1. Nominative Plural. Nouns in the nominative plural distinguish two genders, MALE-PERSONAL for referring to groups including male persons and OTHER for referring to other than male persons. "They were all there" with reference to male persons is Oni wszyscy byli tam but with reference to other than male persons it is One wszystkie były tam.

Male-Personal gender should not be identified with Masculine gender, although the two overlap. In the singular, a Masculine noun like pies (dog) and a Male-Personal noun like chłopiec (boy) both being animate pattern alike, using the genitive form for the accusative: psa, chłopca . But in the plural, nouns like pies do not denote male persons and do not have Male-Personal gender. They pattern like inanimate masculine, neuter, and feminine nouns and have an accusative form identical with the nominative form (see Ch. 10).

1.1 Male-personal nouns with stems in a basic consonant commonly take the nominative plural ending -i. This ending conditions softening in the stem consonant (although for three consonants the result is phonetically hard). The softening changes conditioned by -i are the same as those before locative singular -e (Ch. 8, 3), with one exception:

BASIC

SOFTENED

dź

phonetically soft

phonetically hard

For nouns where stem softening results in a phonetically hard consonant, -i is replaced by -y. Thus, while student- before -i softens to studenć- and the result is studenci, Polak- before -i shifts to Polac-, which is phonetically hard, so the result is Polacy.

1.2 Pronouns and adjectives agreeing with male-personal nouns in the nominative plural likewise take the ending -i (-y) and soften the stem consonant. In addition to the above consonant softenings, stem-final sz shifts to ś. Examples: polski student > polscy studenci, młody Polak > młodzi Polacy, nasz kolega > nasi koledzy.

Pluralize. 1. amerykański prezydent 2. nowy sąsiad (a shifts to e) 3. mój kolega 4. mądry Czech (wise Czech) 5. ten mężczyzna 6. stary poeta 7. starszy (older) student 8. młody doktor 9. bogaty Włoch (wealthy Italian) 10. dobry Węgier (Hungarian; fleeting e)

2. OTHER than male-personal nouns. Masculine nouns that denote other than male persons and feminine nouns commonly take the nominative plural ending -y, which does not cause a change the stem consonant. Examples: pies > psy, samochód > samochody, kobieta > kobiety, mapa > mapy. After stem-final k and g, -y shifts to -i, e.g., ołówek > ołówki, pociąg (train) > pociągi

Since Male-Personal -i shifts to -y after softened consonants that are phonetically hard and Other -y shifts to -i after k and g, these two endings sometimes overlap in form. That is, the ending of Polacy is pronounced the same as the ending of kobiety, and the ending of ołówki is pronounced the same as the ending of studenci. Nevertheless, aside from these automatic phonetic adjustments, Polacy has the same the Male-Personal -i as studenci, and ołówki has the same Other -y as kobiety.

2.1 Pronouns and adjectives agreeing with nouns other than male-personal nouns in the nominative plural take the ending -e (cf. one), e.g., młode żony, nasze rowery. In position before -e, k and g shift slightly forward and are spelled ki and gi, e.g., polskie książki, długie zdania.

2.2 The noun osoba (person) is grammatically Feminine in the singular and Other than male-personal in the plural, even when it refers to male persons. Ta młoda osoba była zmęczona (That young person was tired) could be said of a male person. And although we would say Tamci mężczyźni byli zmęczeni (Those men were tired), we would say (even referring to the same people) Tamte osoby były zmęczone (Those persons were tired).

Pluralize. 1. ładna dziewczyna 2. mój zeszyt 3. dobry rower 4. długi list 5. czyjś plecak 6. amerykański film 7. młoda osoba 8. mądra studentka 9. mały kot 10. tania szklanka

3. For nouns with NONBASIC (softened) stem consonants, the above contast in nominative plural endings is neutralized in favor of a uniform -e. Male-Personal nauczyciel and pisarz take the same nominative plural ending as Other than male-personal ciocia and klucz: nauczyciele, pisarze, ciocie klucze. But pronouns and adjectives modifying these nouns are still differentiated by gender: ci nauczyciele, ci pisarze versus te ciocie, te klucze.

