Nominative (Mianownik) is the first and most basic case that can be often seen in dictionaries. It i also one of the most common cases. It is used for people and objects both in a plural and in a singular form. It answers the questions: What it is? (Co?) and Who it is? (Kto?).

It is used in these situations:

• With verb „być” (‘to be’) and phrases such as „to jest…” (‘this is…’) and „to…”

Examples: To jest jabłko. (This is an apple.)

To Julia. (This is Julia.)
Marek to mężczyzna. (Marek is a man.)
Anna to moja siostra. (Anna is my sister.)

• When speaking of the subject of the sentence

Examples: Anna to moja przyjaciółka. (Anna is my friend.)

Kot pije mleko. (Cat drinks the milk.)
Dziewczyny jedzą chleb. (The girls eat bread.) – plural

• When making a comparison

Examples: Dumny jak paw. (As proud as a peacock.)
Odważny jak lew. (As proud as a lion.)

Noun genders and their endings in the Nominative case

Noun endings are important in differentiating the grammatical genders of the words. The gender doesn’t change, it is permanently assigned to a word.

In polish there are 3 genders in singular form:

• masculine (nouns that are usually ending with a consonant) – „klub” (‘club’)
• feminine (ending with a vowel -a or -i) – „kobieta” (‘woman’), „pani” (‘lady’)
• neuter (ending with a vowel -o, -e, -ę, -um) – „dziecko” (‘child’), „morze” (‘sea’), „zwierzę” (‘animal’), „muzeum” (‘museum’),

There are 2 genders in plural form:

• masculine (used for males) – with noun endings such as -i („mężczyźni” – ‘men’), -y („chłopcy” – ‘boys’), -e („lekarze” – ‘doctors’)
• non-masculine (used for females and objects) – with noun endings such as -e („noce” – ‘nights’), -i („myśli” – ‘thoughts’), -a („jabłka” – ‘apples’)
There are unfortunately some exceptions to these rules. Just look at the word: „mężczyzna” (‘man’). It is ending with the vowel ‘a’, but it is masculine gender.