B1 · The cases · about 7 minutes
The genitive plural: pięć kotów, dużo książek
the genitive plural
The form with the most endings — and one of them is no ending at all.
Do you know this already?
“New to me”: the explanation first, then practice. “Test myself”: 3 short questions – get at least two right and you go straight to the harder exercises.
Words you will need2
They appear in this topic’s examples and exercises and are new at this point on the learning path.
- małolittle, few
- brakowaćto be missing, to be short of
Understand
RememberFrom five on and after dużo: genitive plural — -ów, -i or no ending at all.
- Signal words
- pięć
- dużo
- mało
- ile
- kilka
- kilo
- nie ma
The form
The patterns at a glance
Each row first says when or what the pattern is used for, then gives an example in Polish.
| masculine, hard: -ów | dom → domów, student → studentów, bilet → biletów |
| masculine, soft: -i, -y | nauczyciel → nauczycieli, lekarz → lekarzy, klucz → kluczy |
| feminine, neuter: no ending | kobieta → kobiet, miasto → miast, osoba → osób |
| with an e slipped in | książka → książek, okno → okien, jabłko → jabłek |
| o becomes ó | szkoła → szkół, głowa → głów |
| feminine: -i, -y | lekcja → lekcji, kuchnia → kuchni, noc → nocy |
| irregular | ludzie → ludzi, rok → lat, pieniądze → pieniędzy, tydzień → tygodni |
The rules one by one
The form this topic is aboutThe word that calls for it
After numbers from five upwards the genitive plural follows.
Mamy pięć kotów.We have five cats.
After dużo, mało, ile and kilka the genitive plural follows.
Ile osób przyjdzie?How many people are coming?
Masculine words in a hard consonant take -ów.
W tym mieście jest dużo parków.There are a lot of parks in this town.
Feminine and neuter words lose their ending.
Kupiłam kilo jabłek.I bought a kilo of apples. (a woman speaking)
Where a cluster would be hard to say, an e slips in.
Na półce stoi dużo książek.There are a lot of books on the shelf.
Example sentences
Nie ma już biletów.There are no tickets left.
Na koncercie było mało ludzi.There were few people at the concert.
Mieszkam tu od dziesięciu lat.I have lived here for ten years.
5 more example sentences
Ile masz lekcji w tygodniu?How many lessons do you have a week?
W naszym mieście jest pięć szkół.There are five schools in our town.
To jest pokój dzieci.This is the children’s room.
Mam kilka pytań.I have a few questions.
Na urlop potrzebuję dużo pieniędzy.I need a lot of money for the holiday.
The trap English speakers fall into
Watch out
English says “two cats” and “five cats” with the same plural. Polish switches case: after dwa, trzy, cztery the nominative plural, from pięć on the genitive plural. Keep the form for “two cats” and you get pięć koty.
Quick check
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Practise
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Next on the path: 75 · Diminutives: domek, kawka, okienkoBack to the learning path
The full explanation
Read it all · about 1 min
You need the genitive plural all the time: after numbers from five upwards (pięć kotów), after quantity words such as dużo, mało, ile, kilka (dużo książek “a lot of books”, ile osób? “how many people?”), after nie ma (Nie ma biletów) and for the possession of several (pokój dzieci). English just says “five cats”; Polish says, in effect, “five of cats”.
Masculine words ending in a hard consonant take -ów: dom → domów, student → studentów. Masculine words ending in a soft sound or in -cz, -rz, -sz mostly take -i or -y: nauczyciel → nauczycieli, lekarz → lekarzy, klucz → kluczy.
Feminine and neuter words usually just lose their ending: kobieta → kobiet, miasto → miast. If that leaves a cluster that is hard to say, an e slips in: książka → książek, okno → okien. Sometimes o becomes ó: szkoła → szkół, osoba → osób. Feminine words in -ja, -ia and in a consonant take -i or -y: lekcja → lekcji, noc → nocy.
A few common words are learnt one by one: ludzie → ludzi, dzieci → dzieci, rok → lat, pieniądze → pieniędzy, tydzień → tygodni.
Worth knowing1
Worth knowing
The verb goes into the singular
After a number from five upwards or after dużo, the verb is singular, and in the past tense neuter: Przyszło pięć osób, literally “five people has come”. English thinks in the plural here; Polish treats “five of people” as one quantity.
Pięć osób czeka na autobus.Five people are waiting for the bus.
The verbs on this page, in every form: być · mieć · mieszkać · kupić · przyjść · stać