This page covers the possessives you reach for every single day: mój (my), twój (your), nasz (our), wasz (your, to a group), and the trio jego / jej / ich (his / her / their). The single most important thing to learn first is that Polish splits these into two camps — words that change shape to match the thing owned, and words that never change at all. Once you know which is which, everyday possession becomes easy.
The big idea: possessives agree with the OWNED thing
In English, "my" never changes: my car, my coffee, my child. The word stays the same no matter what follows. Polish does not work this way for mój. The possessive matches the gender of the noun it stands in front of — and since every Polish noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter, mój has three nominative forms:
| Gender of noun | "my" | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | mój | mój dom (my house) |
| feminine | moja | moja kawa (my coffee) |
| neuter | moje | moje dziecko (my child) |
The agreement is with the noun, not with the speaker. A man and a woman both say mój samochód for "my car," because the choice is driven by samochód (masculine), not by who is speaking.
To mój dom.
This is my house.
To moja kawa, nie twoja.
This is my coffee, not yours.
To moje dziecko.
This is my child.
mój and twój — the same pattern
Twój ("your," speaking to one person) behaves identically to mój. Same endings, same logic. Note the diacritic: it is mój and twój with ó (the o-with-an-accent), never plain moj or twoj.
| Gender | my | your (sg.) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | mój | twój |
| feminine | moja | twoja |
| neuter | moje | twoje |
To twój telefon?
Is this your phone?
Gdzie jest twoja siostra?
Where is your sister?
To nie twoje miejsce.
This isn't your seat.
nasz and wasz — "our" and "your (plural)"
Nasz means "our," and wasz means "your" when you address more than one person (or a group as a whole). They follow the same agreement pattern, though the masculine form ends in a consonant rather than -ój:
| Gender | our | your (pl.) |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | nasz | wasz |
| feminine | nasza | wasza |
| neuter | nasze | wasze |
To nasz nauczyciel.
This is our teacher.
To nasza wina.
It's our fault.
Gdzie jest wasze auto?
Where is your (you all's) car?
The easy part: jego, jej, ich never change
Here is the relief. Jego (his), jej (her), and ich (their) are invariable — they do not agree with anything. Whatever the gender of the owned noun, the word stays the same:
|
|
| |
|---|---|---|---|
| his | jego dom | jego kawa | jego dziecko |
| her | jej dom | jej kawa | jej dziecko |
| their | ich dom | ich kawa | ich dziecko |
These three are actually the genitive forms of the personal pronouns on / ona / oni pressed into service as possessives, which is exactly why they are frozen — a genitive pronoun has nothing to agree with. For the learner this is pure good news: with his / her / their you never have to think about the noun's gender at all.
To jego książka.
This is his book.
To jej brat.
This is her brother.
To ich mieszkanie.
This is their apartment.
Putting it together with "to..."
The most common frame for a beginner is To... ("This is.../It's..."). It pairs naturally with a possessive plus a noun. Notice that the verb jest ("is") is usually left out in these short identifying sentences — you can simply say To mój dom, though To jest mój dom is also correct and a touch more emphatic.
Czyj to samochód? To mój.
Whose car is this? It's mine.
To wasz stół, a tamto to nasz stół.
This is your table, and that one is our table.
When the possessive stands alone as an answer ("It's mine"), it still takes the gender of the thing being talked about: To mój if the thing is masculine (a samochód), To moja if feminine (a kawa), To moje if neuter (a dziecko).
A note on "swój" (just so you recognise it)
Polish has a reflexive possessive swój ("one's own") used when the owner is also the subject of the sentence: Mam swój klucz ("I have my own key"). At A1 you mainly need to recognise it; the rule for when to use it instead of mój / jego gets its own page — see Reflexive possessive: swój. For now, just know that swój exists and is not a typo of twój.
Common Mistakes
❌ To moj dom.
Incorrect — missing the accent on ó.
✅ To mój dom.
This is my house.
The accent in mój and twój is not optional decoration. Leaving it off is a spelling error, the same as writing "thier" for "their" in English.
❌ To mój kawa.
Incorrect — kawa is feminine, so 'my' must be feminine too.
✅ To moja kawa.
This is my coffee.
English speakers forget that mój changes. The form follows the gender of the noun, so kawa (feminine) forces moja.
❌ To jega książka.
Incorrect — jego never changes to agree with książka.
✅ To jego książka.
This is his book.
Learners over-apply the agreement rule and "decline" jego / jej / ich. Resist it — these three are frozen.
❌ To jej dom, ona jest tutaj. To jego dom też.
Mixing up jego (his) and jej (her).
✅ To jej dom, a to jego dom.
This is her house, and this is his house.
Jej = her, jego = his. They look and sound similar; keep them straight by remembering jego shares its first letters with no English crutch — just drill the pair.
❌ To nasz kawa.
Incorrect — feminine noun needs nasza.
✅ To nasza kawa.
This is our coffee.
Nasz / wasz agree exactly like mój / twój: nasz dom, nasza kawa, nasze dziecko.
Key Takeaways
- mój, twój, nasz, wasz agree with the gender of the owned noun: three nominative forms each (-Ø / -a / -e... or -ój / -oja / -oje).
- jego (his), jej (her), ich (their) never change — the single biggest shortcut at A1.
- Choose the form by looking at the noun, not at who is speaking.
- Watch the diacritics: it is always mój and twój with ó.
- For the full declension across all seven cases, and for the reflexive swój, see the linked pages once you reach A2.
Now practice Polish
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- Possessive Pronouns: mój, twój, nasz, waszA1 — Polish 'my', 'your', and 'our' agree with the thing owned, not the owner — and they fully decline for case, so 'my' has more than a dozen forms.
- His, Her, Their: jego, jej, ich (Invariable)A2 — Unlike mój and nasz, the third-person possessives jego, jej and ich never change form — they are frozen genitive pronouns that ignore the gender and case of the noun.
- swój: The Reflexive PossessiveB1 — When the owner is the subject of the clause, Polish forces the reflexive possessive swój — and using jego or jej instead quietly changes the meaning to 'someone else's'.
- Grammatical Gender: Three GendersA1 — Every Polish noun is masculine, feminine, or neuter — and its gender, usually readable from the nominative ending, drives all agreement.
- Identifying Sentences: To jest…A1 — The frozen 'this/that is' construction (To jest dom, To są moje dzieci) — why to never changes, why the predicate noun stays nominative, and how it differs from On jest nauczycielem.