Accusative & genitive

The two cases that carry most everyday sentences.

The accusative marks the object — the thing an action lands on. The genitive is the 'of / negation / after certain prepositions' case. The two rules that pay off most: a feminine -a noun becomes -ę as an object, and any object flips to genitive when the sentence is negative.

Case	Use	Example
Accusative	object (lubić, mieć, pić)	Piję kawę
Genitive	negation	Nie piję kawy
Genitive	'of' / possession	filiżanka kawy
Genitive	after do, od, z, bez, dla	Idę do sklepu

•Feminine -a → -ę in the accusative: kawa → kawę.
•Masculine things do not change: Mam bilet.
•Masculine animate (people, animals) take -a: Widzę psa.

Lubię herbatę.

I like tea.

Mam siostrę.

I have a sister.

Wracam z pracy.

I'm coming back from work.

Kupuję chleb.

I'm buying bread.

Nie mam pieniędzy.

I don't have money.

🧠 Tactic — Whenever you put nie before a verb that has an object, mentally flip the ending to genitive. 'No' triggers the genitive.

⚠️ Watch out — Masculine animate nouns look genitive even in the accusative: Widzę psa, Znam Pawła — but masculine things stay unchanged.

Quick check

Lubię ____ . (herbata)

Feminine -a becomes -ę in the accusative.

Nie mam ____ . (czas)

A negated object switches to the genitive.

Idę do ____ . (sklep)

do takes the genitive: sklepu.

Practice

Now produce the answers yourself — type them, choose the form, or build the sentence.

Lubię ___ . (herbata)

feminine object: -a → -ę.

Nie piję ___ . (kawa)

negation → genitive: kawy.

Mam ___ . (siostra)

Idę do ___ . (sklep)

do + genitive.

Widzę ___ . (pies — animate)

masc. animate accusative looks genitive.

Say: I'm buying bread.

Build the sentence — tap the words in order:

‹ PreviousQuestions & negation Next ›Past tense