows this boy? (Kto in nominative, tego chłopca in accusative) |
| Kogo ona widzi? | Who/Whom does she see? (Accusative) |
| Kogo widzisz? | Who/Whom do you see? (Accusative) |
| Kogo twój tata zna? | Who does your dad know? (Accusative) |
| Kiedy | |
| Kiedy nosisz kapelusz? | When do you wear a hat? |
| Kiedy twoja córka idzie do szkoły? | When is your daughter going to school? (don’t answer!) |
| Kiedy idziemy do domu? | When are we going home? |
| Kiedy twój mąż pije kawę? | When does your husband drink coffee? |
| Dlaczego | |
| Dlaczego nie? | Why not? |
| Dlaczego jesz mięso? | Why do you eat meat? |
| Dlaczego ona pisze książkę? | Why is she writing a book? |
| Dlaczego nie mówisz po polsku? | Why do you not speak Polish? (I’M TRYING, OK?) |
| Gdzie | |
| Gdzie jest chłopiec? | Where is the boy? |
| Gdzie jesteście? | Where are you (plural)? |
| Gdzie są twoje psy? | Where are your dogs? |
| Gdzie są ci mężczyźni? | Where are these men? |
| Gdzie chodzą te kobiety? | Where do these women go? Here let’s comment on word order. While Gdzie te kobiety chodzą? Sounds closer to English, in Polish we use the verb before the subject. It’s not incorrect, but it sounds like Yoda from Star Wars. |
| Jaki | ||
|---|---|---|
| ♂ | Jaki chleb lubisz? | What (kind of) bread do you like? |
| ⚲ | Jakie jest twoje pytanie? | What is your question? |
| ♀ | Jaka jest twoja odpowiedź? | What is your answer? * Questions and answers need descriptive jaki instead of the neutral co |
| ♀ | Jaka jest twoja żona? | What is your wife like? |
| ♀ | Jaka herbata chcesz? | What kind of tea do you want? |
| pl. mp. ♂ | Jacy są jego rodzice? | What are his parents like? |
| pl. nmp. | Jakie ubrania nosi twój brat? | What (kind of) clothes does your brother wear? |
| Który | ||
| ♂ | Który mężczyzna jest stary? | Which man is old? |
| ⚲ | Które zwierzę to ptak? | Which animal is a bird? |
| ♀ | Która kobieta pije wodę? | Which woman is drinking water? |
| ♀ | Która sukienka jest twoja? | Which dress is yours? |
| pl. mp. ♂ | Którzy mężczyźni mówią po polsku? | Which men speak Polish? |
| pl. nmp. | Które jabłka są smaczne? | Which apples are tasty? |
| Czyj | ||
| ♂ | Czyj kot je mięso? | Whose cat is eating meat? |
| ♀ | Czyja jest ta herbata? | Whose is this tea? |
| ♀ | Czyja żona mówi po angielsku? | Whose wife speaks English? |
| pl. mp. ♂ | Czyi synowie chodzą do szkoły? | Whose sons go to school? |
| pl. mp. ♂ | Czyi rodzice jedzą kolację? | Whose parents are eating dinner? |
| pl. nmp. | Czyje kanapki są duże? | Whose sandwiches are big? |
| pl. nmp. | Czyje dzieci jedzą ciasteczka? | Whose children are eating the cookies? |