Mixed Crowds and the Virile Plural
In Polish, if a group of people includes at least one male, the noun takes the "virile" (męskoosobowe) plural form. This applies to groups of men, professions, and any mixed-gender crowds. If a room has ninety-nine women and one man, the whole group is grammatically virile!
Virile nouns in the nominative case generally take one of three endings: -e, -i, or -owie.
Soft Consonants and the -e Ending
If a noun ends in a "soft" or "historically soft" consonant (like ć, l, c, or rz), the plural ending is -e. Note that a final ć is spelled as ci before -e (gość ➔ goście).
Hard Consonants, Mutations, and the -i Ending
Many virile nouns take the ending -i. When this happens, the hard consonant at the end of the word must "soften" (mutate) to make the -i easier to pronounce.
Here are some common consonant mutations you will encounter:
- d becomes dzi (and notice the vowel a shifts to e): sąsiad ➔ sąsiedzi
- t becomes ci: klient ➔ klienci
Some masculine nouns describing people end in -a instead of a consonant (like turysta or artysta). To make them plural, drop the -a. The remaining st mutates to ści before adding the -i.
The -owie Ending
Finally, some virile nouns take the ending -owie. This ending is historically used to show respect for titles, family members, and professions, though it is also assigned to a few everyday roles. (Notice how uczeń drops the e in its stem to become uczniowie).