Pluralize. 1. ciekawa książka 2. nasz kolega 3. tamten duży dom 4. amerykański pisarz 5. starsza (older) pani 6. długi koncert 7. miesiąc letni (summer month) 8. letnia sukienka 9. angielski gość 10. ta mądra dziewczyna 11. długa ulica (street) 12. język obcy (foreign) 13. stary ale piękny (beautiful) hotel 14. moja nauczycielka i pani nauczyciel 15. nasz prezydent 16. czyj klucz 17. polska gazeta 18. drogi zegarek (watch) 19. autobus pośpieszny (express) 20. pośpieszna decyzja (hasty decision)

4. -owie. Many nouns denoting male persons take the distinctively Male-Personal nominative plural ending -owie. It occurs with male kinship terms: ojciec > ojcowie, syn > synowie, mąż > mężowie, dziadek > dziadkowie, wujek > wujkowie. Also with nouns denoting high ranks: król (king) > królowie, generał > generałowie, doktor (as an academic title) > doktorowie, pan > panowie.

It is used with last names to denote married couples:, e.g., Wilczakowie (the Wilczaks), Zarębowie (the Zarębas), and with a man's first name to denote him and his wife, e.g., Jackowie (Jacek and his wife). With male kinship terms it sometimes competes in this meaning with -stwo. Thus dziadek + babcia = dziadkowie (grandparents) and wujek + ciocia = wujkowie, but wuj + ciotka = wujostwo just as pan + pani = państwo.

Nominative plural -owie does not occur after the adjective suffix -sk-. The plural of Wileński is Wileńscy, as in państwo Wileńscy (Mr. and Mrs. Wilenski) and bracia Wileńscy (the Wilenski brothers).

It does not occur after certain suffixes, e.g., -ciel (nauczyciele, przyjaciele [friends]), -arz (pisarze, lekarze [physicians]), -ent (studenci, prezydenci).

With some nouns, e.g., profesor, biolog (biologist) it is opional: profesorowie ~ profesorzy, biologowie ~ biolodzy.

Except for the above categories of nouns, whether a male-personal noun takes -owie or -i in the nominative plural is something that must simply be learned. The occurrence of -owie is routinely noted in dictionaries and vocabulary lists.

Express in Polish. 1. Husbands should love their wives. 2. Will Stan and his wife be at the party (impreza) this evening? 3. Do your grandparents live in Poland? 4. Where do Mr. and Mrs. Krawiecki live? 5. Their uncles work in Katowice

5. Neuter nouns take the nominative plural ending -a: okno > okna, mieszkanie > mieszkania, muzeum > muzea, zwierzę (animal; gen. zwierzęcia) > zwierzęta.

6. Feminine nouns which have a zero ending in the nominative singular have the nominative plural ending -i (or -y): powieść >powieści, rzecz > rzeczy, odpowiedź (answer) > odpowiedzi. This includes nouns with the suffix -ość, e.g., wiadomość (news) > wiadomości. There is a tendency for nouns of this class to switch to the nominative plural ending that is regular for soft-stem nouns, i.e., -e, e.g., kieszeń > kieszenie. some nouns admit both endings

7. Exceptions. Male-Personal nouns with stems in -c take nominative plural -y, e.g., chłopiec (boy) > chłopcy, kierowca (driver) > kierowcy. Compare palec (finger), which takes the Other ending and is regular: palce.

The plural of dziecko (child) is dzieci.

Brat (brother) and ksiądz (priest; gen. księdza) have different stems in the plural: brać- and księż-. They take the exceptional nominative plural ending -a: bracia, księża.

8. Summary. All neuter nouns in the nominative plural take -a. Some Male-Personal nouns take nominative plural -owie. Some zero-ending feminine nouns take nominative plural -i (or -y) instead of -e. Othewise the nominative plural ending of nouns is determined by the quality of the stem consonant: nouns with nonbasic (softened) stem consonants, both Male-Personal and Other, take -e, while nouns with basic (hard) stem consonants take the softening ending -i (sometimes spelled -y) if they denote male persons and -y (sometimes spelled -i) if they denote other than male persons.

