Learn about grammatical gender in the Polish language
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Intro |
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| Michael: How can a word be masculine or feminine? |
| Igor: And how do I recognize the gender of a noun in Polish? |
| Michael: In the following situation, Karen Lee is at a flower shop with her friend Danuta Dąbrowska. She says to her, |
| "A red rose and a red poppy." |
| Karen Lee: Czerwona róża i czerwony mak. |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee: Czerwona róża i czerwony mak. |
| Danuta Dabrowska: Śliczne! |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee: Czerwona róża i czerwony mak. |
| Michael: "A red rose and a red poppy." |
| Danuta Dabrowska: Śliczne! |
| Michael: "Pretty!" |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Did you notice that the nouns "rose," |
| Igor: róża, |
| Michael: and "poppy," |
| Igor: mak, |
| Michael: are preceded by adjectives that have different endings, such as "-y": |
| Igor: czerwony, |
| Michael: or "-a" |
| Igor: czerwona. |
| Michael: This is because every noun in Polish has a gender assigned to it. Knowing the gender of a noun is essential as it determines the forms of adjectives, pronouns, and numbers that describe this one particular noun. Here, the word for "rose" is feminine and the word for "poppy" is masculine. But how do we know which nouns are which? The easiest way to tell the gender of a noun is by looking at the last letter of the word. |
| [RECALL 1] |
| Michael: Let's take a closer look at the conversation. |
| Do you remember how Karen Lee says, |
| "A red rose and a red poppy." |
| [Pause 4 seconds] |
| Igor: Czerwona róża i czerwony mak. |
| Michael: The general rule is that, if a noun ends with an "-a," it's feminine. For example, |
| Igor: róża, |
| Michael: meaning "rose," |
| Igor: kobieta, |
| Michael: meaning "woman," or |
| Igor: lampa, |
| Michael: meaning "lamp," |
| Nouns which end with a consonant are generally masculine, like: |
| Igor: mak, |
| Michael: meaning "poppy," |
| Igor: pies, |
| Michael: meaning "dog," or |
| Igor: telefon, |
| Michael: meaning "phone." |
| However, some masculine nouns end in the vowel -a. For example, |
| Igor: artysta |
| Michael: meaning "artist," |
| Igor: dentysta, |
| Michael: meaning "dentist," or |
| Igor: programista |
| Michael: meaning "programmer." |
| These exceptions are words that usually refer to certain professions. |
| Neuter nouns can be easily recognized by the following endings in the nominative singular: |
| Igor: -ę, -o, -e, -um. |
| Michael: For example: |
| Igor: imię |
| Michael: meaning "name," |
| Igor: krzesło |
| Michael: meaning "chair," |
| Igor: słońce |
| Michael: meaning "sun," and |
| Igor: muzeum |
| Michael: meaning "museum." |
| [RECALL 2] |
| Michael: Now, let's take a quick look at how adjectives are affected by the gender of the nouns they modify. |
| In the conversation, Karen says, "A red rose and a red poppy." |
| Igor: Czerwona róża i czerwony mak. |
| Michael: Here the noun, |
| Igor: róża, |
| Michael: follows the word, |
| Igor: czerwona, |
| Michael: and the word, |
| Igor: mak, |
| Michael: follows the word |
| Igor: czerwony |
| Michael: Both |
| Igor: czerwona |
| Michael: and |
| Igor: czerwony |
| Michael: mean "red," but they are different because the word changes its form depending on the noun it modifies. In other words, when an adjective is modifying a masculine noun, it must also be masculine, and when an adjective is modifying a feminine noun, it must also be feminine. Since the word for "poppy" is masculine, the word for "red" must be |
| Igor: czerwony |
| Michael: and, because the word for "rose" is feminine, the word for "red" must be |
| Igor: czerwona. |
| Michael: So far, we've learned that the ending -a is the best way to identify a feminine noun. Nouns that end with a consonant are usually masculine, and the neuter nouns have endings |
| Igor: -ę, -o, -e, -um. |
| MIchael: However, it is always a good idea to look up the noun in the dictionary to make sure you use the adjectives and other words in the correct form. |
| [SUMMARY] |
| Michael: So far, we learned that in Polish every noun has a gender assigned to it. We distinguish between masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns, and the gender also affects the adjectives corresponding with the noun. We can recognize the gender by the ending of each noun. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Michael: However, what will happen if |
| Igor: Czerwona róża i czerwony mak |
| Michael: becomes "Red Roses and red poppies?" |
| Igor: Czerwone róże i czerwone maki? |
| Michael: In Polish, we distinguish between two types of plural nouns, the first type is |
| Igor: Rzeczowniki męskoosobowe |
| Michael: or "masculine personal nouns." |
| These are masculine nouns describing people involving at least one man in the group. So, for example, if we talk about students, and we're not sure about each of their genders, we would refer to them as |
| Igor: uczniowie. |
| Michael: On the other hand, if we know that the group of students we're talking about consists of only female students, we would say |
| Igor: uczennice, |
| Michael: and this is called |
| Igor: Rzeczowniki niemęskoosobowe, |
| Michael: or the non-masculine personal form. They can also be referred to as "nonvirile nouns." These are groups of masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns where no male people are involved. |
| You can build the plural of masculine personal nouns with the endings |
| Igor: -i , -e , -owie , -cy , -dzy , -rzy |
| Michael: such as "men," |
| Igor: mężczyźni |
| Michael: or "firefighters" |
| Igor: Strażacy |
| Michael: or "Kings" |
| Igor: Królowie. |
| Michael: For nonvirile nouns, it's a bit easier. There are only four endings for plural nouns, which are |
| Igor: -y, -i, -e, -a. |
| Michael: Let's start with the easiest one, neuter nouns. Those always get the ending "-a" when transformed to plural. Let's take, for instance, an "egg," |
| Igor: Jajko. |
| Michael: In the plural, it becomes |
| Igor: Jajka |
| Michael: For the rest, you will have to develop a feeling about when to use which ending. To help you with that, we prepared some examples. The first one is a "lemon," |
| Igor: cytryna, |
| Michael: which becomes |
| Igor: cytryny. |
| Michael: Another one is "cafe," |
| Igor: kawiarnia, |
| Michael: which becomes |
| Igor: kawiarnie, |
| Michael: or a Polish dumpling called |
| Igor: pieróg |
| Michael: becomes |
| Igor: pierogi. |
| Michael: If you're a Polish beginner, you shouldn't worry too much about this. You'll get a feeling for it when you advance in your studies. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Igor: Do usłyszenia! |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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