This is the central lookup page the rest of the Cases group points back to: the master grid of Polish endings for nouns and adjectives, all seven cases, three genders, singular and plural, including the masculine-personal split in the plural. It looks enormous at first glance. It is not — once you separate it by gender, by hardness of the stem, and by animacy, the apparent chaos collapses into a manageable set of repeating patterns. Bookmark this page and consult it; do not try to swallow it whole. Pair it with the consonant-mutation reference, because several endings trigger predictable stem changes.
How to read these tables
Three variables decide a noun's ending in any cell:
- Gender — masculine, feminine, or neuter. Masculine further splits by animacy (does it refer to a living being?) and, in the plural, by personhood (does it refer to people, specifically including men?).
- Stem hardness — whether the stem ends in a hard consonant (t, d, n, r, k, g...) or a soft / functionally-soft one (ń, ś, ć, j, l, c, cz, sz, rz, ż, dz, dż). Soft stems take a partly different set of endings.
- Number — singular or plural.
Two other facts will save you constant confusion:
- Syncretism is everywhere — the same ending serves different cases. Masculine inanimate nominative = accusative; neuter nominative = accusative; the masculine-personal plural accusative copies the genitive. This is not sloppiness; the trigger (role, preposition, number) resolves which case a form represents.
- The locative and dative singular -e ending mutates the stem. A final hard consonant softens before it: t → ć (brat → bracie), k → c (matka → matce), g → dz (noga → nodze), r → rz (siostra → siostrze), ł → l (stół → stole). This is the second-palatalization set; see the mutation reference for the full list.
Noun endings — singular
Model nouns: student (masc. animate/personal), kot (masc. animate, non-person), dom (masc. inanimate), kobieta (fem. hard), noc (fem. soft), okno (neut. hard), morze (neut. soft).
| Case | Masc. personal/animate | Masc. inanimate | Feminine (hard / soft) | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | student, kot (—) | dom (—) | kobieta -a / noc (—) | okno -o / morze -e |
| Genitive | studenta, kota -a | domu -u (some -a) | kobiety -y / nocy -y | okna, morza -a |
| Dative | studentowi, kotu -owi/-u | domowi -owi | kobiecie, nocy -e/-y | oknu, morzu -u |
| Accusative | studenta, kota (= genitive) | dom (= nominative) | kobietę -ę / noc (—) | okno, morze (= nominative) |
| Instrumental | studentem, kotem -em | domem -em | kobietą, nocą -ą | oknem, morzem -em |
| Locative | studencie, kocie -e | domu -u/-e | kobiecie, nocy -e/-y | oknie, morzu -e/-u |
| Vocative | studencie, kocie -e | domu -u | kobieto -o / nocy -y | = nominative |
The headline facts in this grid:
- Masculine animate accusative = genitive (Widzę studenta, kota); masculine inanimate accusative = nominative (Widzę dom). This animacy rule is the most important single thing about the masculine accusative.
- Neuter accusative = nominative, always (Widzę okno).
- Feminine -a nouns take -ę in the accusative (Widzę kobietę) — one of the few places a noun gets the ę ending.
- The locative/dative -e mutates the stem: student → studencie (t → ć... here written cie = soft t), kobieta → kobiecie (t → ć), kot → kocie (t → ć). Masculine nouns in -k, -g, -ch and soft stems take -u in the locative instead (dom → domu, Bóg → Bogu).
Widzę studenta i jego kota, ale nie widzę domu.
I see the student and his cat, but I don't see the house. (animate acc. = gen.: studenta, kota; inanimate acc. = nom.: dom)
Mówiłem o studencie i o jego racji.
I was talking about the student and about his point. (locative after o: studencie, with t → soft, and racji)
Daję kobiecie kwiaty.
I'm giving the woman flowers. (dative kobiecie, t → soft before -e)
Noun endings — plural
This is where the masculine-personal split (męskoosobowy) appears. A masculine-personal noun denotes a group of people that includes at least one man; everything else — women-only groups, animals, objects, all feminine and neuter nouns — is non-masculine-personal.
| Case | Masc. personal (studenci) | Masc. non-pers. / fem. / neut. (koty, kobiety, okna) |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | studenci -i/-y/-owie (mutated) | koty, kobiety -y/-i; okna -a |
| Genitive | studentów -ów | kotów -ów; kobiet, okien (— zero); nocy -i/-y |
| Dative | studentom -om | kotom, kobietom, oknom -om |
| Accusative | studentów (= genitive) | koty, kobiety, okna (= nominative) |
| Instrumental | studentami -ami | kotami, kobietami, oknami -ami (occas. -mi) |
| Locative | studentach -ach | kotach, kobietach, oknach -ach |
| Vocative | = nominative (studenci) | = nominative |
The plural is far more uniform than the singular — the dative -om, instrumental -ami, and locative -ach are essentially universal across all genders.
The action is concentrated in two cells:
- Nominative plural carries the masculine-personal split. Personal nouns take -i / -y with a stem mutation (student → studenci, Polak → Polacy with k → c, aktor → aktorzy with r → rz) or -owie (profesor → profesorowie); everything else takes -y / -i / -a with no personhood signal.
- Genitive plural is the famously tricky one. Hard masculine nouns take -ów (kotów, studentów); soft and feminine/neuter nouns often take a zero ending that exposes the bare stem, frequently with an inserted vowel (kobieta → kobiet, okno → okien with a fleeting -ie-); soft feminines take -i / -y (noc → nocy). See the dedicated genitive plural page.
Dobrzy studenci przyszli, a dobre studentki zostały w domu.