Rewrite in the plural. The accusative forms called for are identical with the nominative forms. 1. Ich nauczyciel ma ładną żonę. 2. Mój syn pracuje w dużym mieście 3. Ich mieszkanie było bardzo małe. 4. Biolog, który wczoraj tu był, ma nowy plan. 5. Do nas przyszedł (came) jakiś starszy pan. 6. Mój brat ma dużego psa. 7. Nasz kierowca zna drogę przez las (through the forest). 8. Mój przyjaciel bardzo kocha swoją ciocię. 9. Nasz gość czyta ciekawą powieść\. 10. Polski ksiądz kocha małe dziecko.

9. Depersonalization. The Male-Personal/Other gender distinction in the nominative (and accusative) plural is different from the Masculine/Feminine/Neuter gender distinction in the singular. The latter is arbitrary (for inanimate nouns) and fixed; the former is subject to semantic and stylistic variation. Namely, male persons are sometimes referred to in the nominative (and accusative) plural AFFECTIVELY, with other than the Male-Personal endings. The nuances of meaning thus expressed range from contempt to familarity and even affection. For example, chłop denotes a small farmer or farm laborer. In neutral usage one might hear bezrolni (landless) chłopi. But the same people might be referred to contemptously as bezrolne chłopy. The plural of ten pijak (that drunkard) can be a stylistically neutral ci pijacy, or to express disapprobation it can be te pijaki. Some nouns are inherently pejorative, e.g., cham (boor), grubas (fatso), leniuch (lazybones), and so always show depersonalization in the plural: te chamy, te grubasy, te leniuchy. Affectionate depersonalization often occurs with chłopak (boy, young man), e.g., Nasi bracia to miłe chłopaki (Our brothers are dear lads).

10. "One", "two", "three", and "four". "One" agrees with the noun it modifies for case, gender, and number: jeden chłopiec, jedna dziewczynka, jedno dziecko, jedne drzwi.

"Two" has a feminine form dwie (dwie panie, dwie rzeczy), a masculine-neuter form dwa for other than male persons (dwa stoły, dwa zdania), and a Male-Personal form dwaj (dwaj panowie).

"Three" and "four" is trzy and cztery for other than male persons (trzy/cztery samochody, dziewczyny, krzesła). They have the Male-Personal forms trzej and czterej (trzej/czterej chłopcy, pisarze).

What "two", "three", and "four" have in common is that they combine with nominative plural noun forms and have plural verb agreement, e.g., Dwaj chłopcy siedzieli przy oknie, Dwie dziewczyny stały przy drzwiach. On the other hand, "five" and above combine with genitive plural noun forms and have singular verb agreement. (See Ch. 10. )

Replace "one" with dwa/dwie/dwaj, trzy/trzej, or cztery/czterej, as indicated. 1. U mnie w pokoju jest tylko jedno krzesło. (2) 2. Na zebranie przyszedł jeden Polak. (3) 3. Na tym uniwersytecie język polski zna tylko jeden profesor. (2) 4. Do miasta pojedzie jedna córka państwa Jedlickich. (2) 5. Ten ciekawy artykuł napisał jeden amerykański pisarz. (3)

Express in Polish. 1. There were two young persons standing by the window. 2. George's four sisters lived in Kielce. 3. In this school there are only three teachers. 4. Not all Polish writers write about Poland. 5. Two persons can't sit on one chair. 6. Wojtek has a brother and three sisters. 7. It is not true that grandfather had two wives. 8. Ania says she knows four interesting things about Zbyszek. 9. Our Polish lads know how to work! 10. Those Polish priests were in Rome (Rzym) for (przez) three months (miesiąc).

Vocabulary

amerikański American	generał general	Polak Pole
artykuł article	kierowca driver	pośpieszny express, hasty
biolog biologist	ksiądz priest	prezydent president
bogaty wealthy	las -u, w lesie forest	przez (+ acc.) through
chłop farmer	lekarz physician	przyjaciel friend
chłopak lad, young man	letni summer	starszy older
cztery four	miesiąc month	szklanka glass
decyzja decision	obcy foreign	trzy three
droga road	odpowiedź (fem.) answer	wiadomość (fem.) news
dwa two	poeta poet	zegarek -rka watch