Agreement of Adjectives in Polish: A Guide for Copy Editors

As a copy editor, it’s important to have a solid understanding of grammar rules beyond your native language. If you’re working with Polish documents, one aspect of grammar that you should pay particular attention to is the agreement of adjectives.

In Polish, adjectives must agree in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. This means that the ending of the adjective will change depending on the gender, number, and case of the noun it describes.

Gender Agreement

In Polish, nouns are divided into three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. Adjectives must agree in gender with the noun they modify. Generally, masculine nouns take masculine adjectives, feminine nouns take feminine adjectives, and neuter nouns take neuter adjectives. For example:

– Masculine: duży dom (big house)

– Feminine: piękna kobieta (beautiful woman)

– Neuter: małe dziecko (small child)

Number Agreement

In Polish, nouns are also divided into singular and plural forms. Adjectives must agree in number with the noun they modify. Generally, singular nouns take singular adjectives, and plural nouns take plural adjectives. For example:

– Singular: czerwony samochód (red car)

– Plural: czerwone samochody (red cars)

Case Agreement

In Polish, nouns have seven cases, and adjectives must agree in case with the noun they modify. The most common cases are nominative, genitive, accusative, and instrumental. For example:

– Nominative: czysta woda (clean water)

– Genitive: smacznej kawy (delicious coffee)

– Accusative: zimny wiatr (cold wind)

– Instrumental: pięknym widokiem (beautiful view)

In addition, when an adjective follows a noun that is in the genitive case, the adjective must also be in the genitive case. For example:

– Genitive: bogatego mężczyzny (rich man)

Summary

In summary, copy editors working with Polish documents should keep in mind the agreement of adjectives in gender, number, and case with the noun they modify. While this may seem daunting at first, with practice and attention to detail, you can ensure that your writing is grammatically correct and clear.