Cohesion: Reference, Substitution, and Connectives | Polish Grammar

A C1 writer is judged less on individual sentences than on how the sentences hold together. English glues text with articles — a problem becomes the problem becomes this problem — but Polish has no articles at all. It builds cohesion with a different toolkit: demonstratives (ten / ów / taki) for tracking referents, pronouns and ellipsis for not repeating what is already known, a rich inventory of connectives, and above all word order that keeps the known information in front. Master this toolkit and your paragraphs start to flow; neglect it and your Polish reads as a list of disconnected sentences.

The core insight: tracking referents without "the"

When English introduces something new and then refers back to it, it switches article: I saw a dog. The dog was limping. Polish cannot do this — pies is pies whether new or old. Instead it tracks the referent with demonstratives and word order. A thing introduced as indefinite (often with jakiś "some, a certain") is later picked up with ten ("this/that, the aforementioned"):

Podszedł do mnie jakiś mężczyzna. Ten mężczyzna wyglądał na zdenerwowanego.

Some man came up to me. The [aforementioned] man looked agitated.

Here jakiś mężczyzna marks the man as new (indefinite); ten mężczyzna in the next sentence marks him as given — the one we already know. ten is doing the cohesive work English assigns to the / this. Very often, once the referent is firmly established, Polish drops the noun entirely and uses a bare pronoun or nothing at all (see ellipsis below).

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Polish has no articles, so cohesion runs through the demonstrative-and-word-order system instead. Rule of thumb: introduce a referent (bare noun, or jakiś + noun), then track it with ten on later mentions, then let it fade into a pronoun or zero once it's firmly the topic. That arc — jakiś → ten → pronoun/zero — is the Polish replacement for a → the → it.

Choosing the demonstrative: ten, ów, taki

Three demonstratives share the cohesive load, and choosing among them is a register and precision decision.

ten / ta / to — the neutral, everyday "this/that, the said one". The default cohesive demonstrative in speech and most writing.
ów / owa / owo — a formal/literary equivalent of ten, meaning "that, the aforementioned". It belongs to careful prose, essays, legal and academic text; using it lifts the register.
taki / taka / takie — "such (a), that kind of". It refers back not to a specific item but to a type or quality just described.

Komisja rozpatrzyła wniosek. Ów wniosek dotyczył budowy mostu.

The committee examined the application. That [aforementioned] application concerned the building of a bridge. (ów — formal/literary reference)

Mówił spokojnie i rzeczowo. Taki ton od razu budzi zaufanie.

He spoke calmly and matter-of-factly. Such a tone immediately inspires trust. (taki — refers to the type/quality)

The contrast with tamten ("that one over there, the other") and the demonstrative system as a whole are on ten / ta / to and ten vs tamten vs to. For cohesion the working pair is ten (neutral) and ów (formal); reach for ów in essays and reports, not in conversation.

Substitution and ellipsis: not repeating the known

Polish is a pro-drop language, and it extends that economy across the discourse. Once a referent is established, you do not repeat it — you pronominalise it, substitute a lighter word, or omit it entirely. Because verbs carry person and the case endings carry the syntactic role, Polish can leave out far more than English.

Anna kupiła nowy samochód. Jest czerwony i bardzo jej się podoba.

Anna bought a new car. [It] is red and she likes [it] very much. (subject 'it' dropped; samochód not repeated)

Piotr zamówił kawę, a Marta herbatę.

Piotr ordered a coffee, and Marta [ordered] tea. (gapping — the verb zamówiła is elided)

In the second example the verb zamówiła is gapped — understood from the first clause, never spoken. This kind of ellipsis, natural and frequent in Polish, is treated on ellipsis and gapping. Substitution also works through demonstrative pronouns standing alone: to ("this/that, the whole thing") can pick up an entire preceding clause:

Spóźnił się na pociąg. To zmieniło wszystkie nasze plany.

He missed the train. That [whole fact] changed all our plans. (to refers back to the entire previous sentence)

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Overusing pronouns is a classic English-speaker error in Polish. If the verb ending already tells you the subject, do not add on / ona — say Jest czerwony, not Ono jest czerwone. The unmarked way to refer back to a known subject is to drop it. Pronouns are added for contrast or emphasis, not as default cohesion.

The connective inventory

Connectives signal the logical relation between sentences. Polish has a graded inventory, and choosing the right register-level connective is part of C1 polish.

Relation	Connective	Register / note
contrast ("however")	jednak / jednakże	jednakże is more formal
contrast ("whereas, by contrast")	natomiast	formal/neutral; points to a counterpart
addition ("moreover")	ponadto / co więcej	formal written
result ("therefore")	zatem / wobec tego	formal; spoken: więc, dlatego
consequence ("in connection with this")	w związku z tym	administrative/formal
reformulation ("that is")	czyli / to znaczy	neutral

Projekt był dobrze przygotowany. Zabrakło jednak funduszy na jego realizację.

