Nominative Adjective Agreement

When using the nominative case, adjectives must agree with the noun in gender and number.

Singular Endings:

• Masculine: Usually ends in -y (hard stems) or -i (soft stems, or after k/g, because native Polish declension rules require 'k' and 'g' to take 'i' instead of 'y'). Note that historically soft stems (like c, cz, sz, ż, rz, dz) take the hard ending -y (e.g., obcy, starszy). Example: nowy (new), tani (cheap), wielki (great), obcy (historically soft). Note that possessive pronouns (which function like adjectives) (like mój, twój, nasz) and a few short-form predicate adjectives (like gotów, pewien) end in a consonant in the masculine nominative singular.
• Feminine: Ends in -a. For palatal soft stems (like tani), Polish orthography uses an 'i' to mark the soft consonant before a vowel, resulting in -ia (tania). However, historically soft stems (like c, cz, sz, ż, rz, dz) take the hard ending -a (e.g., obca). Example: nowa (hard), tania (palatal soft), obca (historically soft).
• Neuter: Ends in -e. For palatal soft stems, this becomes -ie (tanie). Historically soft stems take the hard ending -e (obce). Additionally, because native Polish morphology requires 'k' and 'g' to soften before 'e', adjectives ending in k/g take -ie. Example: nowe (hard), tanie (palatal soft), obce (historically soft), wielkie (k/g rule).

Plural Endings:
In the plural, the three genders merge into two new categories:

• Non-virile (niemęskoosobowy): Used for any plural group that does not contain a male human (including women, children, animals, and objects). The ending is always -e (or -ie after palatal soft stems and k/g). Example: dobre studentki (good female students), wielkie domy (big houses).
• Virile (męskoosobowy): Used for groups of people containing at least one male person. The ending is -i or -y, and it frequently causes the final consonant of the adjective to mutate. The choice between -i and -y depends on the resulting mutated consonant (e.g., historically soft sounds like 'rz' or 'c' take -y, while soft sounds like 'ń' take -i). Major mandatory mutations include: k → cy (wielki → wielcy), g → dzy (drogi → drodzy), r → rzy (dobry → dobrzy), t → ci (bogaty → bogaci), d → dzi (młody → młodzi), ł → l (mały → mali), ch → si (głuchy → głusi), and st → ści (czysty → czyści).

Word Order:
Descriptive adjectives (like "big" or "good") go before the noun. Classifying or relational adjectives (indicating type or category, like "Polish" in "Polish language") go after the noun (e.g., język polski). For fixed terminology, this post-nominal position is a strict naming convention, not a flexible stylistic choice.

Predicate Adjectives:
Standalone adjectives after conjugated forms of the verb być (to be) with a subject take the nominative case (e.g., On jest wysoki - He is tall). This contrasts with sentences where a noun follows the verb, which usually require the instrumental case (e.g., On jest wysokim mężczyzną - He is a tall man).

Indeclinable Adjectives:
Note that some modern or foreign adjectives (like super, eko, fair) are indeclinable and do not change their endings to agree with the noun.

Vocative Case Tip:
Nominative adjective forms are reused exactly as-is for the vocative case (e.g., Drogi Janie! - Dear Jan!).

Historically Soft Stems in the Personal Plural: Do not carry the singular -y rule unchanged into every masculine-personal plural. Compare starszy → starsi and duży → duzi: sz/ż alternate with soft ś/ź, written si/zi before the ending. By contrast, obcy → obcy and cudzy → cudzy retain -y. Grammatical gender matters even for people: dobre dzieci has non-masculine-personal agreement, including a group of boys described as dzieci.