The good (male/mixed) students came, and the good (female) students stayed home. (masc.-pers. dobrzy studenci vs non-masc.-pers. dobre studentki)
Widzę studentów i koty.
I see the students and the cats. (masc.-pers. acc. = gen.: studentów; non-pers. acc. = nom.: koty)
Mam pięciu studentów i pięć kotów.
I have five (male/mixed) students and five cats. (genitive plural after pięć: studentów, kotów)
Adjective endings
The adjective system is the relief at the end of the chapter: one small, regular set of endings that agrees with the noun in gender, number, and case. Model: dobry ("good"). Soft-stem adjectives (tani "cheap") and stems in k/g swap -y for -i by spelling rule.
| Case | Masc. | Fem. | Neut. | Plural masc.-pers. | Plural other |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | dobry | dobra | dobre | dobrzy | dobre |
| Genitive | dobrego | dobrej | dobrego | dobrych | dobrych |
| Dative | dobremu | dobrej | dobremu | dobrym | dobrym |
| Accusative | dobry / dobrego* | dobrą | dobre | dobrych | dobre |
| Instrumental | dobrym | dobrą | dobrym | dobrymi | dobrymi |
| Locative | dobrym | dobrej | dobrym | dobrych | dobrych |
Masculine accusative adjective: *dobry with an inanimate noun (dobry dom), dobrego with an animate one (dobrego psa) — the adjective tracks the noun's animacy.
Notice how compact this is. The feminine takes -a in the nominative and -ą (with the diacritic) in both the accusative and the instrumental; the masculine/neuter share -ego, -emu, -ym through the oblique cases; the masculine-personal plural takes -i in the nominative (dobrzy) while everything else takes -e. Learn this once and every adjective follows it.
Mieszkam w nowym mieszkaniu z dobrą sąsiadką.
I live in a new flat with a good (female) neighbour. (locative nowym mieszkaniu; instrumental dobrą sąsiadką — note the -ą diacritic)
To jest samochód mojego starszego brata.
This is my older brother's car. (genitive: mojego starszego brata — the adjective and noun both take genitive)
The diacritics that live in the endings
Several endings are defined by a diacritic, and dropping it is a real error, not a typo:
- -ą — feminine instrumental and accusative singular (kobietą, dobrą); plural instrumental of ten etc.
- -ę — feminine accusative singular (kobietę) and the neuter -ę nouns (imię).
- -ów — masculine genitive plural (studentów, kotów) — the ó, not plain o.
- -ść / -ć mutated stems in the locative/dative singular (radość → radości, brat → bracie).
Idę z bratem i jego żoną na obiad.
I'm going to lunch with my brother and his wife. (instrumental bratem -em, żoną -ą)
Common Mistakes
Writing the masculine inanimate accusative as if it were genitive. Animate masculine accusative copies the genitive (Widzę kota → kota), but inanimate masculine accusative copies the nominative (Widzę dom, never domu). Learners overgeneralise the animate rule.
❌ Mam nowego samochodu.
Incorrect — samochód is inanimate, so accusative = nominative: samochód.
✅ Mam nowy samochód.
I have a new car.
Dropping the diacritic in -ą / -ę / -ów endings. Kobieta in the instrumental is kobietą, not kobieta; in the accusative kobietę, not kobiete. The diacritic is the ending.
❌ Jadę z siostra i widzę kobiete.
Incorrect — instrumental needs -ą (siostrą), accusative needs -ę (kobietę).
✅ Jadę z siostrą i widzę kobietę.
I'm travelling with my sister and I see a woman.
Forgetting the locative/dative stem mutation. The -e ending softens the preceding consonant; you cannot just glue -e on. Brat → locative bracie (t → soft), not brate; matka → dative matce (k → c), not matke.
❌ Myślę o bracie... ❌ ...o brate.
Incorrect form 'brate' — the stem must mutate before locative -e.
✅ Myślę o bracie.
I'm thinking about my brother. (brat → bracie, with the stem softened)
Applying the masculine-personal nominative-plural form to non-people. Dobrzy and the -i/-y personal endings are reserved for groups including men. Cats, tables, and women-only groups take the -e / -y non-personal forms.
❌ Te koty są dobrzy.
Incorrect — cats are not masculine-personal; use the non-personal adjective: dobre.
✅ Te koty są dobre.
These cats are good.
Key Takeaways
- Three variables fix every ending: gender (+ animacy/personhood), stem hardness, number.
- The plural is mostly uniform (-om, -ami, -ach); the action is in the nominative and genitive plural.
- Animacy governs the masculine accusative; personhood governs the masculine plural.
- The locative/dative -e mutates the stem — pair this page with the mutation reference.
- Adjectives are one small regular set that simply agrees — learn them once.
Now practice Polish
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- The Seven Polish Cases: OverviewA1 — An English-speaker's map of the Polish case system — what the seven cases are, why endings replace word order, and how to learn them by their triggers.
- How to Actually Learn the CasesA1 — A strategy, not a table dump — the order to learn the seven Polish cases in, the three triggers that demand them, and the habits that make declension stick.
- Grammatical Gender: Three GendersA1 — Every Polish noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter — and its gender, usually readable from the nominative ending, drives all agreement.
- Full Adjective Declension TablesA2 — The complete adjective paradigm across all seven cases and both numbers — and why it's the most regular, learnable part of the Polish case system.
- Consonant Mutation Reference TableB1 — The master table of Polish consonant alternations (alternacje) — every hard-to-soft mutation, its trigger, and where it surfaces in cases, verbs, comparatives and word formation.
- The Genitive PluralB1 — Polish's hardest noun form: the -ów / -i / -y endings, the zero ending for feminine and neuter nouns, and the fleeting vowel that appears in the stem.