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Intermediate

The Case System Overview

Seven cases

Polish has seven cases

Each marks a noun's role with its own endings.

📊 The seven cases
Case Question Use
Nominative who? subject
Genitive of whom? possession, negation
Dative to whom? indirect object
Accusative whom? direct object
Instrumental with what? means, 'to be a...'
Locative about whom? after some prepositions
Vocative — direct address
💬 Examples
kot → kota → kotu → kotem
cat through the cases
📝 Nom, Gen, Dat, Acc, Inst, Loc, Voc
Widzę kota.
I see the cat.
📝 kota = accusative (animate m)
Endings depend on case, gender & number

A large but patterned system.

💬 Examples
do domu
to the house
📝 Genitive after 'do'
w domu
in the house
📝 Locative after 'w'
Cases let word order be flexible

Endings carry the grammar, not position.

💬 Examples
Kot widzi psa.
The cat sees the dog.
📝 Subject (nom) + object (acc) clear from endings
Psa widzi kot.
The cat sees the dog. (emphasis)
📝 Reordered; cases keep the meaning