Duolingo Polish Grammar: Chapter XIV. - Pronouns; Accented forms; The n-forms: after a preposition; Politeness: capitalizing you/your pronoun; Where to put a pronoun?

 D. Chapter XIII. ↔︎ Chapter XV.

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Polish Grammar: Chapter XIV.

Pronouns 1

Tips and notes

Personal pronouns, like most words in Polish, also undergo declension. This may be less surprising if you realize that even English has some remnants of cases, as some of them have a different form when used as an object pronoun.

The table below shows the neutral forms of Polish pronouns in all four cases you encountered so far. By "neutral" we mean that those are the basic forms, which don't show any additional emphasis. Some pronouns have more than one form. Most of the pronouns shown in these T&N will not be used immediately in this skill, but it is easier to show them all at once.

English	Nom.	Acc.	Instr.	Gen.
I/me	ja	mnie	mną	mnie
you/you (sg)	ty	cię	tobą	cię
he/him	on	go	nim	go
she/her	ona	ją	nią	jej
it/it	ono	je	nim	go
we/us	my	nas	nami	nas
you/you (pl)	wy	was	wami	was
they/them	oni	ich	nimi	ich
they/them	one	je	nimi	ich
dummy pronoun	to	to	tym	tego

Example sentences:

• Widzisz go? (Do you see him?)
• Nie lubię ich. (I do not like them.)
• Oni jedzą z nami. (They are eating with us.)

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Accented forms

Some pronouns have accented forms, which give an additional emphasis on the pronoun, usually showing some contrast. This works like "I love YOU, not her!" or "She hates HIM, not me!".

The table shows all the accented forms in the cases you know already, but they are also to be found in Dative.

English	Accusative	Genitive
you/you (sg)	ciebie	ciebie
he/him	jego	jego
it/it	-	jego

Example sentences:

• Kocham ciebie, a nie ją! (I love you, and not her!)
• Ona nienawidzi jego, a nie mnie! (She hates him, and not me!)

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The n-forms: after a preposition

You think that's a lot? Some pronouns have also a special form which we will call an "n-form". By n-form we mean a special form of the pronoun, not the basic one - because several pronouns have forms starting with the letter "n" which for them is the only variant, used in every context.

If such an n-form exists for the given pronoun and case, it has to be used after a preposition and only then.

The table shows all the n-forms in the cases you know already, but they are also to be found in Dative.

English	Accusative	Genitive
he/him	niego	niego
she/her	nią	niej
it/it	nie	niego
they/them ('masculine personal' plural)	nich	nich
they/them ('not masculine-personal' plural)	nie	nich

Example sentences:

• Idę do niego. (I am going to him/to his place.)
• Martwię się o nią. (I am worried about her.)

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Politeness: capitalizing you/your pronouns

Duolingo sentences are just some sentences without a context, so there is no capitalizing pronouns. However, if you are writing to someone directly (a letter, a comment, a private message, a text, etc.), it is highly recommended to capitalize every form of "you" or "your". For example when texting someone you love, you should rather write "Kocham Cię." and not "Kocham cię".

Please note that capitalizing such pronouns would be wrong in such contexts as subtitles for a movie or dialogues in a book - this is just writing down what a character says, it's not addressing anyone directly.

While we're discussing politeness, please remember that at this point in the course you still haven't encountered the formal pronouns.

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Where to put a pronoun?

Firstly, apart from rare cases with accented forms of pronouns, no pronoun other than the subject pronoun should start a sentence.

Secondly, one should avoid putting any pronoun at the end of the sentence if only it is possible. The course may still have some sentences that contradict this advice, but that doesn't change the fact that according to grammar rules, this should not happen.

Compare:

• Lubię cię. (I like you.)
• Ja cię lubię. (I like you.)
• Kocha go. (She/He loves him.)
• Ona go kocha. (She loves him.)

In the first examples of each pair, the sentences were so short that there was just no alternative other than putting the pronoun at the end, so it's perfectly fine. However in the other two, putting the subject explicitly created room for putting a pronoun in a different place. Those sentences are better than "Ja lubię cię." or "Ona kocha go.", which should be avoided.