GRAMMAR - Accusative Case - Male Personal Plurals
There are a group of plural nouns that require special attention in the Accusative. These are nouns that represent groups of people where all the people are male - e.g. male doctors, male cooks, etc., a mix of males and females or where we don't know the gender make up of the group
When we are talking about a group of people which is all male, a mix of males and females or we don't know the make up of the group, we use the Genetive endings we saw in the last lesson even when we are in the accusative.
In other words Accusative and Genetive endings are identical for groups of male people, groups of male and female people or groups where we don't know which genders make it up.
- We don't have good doctors - Nie mamy dobrych lekarzy
- We have good doctors - Mamy dobrych lekarzy
So how would you say
- They have good doctors -
- I like good writers -
- We like new writers -
- I have bad cooks -
- They have new cooks -
This is the most common way to talk about groups of people as most groups will be a mix of males and females.
We'll look at the less used 'all female' group endings later.
Now let's pick up two other jobs:
- A lawyer - Prawnik
- A manager - Menedżer
These names do not have the soft 'z' ending so we use the standard 'ów' ending from Genetive that we saw in the last lesson.
- We don't like the managers - Nie lubimy menedżerów
- We like the managers - Lubimy menedżerów
Remember these endings are only for groups of people who are all male or a mixed group of males and females. So how would you say:
- We like lawyers -
- We have lawyers -
Not only nouns are Genetive. Adjectives, 'your', 'my' and 'this' are also Genetive forms ('ych' ending) but only when talking about a group of people who are all male or a mix of males and females
- We have new managers - Mamy nowych menedżerów
- We have these doctors - Mamy tych lekarzy
So how would you say
- We like the new lawyers -
- He likes your managers -
- I like my doctors
Heads Up about Managers!
The word 'Manager' was pulled into the English language from French where it actually means (originally) horse trainer!
It was also pulled into the Polish language but the exact spelling was never formalized early on so there are a number of different spellings:
- menedżer
- menadżer
- manager
All are used interchangeably in written works so don't be surprised to see all three.
Adjectives and their cases
Click and drag these adjectives to their correct case.
Drag and drop all the dark blue boxes to their correct locations
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Match these translations of genetive phrases
Tap on each pair to make them disappear.
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Think out the Polish
Practice the sentences from the lesson.
Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise
We don't have good doctors | |
We have good doctors | |
They have good doctors | |
I like good writers | |
We like new writers | |
I have bad cooks | |
They have new cooks | |
We like lawyers | |
We don't like the managers | |
We like the managers | |
We have lawyers | |
We have new managers | |
We have these doctors | |
We like the new lawyers | |
He likes your managers | |
I like my doctors | |
We like doctors | |
We have good cooks | |
We like good cooks | |
We have new writers | |
We like good writers | |
Do we have good cooks? | |
Do we have good managers? | |
Do we have bad lawyers? | |
Refresher
Revise earlier words and phrases to keep them fresh! Match the Polish and Engish below
Make sure your sound is turned on to hear the audio during this exercise
Accusative case male and mixed group plurals
Tick all the words which are Accusative case when we are talking about a group of people who are all male or a mix of males and females
Tick all of the boxes you believe are correct