Polish/Neuter noun declension

Neuter noun declension

The neuter gender in Polish is least common. Many neuter words end in "-o" and their declension is somewhat similar to inanimate-masculine.

	Beer		Cake		Chair		Eye		Ear
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nom./Acc./Voc.	Piwo	Piwa	Ciastko	Ciastka	Krzesło	Krzesła	Oko	Oczy	Ucho	Uszy
Genitive	Piwa	Piw	Ciastka	Ciastek	Krzesła	Krzeseł	Oka	Oczu	Ucha	Uszu
Dative	Piwu	Piwom	Ciastku	Ciastkom	Krzesłu	Krzesłom	Oku	Oczom	Uchu	Uszom
Locative	Piwie	Piwach	Ciastku	Ciastkach	Krześle	Krzesłach	Oku	Oczach	Uchu	Uszach
Instrumental	Piwem	Piwami	Ciastkiem	Ciastkami	Krzesłem	Krzesłami	Okiem	Oczami/ archaic Oczyma	Uchem	Uszami

The archaic instrumental oczyma doesn't have much to do with the neuter gender - it was the Indoeuropean dual number (for a pair of things), which disappeared in almost all modern Indo-European languages. You can still find it in some expressions.

In the singular locative "krześle" you can see how softening works on a group of consonants – all consonants are softened, in that case "s" changes to "ś" and "ł" to "l".

As with other declensions, "e" may appear between two final consonants if there is no vowel after them ("null" ending).

The plural instrumental is "-ami"/"-iami" in almost all nouns, and "-imi"/"-ymi" in almost all adjectives. Here you can see one of the exceptions. For some historical reasons "a" disappeared and we have "-ćmi" instead of the expected "-ciami".

In the case of "dziecko", "oko" and "ucho" you can see that a slightly different form is used as the base for the singular and plural forms. This is also quite archaic.

If you find some neuter noun, try to decline it rather like "piwo", "krzesło" and "ciastko" rather than like "dziecko", "oko" or "ucho".

Examples:

• Dziecko je ciastka - child eats cakes (cake in accusative)
• Dzieci nie piją piwa - children don't drink beer (beer in genitive)
• Oczy Piotra są zielone - Piotr's eyes are green (eyes in nominative, Piotr in genitive, green in nominative)
• Kot jest na krześle - cat is on chair (chair in locative)

• zielone - plural neuter form of adjective "green"

Neuter nouns ending in "-e" or "-ę"

The most common template is:

	Meeting
	Singular	Plural
Nom./Acc./Voc.	Spotkanie	Spotkania
Genitive	Spotkania	Spotkań
Dative	Spotkaniu	Spotkaniom
Instrumental	Spotkaniem	Spotkaniami
Locative	Spotkaniu	Spotkaniach

Other templates are:

	Given name/First name		Baby
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nom./Acc./Voc.	Imię	Imiona	Niemowlę	Niemowlęta
Genitive	Imienia	Imion	Niemowlęcia	Niemowląt
Dative	Imieniu	Imionom	Niemowlęciu	Niemowlętom
Instrumental	Imieniem	Imionami	Niemowlęciem	Niemowlętami
Locative	Imieniu	Imionach	Niemowlęciu	Niemowlętach