Tips and notes

Nouns: The Instrumental case

The Instrumental case (Instr.) is used to express the means (or the instrument hence the name) by which something is done.
The Instrumental case is essential when defining things. If you want to
describe something by means of a noun (as if you were putting = between the two
things), the noun should be in the Instrumental case.
Verbs that are used for defining things include the most fundamental verb by (to
be), which is almost always followed by the Instrumental case.

By (to be) conjugation

Person

by (to be)

ja (I)

jestem

ty (singular you)

jeste

on / ona / ono (he / she / it)

jest

my (we)

jestemy

wy (plural you)

jestecie

oni (they)

The Instrumental endings

The Instrumental form is created in several ways, depending on the gender of the
declined noun.
For masculine nouns, you add the ending -em.

Noun (masculine)

He is + Instrumental

chopiec (boy)

On jest chopcem.

kot (cat)

On jest kotem.

pies (dog)

On jest psem.

Note that apart from adding an ending, declension may involve a change in the root
of the noun, as it is in the case of chopiec and pies, where the -ie segment
disappears in all cases other than the Nominative.

In the case of feminine nouns, you arrive at the Instrumental form by

changing the final -a into -.

Noun (feminine)

She is + Instrumental

kobieta (woman)

Ona jest kobiet.

dziewczynka (girl)

Ona jest dziewczynk.

ryba (fish)

Ona jest ryb.

When it comes to neuter nouns, you have to delete the final -o and replace it
with -iem.

Noun (neuter)

It is + Instrumental

dziecko (child)

Ono jest dzieckiem.

zwierz (animal)

Ono jest zwierzciem

jajko (egg)

Ono jest jajkiem.

Note that zwierz is an exception an additional consonant appears before the

ending.

Defining: to + Nominative
Another way of defining things is using to + a noun in the Nominative. This
method is quite common, and definitely easier to use for learners.
There is, however, one crucial difference: you usually cannot use this
construction with pronouns. Sentences such as On to chopiec or Ona to
dziewczynka sound rather sloppy.
Using it with nouns is easy all of them are in the Nominative form:

Tygrys to kot. (Literally: The tiger is a cat, in this case more like: Tigers are
cats)

Pies to zwierz. (The dog is an animal or Dogs are animals)

Zupa to jedzenie. (Soup is food)

Asking questions
Unlike English, Polish does not have verbs that would be used as auxiliary verbs
when asking questions such as: Are you a boy? or Do you eat meat?
However, there is a word which you can use to start questions: the interrogative
particleczy.
Forming questions with czy is rather easy: just place it at the beginning of the
sentence. The word order remains the same, you just use raising intonation to mark
that it is a question.

On jest chopcem. -> Czy on jest chopcem? (He is a boy. -> Is he a boy?)

Pies pije wod. -> Czy pies pije wod? (The dog is drinking water. -> Is the
dog drinking water?)

If you see czy at the beginning of the sentence, you can be almost sure that it is a
question.

But questions can also be formed in another, even more simple way: by simply
adding a question mark at the end of the sentence (or using raising intonation). No
need to change the word order.

Ona ma dziecko. -> Ona ma dziecko? (She has a child. -> Does she have a
child? /She has a child?)

On lubi mleko. -> On lubi mleko? (He likes milk. -> Does he like milk? / He
likes milk?)

Questions with czy are usually more emphatic than those without it.

Some of the sentences used in this skill (and in the examples here) may seem a bit
far-fetched. However, what matters the most is their purpose teaching you the
basic grammar rules while practicing basic vocabulary.