Polish Cases
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Miejscownik

Locative
o kim?o czym?gdzie?

Miejscownik from miejsce = "a place." Never used without a preposition.

Endings

Nouns

GenderEndingExamples
Masculine (animate)-e (softening) / -u (soft/k/g/ch)kot→kocie, autobus→autobusie, pociąg→pociągu, syn→synu, dom→domuSoftening: p→pie, n→nie, s→sie, t→cie, d→dzie, ł→le, r→rze
Masculine (inanimate)-e (softening) / -u (soft/k/g/ch)stół→stole, samochód→samochodzie, dach→dachu
Neuter-e / -u (after k/g)okno→oknie, dziecko→dziecku, jezioro→jeziorze, morze→morzu
Feminine-e (with softening, incl. k→c, g→dz) / -y (hist. soft) / -i (soft/-ia/-ja)mama→mamie, szkoła→szkole, Polska→Polsce, kierowca→kierowcy, lekcja→lekcji

Adjectives

GenderEndingExamples
Masculine (animate)-ym / -im (after k/g)o dobrym psie (about the good dog), o wysokim mężczyźnie (about the tall man)
Masculine (inanimate)-ym / -im (after k/g)o dobrym domu (about the good house), o długim stole (about the long table)
Neuter-ym / -im (after k/g)o dobrym mleku (about the good milk), w wysokim oknie (in the tall window)
Feminine-ej / -iej (after k/g)o dobrej kawie (about the good coffee), o wysokiej kobiecie (about the tall woman)

When to use it

Static spatial location

Where something is located — with prepositions w/na/przy/po.

Mieszka w małym mieście.

małe miasto

She lives in a small town.

Topic of speech or thought

"About" someone or something — with preposition "o".

Myślę o nowym filmie.

nowy film

I am thinking about the new film.

Months and time

"In [month]" or "at [time]" uses locative.

W zeszłym miesiącu padał śnieg.

zeszły miesiąc

Last month it snowed.

Trigger words

These words force this case — memorize the reflex.

P
w / wein (static location, months)

Jestem w domu.

I am at home.

P
naon, at (static location)

Jestem na spotkaniu.

I am at a meeting.

P
oabout (topic)

Myślę o mamie.

I am thinking about mom.

P
przyby, next to, while (exclusively locative)

Siedzi przy oknie.

She is sitting by the window.

P
poafter (time); around/throughout

Po pracy idę do sklepu.

After work I go to the store.

V = verb · P = preposition · C = context · A = adjective

Watch out — overlaps with other cases

Static vs. kinetic with w/na: location → locative; movement toward → accusative

Locative (static)

Jestem na spotkaniu.

I am at a meeting.

Accusative (moving)

Idę na spotkanie.

I am going to a meeting.

Adjective endings -ym/-im are shared between locative masc/neut and instrumental masc/neut

Locative

Mówię o dobrym filmie.

I talk about a good film.

Instrumental

Jadę dobrym pociągiem.

I travel by a good train.