Numbers 5 and Above
In Polish, the number pięć (five) and most larger numbers (like 6, 10, or 50) require the following noun to be in the Genitive plural.
Additionally, when a phrase with one of these numbers is the subject of a sentence, the verb takes a singular neuter form (such as jest instead of są). It helps to think of these numbers as describing a single "quantity" or "group".
| There are five people in the room. | W pokoju jest pięć osób. |
| When we arrived, we saw six people. | Kiedy przyjechaliśmy, widzieliśmy sześć osób. |
Forming the Genitive Plural
The Genitive plural ending depends on the noun's gender.
For most masculine nouns, simply add the suffix -ów to the stem.
| My son has twenty points. | Mój syn ma dwadzieścia punktów. |
| It is eight kilometers to the city. | Do miasta jest osiem kilometrów. |
For most feminine and neuter nouns, the Genitive plural has a "zero ending" — meaning you drop the final vowel. Dropping this vowel can sometimes cause the preceding vowel to shift, like o changing to ó (słowo -> słów).
| We have been waiting here for ten minutes already. | Czekamy tu już dziesięć minut. |
| There are eighteen classes in this school. | W tej szkole jest osiemnaście klas. |
| You must write fifty words. | Musisz napisać pięćdziesiąt słów. |
Hundreds, Thousands, and Beyond
Exactly the same rule applies to larger quantities. Words like sto (a hundred) and tysiąc (a thousand) also trigger the Genitive plural for the nouns that follow them.
| You must have a hundred points. | Musisz mieć sto punktów. |
| This text has a thousand words. | Ten tekst ma tysiąc słów. |
When counting thousands with numbers 5 or greater, the word tysiąc itself must also be in the Genitive plural (tysięcy), alongside the noun you are counting.
| Yesterday we took ten thousand steps. | Wczoraj zrobiliśmy dziesięć tysięcy kroków. |