Plural

Let us begin with the concept of "root".

A root is the fixed part in the word, it is "rooted", while the rest of the word might change.

In English the singular nouns are the root without special ending, and when we form the plural we add the ending "s", e.g. boot - boots.

In order to get Polish roots we need to take away the endings from the singular nominative case, which are usually the last vowel of the word, otherwise, if there is no ending, it means we have already our root.

e.g. drzewo (tree) is the basic form (singular nominative). Its root is "drzew-".

e.g. kwiat (flower) is already a basic form, as it has no vowels to be deleted at the end.

The last consonant of the roots of the words can be hard (h p b f w m t d s z n ł r k g ch) or soft (ć dź ś ź ń l rz c dz sz/ś j cz ż, and, sometimes, also the letters p, b, f, w, m).

To know the difference between hard and soft consonant would be very useful in order to be able to form the plural. However there are some shortcuts.

For those who want to analyze the topic here it is a very useful link: polish nutshell.

ATTENTION: in Polish both nouns and adjectives have a plural form. This means that, differently from English language, Polish language declines both nouns and adjective.

Here you are the basic rules to form the plural:

Nouns

MASCULINE AND FEMININE which ends with a hard consonant	- y - i (if the substantive ends with -k or -g) - owie (used with titles) Attention: the ending consinant might be sweetened Attention: there are different exceptions for personal nouns	e.g. dom → domy (house/houses) e.g. rzecz → rzeczy (thing/things) e.g. ptak → ptaki (bird/birds) e.g. królik → kroliki (rabbit/rabbits) e.g. książka →książki (book/books) e.g. profesor → profesorowie (professor/professors) e.g. pan → panowie (Mr/gentlemen) es. student → studenci (student/students) es. brat → bracia (brother/brothers) es. Amerykanin → Amerykanie (American/Americans)
MASCULINE AND FEMININE which end with soft consonant	- e Attention: some feminine nouns end with i/y	e.g.. koń → konie (horse/horses) es. przyjaciel → przyjaciele (friend/friends)
NEUTRAL	- a Attention: there are always exceptions	e.g. drzewo → drzewa (tree/trees) es. dziecko → dzieci (child/children)

There are names which are always plural, just like in English trousers, glasses and so on. Have you ever heard "trouse"?

Here you are some examples: spodnie (trousers), okulary (glasses), usta (month - which in Polish is seen as two lips together).

Adjectives

Masculine	-i -y	e.g. nowi
Feminine and Neutral	-e -ie	e.g. nowe e.g. agresiwnie

Unfortunately Polish plural is full of irregular cases, besides the fact that the root of a singular word may change when we turn the word into plural.

Exercises:

PLURAL

Write next to each noun its plural; write next to each adjective its plural and decline it according the specified gender.

On the bottom of the page you find a keyboard with Polish letters.
Before each word you find gender and number: m.s stands for masculine singular, f.s. stands for feminine singular, n.s. neutral singular, m.p. masculine plural, f.p. feminine plural, n.p. neutral plural.
By clicking on the question mark you can see the solution.

NOUNS

n.s. dziecko (child) - n.p. (children)
f.p. krowa (cow) - (cows) f.p.
f.s. książka (book) - f.p. (books)
m.p. długopis (pen) - m.p. (pens)
m.s. ołówek (pencil) - m.p. (pencils)
m.s. dom (house) - m.p. (houses)
m.s. sklep (shop) - m.p. (shops)
f.s. droga (street) - f.p. (streets)
m.s. pies (dog) - m.p. (dogs)
m.s. kot (cat) - m.p. (cats)
m.s. ptak (bird) - m.p. (birds)
f.s. kobieta (woman) - f.p. (women)
s.m. profesor (professor) - p.m. (professors)
s.m. pan (Mr) - p.m. (Messrs)
f.s. ręka (hand) - f.p. (hands)
f.s. głowa (head) - f.p. (heads)
m.s. palec (finger) - m.p. (fingers)
f.s. stopa (foot) - f.p. (feet)
n.s. oko (eye) - n.p. (eyes)
m.s. ząb (tooth) - m.p. (teeth)
m.s. nos (nose) - m.p. (noses)
f.s. chusteczka (handkerchief) - f.p. (handkerchieves)
n.s. jabłko (apple) - n.p. (apples)
m.s. banan (banana) - m.p. (bananas)
f.s. gruszka (pear) - f.p. (pears)
f.s. truskawka (strawberry) - f.p. (strawberries)
f.s. śliwka (plum) - f.p. (plums)
n.s. krzesło (chair) - n.p. (chairs)


ADJECTIVES

m.s. nowy (new) - m.p. (new)
m.s. piękny (beautiful) - f.p. (beautiful)
m.s. drogi (expensive) - n.p. (expensive)
m.s. tani (cheap) - n.p. (cheap)
m.s. wielki (big) - m.p. (big)
m.s. wysoki (tall) - m.p. (tall)
m.s. dobry (good) - m.p. (good)
m.s. niski (short) - f.p. (short)
m.s. mały (small) - n.p. (small)
m.s. szczęśliwy (happy) - m.p. (happy)
m.s. smutny (sad) - n.p. (sad)
m.s. dziwny (strange) - dziwni - m.p. (strange)
m.s. stary (old) - n.p. (old)
m.s. zdolny (able) - f.p. (able)
m.s. inteligentny (clever) - m.p. (clever)
m.s. głupi (stupid) - f.p. (stupid)
m.s.uparty (stubborn) - m.p. (stubborn)
n.s. czerwony (red) - n.p. (red)
f.s. zielona (green) - f.p. (green)
m.s. błękitny (light blue) - m.p. (light blue)
n.s. fioletowy (violet) - n.p. (violet)
f.s. żółta (yellow) – (yellow)
f.s. czarna (black) - (black)
m.s.pomarańczowy (orange) - m.p. (orange)
n.s. szary (gray) - n.p. (gray)
m.s. brązowy (brown) - m.p. (brown)
f.s. biała (white) - f.p. (white)
n.s. niebieski (blue) - n.p. (blue)
f.s. różowa (pink) - f.p. (pink)


NOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

n.s. ładne dziecko (beautiful child) - n.p. (beautiful children)
m.s. biały obrus (white table cloth) – m.p. (white table clothes)
m.s. duży dom (big house) - m.p. (big houses)
m.s. stary plac (old square) – m.p. (old squares)
f.s. wysoka góra (high mountain) – f.p. (high mountains)
m.s. żółty kwiat (yellow flower) – m.p. (yellow flowers)
m.s. wysoki mężczyzna (tall man) – m.p. (tall men)
f.s. piękna kobieta (beautiful woman) – f.p. (beautiful women)
m.s. zły pies (bad dog) – m.p. (bad dogs)
m.s. szary kot (gray cat) – m.p. (gray cats)
f.s. brązowa krowa (brown cow) – f.p. (brown cows)
f.s. różowa pantera (pink panther) – f.p. (pink panthers)
m.s. zepsuty komputer (broken computer) – m.p. (broken computers)
m.s. pomarańczowy owoc (orange fruit) – m.p. (orange fruits)
f.s. dojrzała cytryna (ripe lemon) – f.p. (maturi lemons)
m.s. czerwone jabłko (red apple) – m.p. (red apples)
m.s. biały mur (white wall) – m.p. (white walls)
m.s. czarny ptak (black bird) – m.p. (black bird)
f.s. brudna ulica (dirty street) – f.p. (dirty streets)
f.s. mokra skarpetka (wet sock) – f.p. (wet socks)