The Digital World
When discussing data protection and online restrictions, you will frequently use terms like prywatność (privacy) and cyfrowy (digital). Notice how a typical verb like chronić (to protect) uses the standard Accusative case for its direct object.
| Digital privacy is very important to us. | Cyfrowa prywatność jest dla nas bardzo ważna. |
| We fight for what protects our privacy. | Walczymy o to, co chroni naszą prywatność. |
Verbs Governing the Genitive Case
Just as some verbs demand the Instrumental case, certain verbs require their object to take the Genitive case, even in affirmative sentences. Singular Genitive endings are typically -a or -u for masculine and neuter nouns, and -y or -i for feminine nouns. Plural Genitive endings often take -ów for masculine nouns, or drop the final vowel entirely for feminine and neuter nouns.
Deprivation
Verbs that express removing or taking something away, such as pozbawiać (to deprive) and its perfective equivalent pozbawić, require the Genitive case for the thing being taken. The person or entity being deprived takes the Accusative case.
| The new system deprives us of privacy. | Nowy system pozbawia nas prywatności. |
| The virus deprived me of my files. | Wirus pozbawił mnie moich plików. |
Prohibition
Verbs that mean to forbid or to ban also govern the Genitive case for the prohibited thing. Common examples include zakazywać (to forbid officially) and zabronić (to forbid). When you need to specify who is forbidden from having or doing something, that person takes the Dative case.
| The law forbids censorship on the internet. | Prawo zakazuje cenzury w internecie. |
| Why does he still forbid me access to this data? | Dlaczego on wciąż zakazuje mi dostępu do tych danych? |
| The boss forbade us private conversations. | Szef zabronił nam prywatnych rozmów. |
Guarding and Defending
While chronić takes the Accusative, the verb strzec (to guard, to keep watch over) demands the Genitive case for the object being closely guarded.
| You must guard your passwords. | Musisz strzec swoich haseł. |
| The better you guard your privacy, the better you sleep. | Im lepiej strzeżesz swojej prywatności, tym lepiej śpisz. |