If we understand this problem in the Nominative case, declination of those numerals is not that complicated in other cases. Everyone learning Polish knows that numbers are one of the most annoying phenomenon in our–frankly speaking–very beautiful language. I think it is time to confront this problem because we have to use numbers every day.
Genitive Nie ma… (there are not…)
Numeral jeden (one) is relatively easy to use. We have three forms for three genders in the Nominative case, and we decline it like adjectives:
Dative
To jest jeden pies (masculine), jedna kawa (feminine), jedno piwo (neutral). (This is one dog, one coffee, one beer.)
Accusative
Much more challenging are the numbers dwa, trzy, and cztery (two, three, four), because those numerals have special forms for masculine nouns. Normally for two people (osoby-persons, kobiety- women), animals or objects of the same gender, we use the form dwa, for example: dwa psy idą (two dogs are going), dwa samochody stoją (two cars are standing), dwie kobiety idą (two women are going), dwa piwa stoją (two beers are standing) using the verb in third person plural after the number “two”, but unfortunately, if we talk about two men we have two different forms from which to choose. We can say more officially dwaj profesorowie idą or more colloquially dwóch/dwu profesorów idzie. The form “dwaj profesorowie” is followed by the plural verb “idą” in the third person (can be in the present, past or future tense), but if we decide to say “dwóch/dwu profesorów idzie”, this form demands a noun in the Genitive plural and a verb in singular according to the rule. Of course, we must also decline it through the other cases. We have similar problems with the numbers trzy (three) and cztery (four). We have two options for masculine groups: Nominative: “trzej profesorowie idą” or Genitive “trzech profesorów idzie”
Dzięki… (Thanks to…)
Lubię… (I like…)
Instrumental Opiekuję się… (I am taking care of…)
Locative Myślę o… (I am thinking about…)
dwóch/dwu trzech czterech
profesorów, psów, samochodów, kobiet, piw
dwom/dwóm/dwu trzem czterem
profesorom, psom, samochodom, kobietom, piwom
=Genitive for masculine persons
= Nominative for the rest of the world
dwoma trzema czterema
profesorami, psami, samochodami, kobietami, piwami
o dwóch/dwu o trzech o czterech
profesorach, psach, samochodach, kobietach, piwach
Starting from the number pięć (five) we have a special form for masculine persons: pięciu “sześciu”, “siedmiu”, “ośmiu” “profesorów”, etc., and the normal number pięć for everything else. Most numbers from five onwards are declined like pięć below: Nominative
pięciu profesorów
pięć psów, samochodów, kobiet, piw
Genitive
pięciu profesorów
pięciu psów, samochodów, kobiet, piw
Dative
pięciu profesorom
pięciu psom, samochodom, kobietom, piwom
Nominative: “czterej profesorowie idą” or Genitive “czterech profesorów idzie” And the form trzy we use for everything else, like: Nominative: trzy, cztery psy, samochody, kobiety, piwa stoją
Accusative
pięciu profesorów
pięć psów, samochodów, kobiet, piw
Instrumental
pięciu/ pięcioma profesorami
pięciu/pięcioma psami, samochodami, kobietami, piwami
Locative
o pięciu profesorach
o pięciu psach, samochodach, kobietach, piwach
Here at the end, I would really like to have some good news for you, but I think for good news about Polish we must wait till next month! However, I have to tell you something else: this is not the end of our problems with numbers in Polish. For a group of people of mixed gender (workers, participants), groups of children and young animals, objects existing in Polish only in the plural form (door, scissors, violin) we have special collective numbers. Collective numbers require the Genitive form for nouns and the third person singular for verbs, like: dwoje pracowników idzie (two workers are going), troje dzieci czeka (three children are waiting), czworo zwierząt siedzi (four animals are sitting), jest tutaj pięcioro drzwi (here there are five doors), jest sześcioro uczestników (there are six participants). The collective numbers are declined like below: N. To jest dwoje dzieci. G. Nie ma tutaj dwojga dzieci. D. Dziękuję dwojgu dzieciom. Acc. Mam dwoje dzieci. Ins. Idę z dwojgiem dzieci do szkoły. Loc. Mówię o dwojgu dzieciach. Probably this grammar issue is not that complicated for Slavonic students, but for sure it will be complicated for students from the rest of the world because it is something completely exotic for them. As usual, I suggest that you not give up and consistently use these forms. After some time, you will remove any mistakes from your usage! edyta@inpolish.edu.pl
The Wrocław International November 2011