The project was well prepared. There was, however, a lack of funds for carrying it out. (jednak — contrast, in second position)

Pierwszy wariant jest tańszy. Drugi natomiast daje większe możliwości.

The first option is cheaper. The second, by contrast, offers greater possibilities. (natomiast — contrastive counterpart)

Termin został przekroczony. W związku z tym naliczono karę umowną.

The deadline was exceeded. In connection with this, a contractual penalty was charged. (w związku z tym — formal/administrative result)

Note the placement: jednak and natomiast typically sit inside the second clause (second position), not necessarily at its very front — Zabrakło jednak funduszy, not only Jednak zabrakło funduszy. This mobility is a feature of Polish connectives that English's clause-initial however lacks. The full set of formal structuring devices is on formal discourse structuring.

Word order for topic continuity

Here is the device English speakers most often miss. Polish keeps a text cohesive by fronting the known (given) element and pushing the new (focus) to the end — the given–new principle. Within free Polish word order, the topic (what we are already talking about) goes first, the comment / new information goes last. This is how Polish maintains continuity without articles: the reader knows the front of the sentence links back, and the end of the sentence is where to look for what is new.

Do biura wszedł nowy dyrektor. Dyrektora wszyscy znali z telewizji.

A new director walked into the office. The director everyone knew from television. (dyrektora fronted as the known topic; the new info — 'from TV' — comes last)

O tym problemie mówiono już wcześniej. Nikt jednak nic nie zrobił.

This problem had been spoken of before. Nobody, however, did anything. (O tym problemie fronted to chain to the previous topic)

In the first example, dyrektora (accusative, fronted) is the given topic carried over from the previous sentence; the new information (z telewizji) lands at the end. Fronting a non-subject as the topic — topicalisation — is one of Polish's main cohesion tools and is treated on topicalisation and left-dislocation, with the broader given–new mechanics on topic, focus and information structure.

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The flow of good Polish prose follows the given–new arc within each sentence: start with what the reader already knows (it links back), end with what is new (it becomes the next sentence's "known"). This chaining — old at the front, new at the back, new becomes old — is what makes a paragraph cohere when there are no articles to mark definiteness.

A worked paragraph

W 2019 roku otwarto w mieście nową bibliotekę. Budynek zaprojektował znany architekt; ów projekt nagrodzono na kilku konkursach. Sama biblioteka szybko stała się ulubionym miejscem mieszkańców. Przychodzą tu nie tylko po książki — wielu traktuje ją jak drugi dom.

In 2019 a new library was opened in the town. The building was designed by a well-known architect; that design won awards at several competitions. The library itself quickly became residents' favourite spot. They come here not only for books — many treat it like a second home.

Trace the cohesion: nową bibliotekę is introduced (new) → Budynek picks up part of it (the building, given) → ów projekt refers back formally to the design → Sama biblioteka returns to the topic with emphatic sama ("the library itself") → Przychodzą drops the subject (it is now firmly established) → ją pronominalises the library. Across four sentences not one referent is awkwardly repeated, and every sentence opens with something the reader already knows.

Common Mistakes

These are the cohesion errors English speakers make most.

❌ Repeating the full noun on every mention: 'Kupiłem samochód. Samochód jest czerwony. Samochód jest szybki.'

Clunky — Polish would pronominalise or drop: 'Kupiłem samochód. Jest czerwony i szybki.'

✅ Kupiłem samochód. Jest czerwony i bardzo szybki.

I bought a car. [It] is red and very fast. (subject dropped — natural cohesion)

❌ Adding a pronoun for every reference: 'Ona przyszła. Ona usiadła. Ona zaczęła mówić.'

Pronoun overuse — Polish drops the subject: 'Przyszła, usiadła i zaczęła mówić.'

✅ Przyszła, usiadła i zaczęła mówić.

[She] came in, sat down and began to speak. (pro-drop chains the clauses)

❌ Putting the new information first: 'Nowy dyrektor wszyscy znali z telewizji' as a follow-up sentence.

Breaks topic continuity — the given referent (dyrektora) should be fronted, the new info last.

✅ Dyrektora wszyscy znali z telewizji.

The director everyone knew from television. (given topic fronted, new info last)

❌ Using 'ów' in casual conversation: 'Spotkałem kolegę. Ów kolega…'

✅ Spotkałem kolegę. Ten kolega ciągle się spóźnia.

I met a colleague. This colleague is always late. (ten — neutral spoken reference)

Key Takeaways

With no articles, Polish tracks referents through demonstratives and word order: the arc jakiś → ten → pronoun/zero replaces English a → the → it.
Choose the demonstrative by register: ten (neutral), ów (formal/literary "the aforementioned"), taki (refers to a type/quality).
Lean on pro-drop, ellipsis and gapping — do not repeat the known, and do not add a pronoun the verb ending already supplies.
Pick connectives by register (jednak, natomiast, ponadto, w związku z tym) and remember they often sit in second position, not only clause-initially.
Maintain topic continuity with the given–new order: known element fronted, new information last — the engine that makes C1 paragraphs flow.

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