Neuter Nouns Ending in "-ę"
A special group of neuter nouns ending in -ę—such as plemię (tribe), brzemię (burden), and znamię (birthmark)—follow a unique declension pattern. In the Nominative and Accusative cases, they simply use their dictionary form.
| This was a small tribe. | To było małe plemię. |
| Every descendant carries this burden. | Każdy potomek nosi to brzemię. |
| This red birthmark is hereditary. | To czerwone znamię jest dziedziczne. |
The Expanded "-eni-" Stem
In other cases, the final -ę is replaced by an expanded -eni- stem before adding the case ending.
For the Genitive case, the ending is -enia. You will use this after prepositions like z (from) or to show possession.
| My ancestor was from this tribe. | Mój przodek był z tego plemienia. |
For the Instrumental case, the ending is -eniem, which is often used with z meaning "with".
| My daughter was born with the same birthmark. | Moja córka urodziła się z takim samym znamieniem. |
When talking about (o) these nouns, the expanded stem takes the Locative ending -eniu.
| When I read about this tribe, I think about history. | Gdy czytam o tym plemieniu, myślę o historii. |
| I do not want to talk about this burden. | Nie chcę mówić o tym brzemieniu. |
Exploring Your Ancestry
To explore your family history further, here is some essential vocabulary for discussing your ancestry (pochodzenie), your roots (korzenie), and your genealogical tree:
| I am making my genealogical tree. | Robię moje drzewo genealogiczne. |
| I am looking for information about my roots. | Szukam informacji o moich korzeniach. |
| They are asking me about my ancestry. | Pytają mnie o moje pochodzenie. |