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### Masculine Animate Direct Objects

In the previous lesson, you saw that masculine *inanimate* nouns (like a phone or juice) do not change when they are the direct object of a sentence. However, if a masculine noun is **animate**—meaning it refers to a person or an animal—it requires special endings in the Accusative case.

### The Noun Ending: -a

When a masculine animate noun is the direct object, you add **-a** to the end of it.

- *kot* (cat) becomes *kota*
- *nauczyciel* (teacher) becomes *nauczyciela*
- *syn* (son) becomes *syna*
- *lekarz* (doctor) becomes *lekarza*

**Note on dropped vowels:** Some common words drop the last vowel of their base form before adding the **-a** ending. 

- *pies* (dog) becomes *psa*
- *ojciec* (father) becomes *ojca*
- *chłopiec* (boy) becomes *chłopca*

### The Adjective and Pronoun Ending: -ego

Any adjectives or pronouns that describe a masculine animate direct object must also change. They take the ending **-ego**.

- *mój* (my) becomes *mojego*
- *twój* (your) becomes *twojego*
- *ten* (this) becomes *tego*
- *nowy* (new) becomes *nowego*
- *dobry* (good) becomes *dobrego*

### Putting It Together

Let's see these endings in action with common verbs that take direct objects, such as *widzieć* (to see), *lubić* (to like), and *znać* (to know).

{{item:942313}}

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### Subject vs. Object

Remember that only the *direct object* receives these special endings. The subject (the person or animal doing the action) stays in its basic dictionary form. Notice how the endings change when *brat* (brother) and *nauczyciel* (teacher) switch roles in the next two sentences:

{{item:942317}}

{{item:942321}}

Here is one last example showing how an adjective (*mały* -> *małego*) changes to match the object (*kot* -> *kota*), while the subject (*chłopiec*) remains completely untouched.

{{item:942324}}

Animate masculine direct objects (Accusative)

adjective

adverb

conjunction

determiner

interjection

noun

numeral

particle

predicative

preposition

pronoun

proper noun

sentence

verb

This is (to jest)

The verb to be, singular (być)

Formal address (Pan, Pani)

Demonstrative pronouns (ten, ta, to)

Adjective agreement

Negation (nie)

Basic questions (czy, kto, co, gdzie, jak)

The verb to be, plural (być)

Present tense -m/-sz verbs

Reflexive verbs (się)

Coordinating conjunctions (i, a, ale)

Feminine direct objects (Accusative)

Inanimate direct objects (Accusative)

Present tense verbs 2 (-ę, -isz / -ysz)

Expressing location (w, na)

Locative adjective agreement

Professions and nationalities (Instrumental)

Accompaniment (z + Instrumental)

Present tense verbs 3 (-ę, -esz)

Plural possessives (nasz, wasz)

Numbers 1 to 10

Genitive of possession

Genitive of negation

Lack or absence (nie ma)

Basic quantifiers (dużo, mało, trochę)

Liking things (podoba mi się)

Modal verbs (móc, musieć)

Subordinating conjunctions (bo, że)

Unidirectional motion verbs (iść, jechać)

Expressing age (mieć... lat)

Habitual motion (chodzić, jeździć)

Expressing destination (do)

Days of the week (poniedziałek, wtorek...)

Plural nouns for objects and animals

Plural nouns for people

Plural adjective agreement

Accusative object pronouns (go, ją, je...)

The past tense of to be (był)

Singular past tense (-łem, -łam...)

Expressing age (mieć + lata / lat)

Plural past tense (-li / -ły)

Perfective past tense

Future tense (będę + infinitive)

Age: one year (mieć rok)

Prices and currency (złoty, grosz)

Destination (na + accusative)

Non-masculine plurals (-e, -y, -i)

Instrumental pronouns (ze mną, z tobą)

To know (znać vs wiedzieć)

The future perfective tense

The imperative mood

Months of the year (styczeń, luty)

Greetings and farewells (dzień dobry, cześć)

Introducing yourself (mam na imię)

Thank you and sorry (dziękuję, przepraszam)

Left, right, up and down (po lewej stronie)

Parts of the body (ręka, noga)

Parts of the day (dzień, noc, południe)

What is it like? (jaki, jaka, jakie)

Speaking Polish (mówić po polsku)

Instrumental for adjectives (dobrym, dobrą)

Please do... (proszę + infinitive)

Interests (interesować się + Instrumental)

Can one? (można, trzeba, nie wolno)

By bus or by train (jechać autobusem)

Where are you from? (jestem z Polski)

Where exactly? (obok, przy, przed, za, pod, nad)

What time is it? (Która godzina?)

Not seeing her (go, jej, ich; niego, niej, nich)

When I have time (kiedy as a conjunction)

Irregular past stems (miał, mieli)

The verb 'iść' in the past (szedł, szli)

Imperfective future (będę odpoczywał)

Past aspect (robił vs zrobił)

Future aspect (będzie malował vs pomaluje)

Perfective motion with po- (pójść, pojechać)

Arrival verbs with przy- (przyjść, przyjechać)

Departure verbs with wy- (wyjść, wyjechać)

The Vocative case (Panie, Mamo)

Plural possessives (moi, moje)

Reflexive possessive pronouns (swój)

Genitive plural of masculine nouns (-ów, -y, -i)

Genitive plural of feminine and neuter nouns

Genitive plural of adjectives (-ych, -ich)

Accusative plural of masculine personal nouns

Numbers 2, 3, and 4

Question	Answer
to see	widzieć
my	mój
I see my dog.	Widzę mojego psa.
Do you see this cat?	Czy widzisz tego kota?
to like	lubić
teacher	nauczyciel
My brother likes the new teacher.	Mój brat lubi nowego nauczyciela.
your	twój
father	ojciec
I know your father.	Znam twojego ojca.
The teacher knows my brother.	Nauczyciel zna mojego brata.
The child likes the young teacher.	Dziecko lubi młodego nauczyciela.
boy	chłopiec
The boy sees a small cat.	Chłopiec widzi małego kota.
to love	kochać
son	syn
I love my son very much.	Bardzo kocham mojego syna.
Does the teacher understand the young boy?	Czy nauczyciel rozumie młodego chłopca?
doctor	lekarz
Do you know a good doctor, sir?	Czy pan zna dobrego lekarza?
They have a big dog.	Oni mają dużego psa.
My son likes the black dog, and I like the black cat.	Mój syn lubi czarnego psa, a ja lubię czarnego kota.
Do you like my black cat, ma'am?	Czy pani lubi mojego czarnego kota?
I love your father.	Kocham twojego ojca.
Do you know a good doctor?	Czy znasz dobrego lekarza?
to adore, to love (doing something) (imperfective)	uwielbiać
I love coffee.	Uwielbiam kawę.
My sister loves reading books.	Moja siostra uwielbia czytać książki.

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