The Dative Plural: Nouns and Adjectives
Good news! When describing actions directed at entire groups of people, the Dative plural is incredibly predictable. Regardless of gender, nouns and adjectives take highly regular endings.
- Adjectives take the ending -ym (or -im after k, g, or soft consonants).
- Nouns take the ending -om.
For example, biedny (poor) becomes biednym, and ludzie (people) becomes ludziom. Together, "to poor people" is biednym ludziom.
Many common verbs relating to interacting with others—such as returning an item or helping someone—require the Dative case for the recipient of the action.
| We are not returning the money to the poor people. | Nie oddajemy pieniędzy biednym ludziom. |
| My mother always helps poor children. | Moja matka zawsze pomaga biednym dzieciom. |
More Verbs That Take the Dative
Verbs for allowing, promising, lending, bothering, or forbidding also take the Dative case. Notice how the -ym ... -om pattern repeats perfectly in every sentence.
| We do not allow lonely people to sit here. | Nie pozwalamy samotnym ludziom tu siedzieć. |
| I promise help to lonely patients. | Obiecuję pomoc samotnym pacjentom. |
| I never lend money to strangers. | Nigdy nie pożyczam pieniędzy obcym osobom. |
Because the Dative plural endings are so reliable, you can easily stack multiple Dative phrases in the same sentence if multiple groups are involved.
| We cannot allow the guests to bother the new clients. | Nie możemy pozwolić gościom przeszkadzać nowym klientom. |
| The boss forbids the young workers to bother the guests. | Szef zabrania młodym pracownikom przeszkadzać gościom. |