Distributing Amounts with po
When you want to say that people received or contributed a certain amount "each" or "apiece," Polish uses the preposition po.
For numbers two and above, po is followed by the numeral in the Accusative case. The noun following the numeral behaves exactly as it normally would after that number in the Accusative (for numbers 2–4, the noun is in the Accusative; for 5 and above, the noun takes the Genitive case).
This structure is used frequently with verbs related to sharing, such as złożyć się (to chip in), rozdawać (to hand out), and przydzielić (to allocate). You will also often see it alongside adverbs of frequency like dziennie (daily).
| We all chipped in two banknotes each for the present. | Wszyscy złożyliśmy się po dwa banknoty na prezent. |
| The teacher was handing out three copies of the book to us each. | Nauczyciel rozdawał nam po trzy egzemplarze książki. |
| The boss allocated us four tasks each daily. | Szef przydzielił nam po cztery zadania dziennie. |
Dividing Fairly and Equally
You can further describe how things are divided by adding adverbs like porówno (equally in shares) and sprawiedliwie (fairly).
| They divided the profit equally and got five thousand each. | Podzielili zysk porówno i dostali po pięć tysięcy. |
| You must divide everything fairly, two pieces for everyone. | Musisz podzielić wszystko sprawiedliwie, po dwa kawałki dla każdego. |
Pocket Money and Rates
The distributive po is perfect for talking about regular financial allowances, like pocket money (kieszonkowe) given miesięcznie (monthly), or the consistent rate at which someone works.
| Our children get one hundred zlotys each monthly as pocket money. | Nasze dzieci dostają po sto złotych miesięcznie jako kieszonkowe. |
| This new boss is more hardworking, he does two projects at a time. | Ten nowy szef jest bardziej pracowity, robi po dwa projekty. |