Personal Pronouns

Content

These pronouns are used to refer to a person or thing. Note that some pronouns have 2 and even 3 alternatives. The black forms represent the long form of the pronoun.
The blue represents the short form,
and the red the prepositional forms.

First of all, the long forms are used instead of the short ones after a prepositions. However, if the pronoun has a red prepositional form it takes priority.

Dzięki niemu.
(Thanks to him)

NOT:
Dzięki jemu.

Dzięki mu.

Long forms are also used to stress emphasis and at the beginning of the clause.

Daj to jemu, a nie jej.
(Give this to him, not to her)

NOT:
Daj to mu, a nie jej.

 

Ciebie nie lubię.
(I don’t like you)

NOT:
Cię nie lubię.

Besides these types of constructions, either the long or short form is usually acceptable, but the short form can often sound more natural. Note that the prepositional forms are only ever used after prepositions, nothing else.

 

First Person

The nominative singular form “ja” equates to “I” in English, and “my” means “we”, since these forms represent the subject. The rest of the singular forms means “me” and the plural ones mean “us”.

Singular Plural
Nominative ja my
Genitive mnie nas
Dative mnie/mi nam
Accusative mnie nas
Instrumental mną nami
Locative mnie nas

 

Second Person

In English, all these forms translate to “you” because you is used both in the singular and plural.

Singular Plural
Nominative ty wy
Genitive ciebie/cię was
Dative tobie/ci wam
Accusative ciebie/cię was
Instrumental tobą wami
Locative tobie was

 

Third Person

Here, the English equivalents will be placed under each form to more easily demonstrate what each pronoun means.

Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Personal Other
Nominative on

he

ona

she

ono

it

oni

they

one

they

Genitive jego/go/niego

him

jej/niej

her

jego/go/niego

it

ich/nich

they

ich/nich

they

Dative jemu/mu/niemu

him

jej/niej

her

jemu/mu/niemu

it

im/nim

they

im/nim

they

Accusative jego/go/niego

him

ją/nią

her

je/nie

it

ich/nich

they

je/nie

they

Instrumental nim

him

nią

her

nim

it

nimi nimi
Locative nim

him

niej

her

nim

it

nich

they

nich

they