{"id":401,"date":"2017-10-24T20:51:58","date_gmt":"2017-10-24T20:51:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/?p=401"},"modified":"2017-10-27T16:02:17","modified_gmt":"2017-10-27T16:02:17","slug":"polish-interrogative-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/polish-interrogative-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Polish Interrogative Pronouns \u201ckto\u201d and \u201cco\u201d and Related Pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Polish interrogative pronouns <\/span>kto<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>co<\/i><\/b> correspond to the English question words <\/span>who<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>what<\/i><\/b>, so their main purpose is asking questions about personal (human) and impersonal agents.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kto<\/i><\/strong> wygra\u0142 konkurs? <\/span><\/i>(\u201c<\/span>Who<\/strong> won the contest?\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Co<\/i><\/strong> jeszcze widzia\u0142e\u015b? <\/span><\/i>(\u201c<\/span>What<\/strong> else did you see?\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

On a basic level, Polish interrogative pronouns are very much like their English equivalents: there is the <\/span>personal<\/b> variant <\/span>kto <\/i><\/b>(\u201cwho\u201d) used to ask about people, and the <\/span>impersonal<\/b> variant <\/span>co<\/i><\/b> (\u201cwhat\u201d) used to ask about everything else. Of course, both are always placed at the beginning of a clause, unless preceded by a preposition. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, one fundamental difference is that Polish interrogative pronouns are not immune to the influence of the grammatical case system \u2013 both of them have several forms which reflect their function in the sentence<\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can find something similar in English as well: the pronoun <\/span>whom<\/i><\/strong>, a remnant of the old case system, was originally the dative form of the English personal interrogative pronoun. Because of that, it often corresponds to the Polish dative form <\/span>komu<\/i><\/b>:<\/span><\/p>\n

To whom<\/strong><\/span><\/i> do we owe the discovery of penicillin?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Komu<\/i><\/strong> zawdzi\u0119czamy odkrycie penicyliny?<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Grammatical case of the Polish interrogative pronouns kto<\/em> and co<\/em><\/b><\/h2>\n

When using interrogative pronouns, you don\u2019t really have to worry about choosing the correct gender or number<\/strong>. Whether you\u2019re asking about a woman, a man or a group of people, you always use the same pronoun \u2013 the only meaningful distinction is that between the personal <\/span>kto<\/i><\/b> and the impersonal <\/span>co<\/i><\/b>. This means both words have six possible grammatical forms:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Declension<\/p>\n

(If you\u2019re often unsure whether to use <\/span>who <\/span><\/i>or<\/span> whom<\/span><\/i> in English<\/span>, you should be thankful you don\u2019t have to choose from six different forms\u2026)<\/span><\/p>\n

Luckily, once you understand how Polish cases work, it\u2019s not so hard to recognize which form of\u00a0kto<\/strong><\/em> or\u00a0co\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>is required in the given context.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nominative:\u00a0kto<\/em>,\u00a0co<\/em><\/h3>\n

The <\/span>nominative<\/b> forms <\/span>kto <\/i><\/b>and <\/span>co<\/i><\/b> are used to ask about the subject of the sentence. In other words, you mostly use them to ask:<\/span><\/p>\n