Polish Grammar - Genetive Case - Neuter

So we know how to spot if we are in the genetive case and, if we are, what changes to make for feminine and masculine nouns and their adjectives. What about neuter nouns?

With neuter nouns we simply change the 'o' or 'e' ending to 'a'.

Mam jedzenie - Nie mam jedzenia
Mam wino - Nie mam wina

Adjective endings are the same 'ego' used for masculine nouns

To jest dobry jedzenie - Nie mam dobrego jedzenia

The Polish for 'Why?' is 'Dlaczego'

Why don't you like wine? - Dlaczego nie lubisz wina?

It literally means 'for' (dla) 'what' (czego) which, if you think about it, is kind of what 'Why?' means - 'for what reason?'

What?

You might remember that in the early lessons we learnt 'co to jest?'. Here 'what' is 'co'. But we have also just seen that 'what' is 'czego'. So what is going on?

Certain words change completely depending what case we are in. In the Nominative and Accusitive cases 'what' is 'co'. In the Genetive case 'what' is 'czego'.

We'll learn the reasons 'Dlaczego' uses 'czego' and not 'co' very soon but for now just remember it as the word for 'why'.

And now we have the complete set of endings for all three noun genders in the Genetive case.

We'll continue to build out this table with other cases and rules later in the course. Right now we have plenty to practice with!

Use the graphic above as a quick reference to start with but you'll find the more you practice with the exercises on these pages the less you will need it.

Go slow!

The exercises for this lesson will take time. You may need to check your notes or scroll up to the lesson learning points several times.

This is normal.

By repeating the learning points using these interactive exercises over several days you will become faster and the knowledge will embed better in your long term memory.

Adjectives and Cases

Sort these nouns (in their Genitive form) into neuter or feminine. Don't worry if you don't know all the words yet, the ending is all you need to know!

Drag and drop all the dark blue boxes to their correct locations

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

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Think out the Polish

Practice spotting neuter nouns and changing the adjective and noun endings if needed.

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

I do not have food	q2\|Nie mam jedzenia

I do not have wine	q2\|Nie mam wina

I do not have good food	q2\|Nie mam dobrego jedzenia

I do not have good wine	q2\|Nie mam dobrego wina

You do not have a good egg	q2\|Nie masz dobrego jajka

You do not have new milk	q2\|Nie masz nowego mleka

You do not want good food	q2\|Nie chcesz dobrego jedzenia

Why don't you like wine?	q2\|Dlaczego nie lubisz wina?

Changing nouns to genetive

The exercise below includes some neuter nouns you do not know but you can still practice changing them to genetive.

The nominative case of the noun is shown beside the text input box in brackets. Write the full sentence using the Genetive case.

For example, the first sentence is 'I do not like the law'. The Polish for 'law' is 'prawo' so the correct answer is 'Nie lubię prawa'

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

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I do not like the law	(prawo) q3\|Nie lubię prawa

You do not like the lake	(jezioro) q3\|Nie lubisz jeziora

I do like the sea	(morze) q3\|Nie lubię morza

Why don't you like the sky?	(niebo) q3\|Dlaczego nie lubisz nieba?

Why don't you have food?	q3\|Dlaczego nie masz jedzenia?

I do not have milk	q3\|Nie mam mleka

I do not like meat	(mięso) q3\|Nie lubię mięsa

I do not want a question	(pytanie) q3\|Nie chcę pytania

You do not have a heart	(serce) q3\|Nie masz serca

Why dont you like the town?	(miasto) q3\|Dlaczego nie lubisz miasta?

Changing nouns and adjectives to genetive

Now repeat a similar exercise but with adjectives.

The nominative case of the noun and adjective is shown beside the text input box in brackets. Write the full sentence using the Genetive case.

For example, the first sentence is 'I do not have a new table'. The Polish for 'new table' is 'nowy stół' so the correct answer is 'Nie mam nowego stołu'

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

I do not like the new law	(prawo) q4\|Nie lubię nowego prawa

You do not like the old lake	(stare jezioro) q4\|Nie lubisz starego jeziora

I do like the cold sea	(zimne morze) q4\|Nie lubię zimnego morza

Why don't you like the night sky?	(nocne niebo) q4\|Dlaczego nie lubisz nocnego nieba?

Why don't you have good food?	q4\|Dlaczego nie masz dobrego jedzenia?

I do not have good milk	q4\|Nie mam dobrego mleka

I do not want old meat	(stary mięso) q4\|Nie chcę starego mięsa

I do not want a boring question	(nudne pytanie) q4\|Nie chcę nudnego pytania

You do not have a good heart	(serce) q4\|Nie masz dobrego serca

Why don't you like the old town?	(stare miasto) q4\|Dlaczego nie lubisz starego miasta?

Why don't you want cold beer?	(zimne piwo) q4\|Dlaczego nie chcesz zimnego piwa?

I don't want old wine	(stare wino) q4\|Nie chcę starego wina

Transfer Genetive nouns back to nominative

In the following exercise you'll see some sentences in both English and Polish. You need to spot the noun and adjective and reverse them back into the Nominative case.

The ending of the noun in nominative is shown in brackets as a clue.

For example, the first sentence is 'Dlaczego nie lubisz nowego prawa'. A noun is 'the thing' so it is 'prawa'. So the answer is 'nowe prawo'

Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise

Why dont you like the new law?	Dlaczego nie lubisz nowego prawa? (o) q5\|nowe prawo

I do not like the old lake	Nie lubisz starego jeziora (o) q5\|stare jezioro

You do not like the cold sea	Nie lubisz zimnego morza (e) q5\|zimne morze

Why dont you like the night sky?	Dlaczego nie lubisz nocnego nieba? (o) q5\|nocne niebo

I dont have good food	Nie mam dobrego jedzenia q5\|dobre jedzenie

I do not want old meat	Nie chcę starego mięsa (o) q5\|stare mięso

I do not want a boring question	Nie chcę nudnego pytania (e) q5\|nudne pytanie

Why dont you have a good heart?	Dlaczego nie masz dobrego serca (e) q5\|dobre serce

I do not like the old town	Nie lubię starego miasta (o) q5\|stare miasto

Why dont you want cold beer?	Dlaczego nie chcesz zimnego piwa? (o) q5\|zimne piwo

I dont want old wine	Nie chcę starego wina q5\|stare wino