Are Polish possessive pronouns really that difficult? I need an honest opinion here.<\/p>\n
I have always thought they were one of those relatively straightforward bits in our convoluted language. But it turns out I might have been either mistaken or overly optimistic.<\/p>\n
Yesterday I was asked this very complicated question:<\/p>\n
Ok, so you say \u201cmoja ksi\u0105\u017cka<\/strong>\u201d (my book) and \u201cjej ksi\u0105\u017cka<\/strong>\u201d (her book). But then you say: \u201cOn zgubi\u0142 moj\u0105 ksi\u0105\u017ck\u0119<\/strong>.\u201d (He lost my book) and because in this sentence \u201cmoja ksi\u0105\u017cka<\/strong>\u201d is in the accusative (he lost kogo?<\/strong> co?<\/strong>) it became \u201cmoj\u0105 ksi\u0105\u017ck\u0119<\/strong>\u201d. And when you say: \u201cOn zgubi\u0142 jej ksi\u0105\u017ck\u0119<\/strong>.\u201d (He lost her book) only \u201cksi\u0105\u017cka<\/strong>\u201d morphed into the accusative form, but not \u201cjej<\/strong>\u201d. Why is that?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And my answer: Because it\u2019s Polish, that\u2019s why.<\/p>\n
But seriously, this is one of those instances when I realize that Polish possessive pronouns and their declensions can be totally incomprehensible even to the most dedicated learners (and to many Poles, too).<\/p>\n
So, in order to make my life easier (because someone out there was bound to know the correct answer), I thought I\u2019d ask this question to a couple of my native Polish friends. But ahem, their responses were not exactly all that helpful:<\/p>\n
Friend #1: Dude, you\u2019re right. This is weird. And how come I\u2019ve never noticed this myself?
\n<\/em>and
\nFriend #2: Because, duh, that\u2019s how it is. Can\u2019t you just tell your readers to memorize everything and stop bugging me?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nI\u2019ll ignore friend #2 for now, but yeah, friend #1 was right. We always tend to think about possessive pronouns as behaving kind of like adjectives. However, some of them think they\u2019re special, or something.<\/p>\n
Take a look:<\/p>\n
\n
- my \u2013 m\u00f3j<\/strong> (singular, masc.), moja<\/strong> (singular, fem.), moje<\/strong> (singular, neuter), moi<\/strong> (plural, masculine-personal), moje<\/strong> (plural, all other)<\/li>\n
- your \u2013 tw\u00f3j, twoja, twoje, twoi, twoje<\/strong><\/li>\n
- his \u2013 jego<\/strong><\/li>\n
- her \u2013 jej<\/strong><\/li>\n
- our \u2013 nasz, nasza, nasze, nasi, nasze<\/strong><\/li>\n
- your \u2013 wasz, wasza, wasze, wasi, wasze<\/strong><\/li>\n
- their \u2013 ich<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
And see this? Those guys that have only one form \u2013 jego, jej<\/strong> and ich<\/strong> don\u2019t decline. The nouns they describe decline as usual, but those pronouns themselves \u2013 don\u2019t.<\/p>\n
All others that have all the \u201cadjective-looking\u201d forms behave like good little adjectives should.<\/p>\n
And to the question of \u201cwhy is that?\u201d<\/em> my answer still stands \u2013 because it\u2019s Polish, that\u2019s why!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Are Polish possessive pronouns really that difficult? I need an honest opinion here. I have always thought they were one of those relatively straightforward bits in our convoluted language. But it turns out I might have been either mistaken or overly optimistic. Yesterday I was asked this very complicated question: Ok, so you say \u201cmoja…<\/p>\n