General usage:
Basically a pronoun replaces a noun. All pronouns, but not the reflexive
pronouns, decline for gender, number and case of the noun which they replace.
Some pronouns are identical to their adjective
counterpart.
Personal pronouns:
In Polish, you have three types of personal pronouns: ordinary, emphatic
and prepositional.
Ordinary:
These are used when there is no need for emphasis and if the pronoun
does not follow a preposition.
The pronouns ty and wy are sometimes used with a personal
name to attract attention.
The pronouns mię, mi, cię, ci, go
and mu cannot start the sentence nor can they carry the sentence
stress.
Usually you omit the nominative case personal pronoun, except in cases
where this may lead to misinterpretations since there is a verb beginning
like a pronoun. myjemy and jemy for example - both have totally
different meanings.
| I | you (singular) | he | she | it | we | you (plural) | they (men) | they (non-men) | |
| Nominative | ja | ty | on | ona | ono | my | wy | oni | one |
| Vocative | ja | ty | my | wy | |||||
| Accusative | mię | cię | go | j± | je | nas | was | ich | je |
| Genitive | mię | cię | go | jej | go | nas | was | ich | ich |
| Instrumental | mn± | tob± | nim | ni± | nim | nami | wami | nimi | nimi |
| Dative | mi | ci | mu | jej | mu | nam | wam | im | im |
You use ty and wy only for persons you know well (friends,
family-members, ...). In all other cases you use the formal form namely
the nouns pan (for a man), pani (for a woman), panowie
(for men), panie (for women), państwo (for mixed groups)
and panna (for young woman) and panienka (for young women).
However the last two forms can be in some case politically incorrect, so
be careful with them.
Often you use Pan, Pani or Panna before the first names to imply familiarity.
Please note: Pan, Pani and Panna should have a capital "P", esp. in
letters.
Emphatic:
As the name states, you use this form if you need to put emphases on
the pronoun. However, there is no emphatic form for all ordinary personal
pronouns. If none does exist, you use the ordinary form instead.
| I | you (singular) | he | it | |
| Accusative | mnie | ciebie | jego | |
| Genitive | mnie | ciebie | jego | jego |
| Dative | mnie | tobie | jemu | jemu |
Prepositional:
This form is used after a preposition.
| I | you (singular) | he | she | it | we | you (plural) | they (men) | they (non-men) | |
| Accusative | mnie | ciebie | niego | ni± | nie | nas | was | nich | nie |
| Genitive | mnie | ciebie | niego | niej | niego | nas | was | nich | nich |
| Instrumental | mn± | tob± | nim | ni± | nim | nami | wami | nimi | nimi |
| Dative | mnie | tobie | niemu | niej | niemu | nam | wam | nim | nim |
Reflexive pronouns:
These are used when the object of the verb is the same as the subject.
These do not decline for number and gender.
| Accusative | się (siebie for emphasis) |
| Genitive | siebie |
| Locative | sobie |
| Instrumental | sob± |
| Dative | sobie |
Possessive pronouns:
These are used to express the possession of an object. These are actually
adjectives, therefore declined as adjectives.
Demonstrative pronouns:
These pronouns are declined as demonstrative adjectives.
Interrogative pronouns:
The pronouns jaki/jaka/jakie, który/która/które and czyj/czyja/czyje
are declined as adjectives therefore
here I will only explain kto, co, nikt and nic.
In fact nikt is the negative form of kto, and nic the negation of co.
| kto | nikt | co | nic | |
| Nominative | kto | nikt | co | nic |
| Accusative | kogo | nikogo | co | nic |
| Genitive | kogo | nikogo | czego | niczego |
| Locative | kim | nikim | czym | niczym |
| Instrumental | kim | nikim | czym | niczym |
| Dative | komu | nikomu | czemu | niczemu |
Distributive pronouns:
These decline as an adjective.
Note: żaden requires a double negation.
Relative pronouns:
Który/która/które (see interrogative pronouns)
is often replaced by co in speech, and always after to and
kto. W and który is often shorted to gdzie.
Indefinite pronouns:
There are two ways to form them, 1st by adding ¶ and 2nd by
adding kolwiek.
You add ¶ if you want to express "some". To express "at all"
or the suffix "ever" you use kolwiek. Both endings are not declineable.