Masculine-Personal Adjective Plural

Level 3

In Polish, when you describe a group of people that includes at least one male, adjectives change their endings and 'soften' their final consonants (e.g., młody becomes młodzi).

How It Works

Polish distinguishes between groups containing men and groups that do not. This distinction is most visible in the Nominative and Vocative cases. Note that for masculine-personal plural adjectives, the Accusative case is identical to the Genitive case (ending in -ych/-ich), unlike the non-masculine personal plural.

1. When to use it:
Use this form if the group consists of:

  • Only men (e.g., 'the tall boys')
  • A mix of men and women (e.g., 'the nice students')

If the group is all women, children, animals, or objects, use the non-masculine personal plural instead.

2. Consonant Mutations (Softening):
Before the plural ending, the last consonant of the adjective stem must change. This is a process called softening:

  • t → ci: bogaty → bogaci
  • d → dzi: młody → młodzi
  • st → ści: czysty → czyści
  • r → rzy: dobry → dobrzy
  • ł → li: miły → mili
  • n → ni: czerwony → czerwoni
  • p → pi: ślepy → ślepi
  • b → bi: gruby → grubi
  • m → mi: znajomy → znajomi
  • w → wi: nowy → nowi
  • sz → si: starszy → starsi
  • s → si: bosy → bosi
  • zł → źl: zły → źli
  • ch → si: cichy → cisi
  • k → cy: polski → polscy
  • g → dzy: drogi → drodzy

Note on exceptions and vowel shifts: The adjective duży is a highly irregular exception that mutates to duzi (most adjectives ending in -ży, like świeży, do not mutate). Additionally, for passive participles ending in -ony (like zadowolony or zmęczony), there is a vowel shift from o to e: zadowolony → zadowoleni. This o → e shift also occurs in certain standard adjectives with an ł mutation, most notably wesoły → weseli. Standard adjectives like czerwony do not have this shift (czerwoni).

3. The Ending:
Most mutated stems take -i. However, if the mutation results in -cy, -dzy, or -rzy, the ending is -y (e.g., polscy, drodzy, dobrzy). This is because c, dz, and rz are considered hard consonants in modern Polish and require the -y ending.

4. Soft-Stem Adjectives:
Adjectives that already have a soft stem (ending in -i, such as tani or ostatni) do not undergo these mutations; they simply keep their singular form in the masculine-personal plural.

Examples (4)

  1. Moi polscy koledzy są bardzo mili.

    My Polish colleagues are very nice.

    Word by Word: My Polish colleagues are very nice.

    Both 'polscy' (from polski) and 'mili' (from miły) show masculine-personal mutations because 'koledzy' refers to male or mixed-gender colleagues.

  2. Ci starsi panowie często spacerują w parku.

    Those older gentlemen often walk in the park.

    Word by Word: Those older gentlemen often walk in the park.

    'Starsi' (from stary) uses the masculine-personal form to agree with 'panowie' (gentlemen).

  3. Wszyscy studenci byli bardzo zadowoleni.

    All the students were very satisfied.

    Word by Word: All students were very satisfied.

    'Zadowoleni' (from zadowolony) changes 'n' to 'ni' and shifts the vowel 'o' to 'e' to agree with the masculine-personal noun 'studenci'.

  4. Moi nowi sąsiedzi są bardzo bogaci.

    My new neighbors are very rich.

    Word by Word: My new neighbors are very rich.

    'Nowi' (from nowy) and 'bogaci' (from bogaty) show the 'w' to 'wi' and 't' to 'ci' mutations.

Common Mistakes

  • Using the non-masculine '-e' ending for men.

    Dobre chłopcy.
    Dobrzy chłopcy.

    The ending '-e' is for women, animals, and objects. For men, you must use the mutated masculine-personal form.

  • Applying masculine-personal forms to male animals.

    Mądrzy psy.
    Mądre psy.

    In the plural, animals (even male ones) are grammatically treated as non-masculine personal. Only human males trigger this specific adjective form.

  • Forgetting the consonant mutation.

    Wysoki chłopcy.
    Wysocy chłopcy.

    You cannot just use the singular form or add a plural ending without changing the stem consonant (k → cy).

How It Connects

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Masculine-Personal Adjective PluralLevel 3

Learn This First

Learn Adjective Agreement, Masculine-Personal Plural before Masculine-Personal Adjective Plural.