Accusative

In Polish, the accusative case (biernik) is used primarily for marking the direct object of a verb—i.e., the noun or pronoun that is directly affected by the action. It is also used with some prepositions and in certain time expressions.

When is the accusative used?

1. Direct objects:
   • “Mam książkę” (I have a book).

The direct object here is “książka” (a book).

We use the accusative case after these transitive/direct object verbs:

• robić – do / make
• brać – take
• całować – kiss
• czytać – read
• pisać – write
• malować
• mieć – have
• jeść – eat
• kupić– buy
• kochać – love
• lubić – like
• znać – know
• widzieć….

1. After certain prepositions:
   • “Idę przez las” (I’m walking through the forest).
   • Common prepositions: przez (through), na (onto), w (into), pod (under, in certain contexts), o (about, against).
2. Time expressions:
   • “Zobaczymy się za tydzień” (We will meet in a week).

Endings:

Prepositions:

• prepositions: przez (through), for example: Idę przez miasto. (I’m walking through the city.)
• prepositions of motion – nearly all prepositions that join with the accusative, join with the other cases, mostly with the instrumental and locative: na (on), o (about), po (to get something/someone), w (in), między (between), nad (above), pod (under), przed (in front)

For example: (A) Wszedł na drabinę. (He went on the ladder.) (L) Był na drabinie. (He was on the ladder) (A) Wejdę pod kołdrę. (I will go under the duvet.) (I) Jestem pod kołdrą. (I am under the duvet.)

Endings: Masculine animate and inanimate nouns are recognized in the genitive and accusative cases only. There is no such distinction in the other cases in the Polish Language.

Endings

Use accusative after the following: prosić (to ask); błagać (to beg); zapraszać (to invite). Prosić and błagać are used to ask someone for something – (someone) should take the accusative case. When using the preposition o (for) + something, something is also in the accusative case.

Accusative and the plural forms

The accusative case takes the plural forms of the nominative and genitive case.

a) Plural masculine (m p) nouns (a group that has at least one adult man in it: policjanci, lekarze, sąsiedzi) take the genitive endings, ów and y/i.

The accusative plural masculine follow the plural masculine endings: ów and y/i. This applies only to the masculine personal nouns in the accusative case, for example: strażak – strażaków, sąsiad – sąsiadów, policjant – policjantów

b) Plural non-masculine nouns (a group that does not have any adult men in it: pies – psy, kot – koty, dom – domy, kobieta – kobiety) take the nominative case endings: y/i and e.