Learn Polish with Sam and Biluś

Accusative and Instrumental

2011-11-04T22:30:00.000Z

It took me more than a few days but I finally managed to put together some notes on the use of the Accusative and Instrumental, which will hopefully be helpful, although I must say that when it comes to cases it is perhaps wise to just practice, guess, make mistakes and then remember those mistakes. My advice is to try to remember some of the most common patterns / structures that go with each case and for the rest of it just go along as you learn. Some verbs and prepositions you will use very often so try to focus on those and worry not about the others :)

Polish consonants

2011-05-11T15:40:00.004+01:00

Yes, those sounds that twist our tongues even when we no longer have major issues with grammar and manage to make ourselves understood. Most foreigners never get pronunciation right and they can be spotted immediatly, but that's part of the fun when it comes to learning Polish (or any other language, for that matter, but it may be that I am highly subjective, I love all my accents). So here's our attempt at making these very unfriendly sounds a bit more friendlier: Polish Consonants.

Anna, we do hope this helps :) Enjoy!

Possessive pronouns - Zaimki posesywne

2010-04-13T15:43:00.001+01:00

In response to Jim's question about the possessive pronouns in Polish:

Pronoun swój, swoja, swoje // swoi, swoje indicates possession and can be interchanged with the possessive mój, moja, moje // moi, moje. However, there are certain contexts in which this exchange is either gramatically incorrect or it just doesn’t sound right (I know, lots of things don’t sound right in Polish, and there’s no rule telling us how to avoid the embarrassment of not sounding right...). Oh well, one thing’s sure: people will understand what you say even if you mix these pronouns up once in a while – and they will be kind enough to correct you without making you feel odd for not catching the subtleties of the language. But that’s just not good enough, is it? So here’s my best attempt at making things clearer – I have my reasons (mam swoje powody) to believe that this is one of the trickiest parts of Polish grammar: usage of possessive pronouns.

Notes on the Genitive

2009-11-09T23:45:00.004Z

This is in response to a comment Jim posted on this blog asking about the endings for masculine nouns in Genitive. Although there are no rules telling us how to determine the right ending, I tried to put together a list and hopefully it makes things a bit clearer.

The Infinitive (Bezokolicznik)

2009-07-20T21:57:00.001+01:00

The infinitive is the basic form of the verb, the one you'll find in dictionaries and that you'll easily spot due to the ending ć : czytać (to read), pisać (to write), kupić (to buy) (most of the times. You probably guessed, there are exceptions even to this elementary rule*). We'll need the infinitive to form the future, but also for some specific constructions with modal verbs or some particular nouns - since it's very easy to learn & use, you'll soon notice how these constructions enrich your vocabulary :)

* and here are the exceptions: verbs ending in c, like
móc (can): mogę, możesz, może
piec (to bake): piekę, pieczesz, piecze
biec (to run): biegnę, biegniesz, biegnie
strzec (to guard): strzegę, strzeżesz, streże

Here are the most frequent constructions requiring the infinitive.

Vote for us!

2009-07-09T11:03:00.004+01:00

Hello to our faithful followers - it'd be cudownie if you were to go to this link and vote for us (we'll have to let them know that they've missed Sam off the name - especially as she is doing ALL of the good work here now!).

Polish verbs (czasowniki) - the basics

2009-07-07T11:35:00.005+01:00

We've dealt with the verb before - by now, if you've been following this blog, you know quite a few things about aspect, you can tell the difference between perfective and imperfective verbs and you're familiar with the conjugation patterns in Polish. That should be enough for you to be able to build correct sentences, and even though it's possible that you'll sometimes mix & match those perfective and imperfective forms, you'll still make yourself understood.
However, there's still a lot of things to find out about the verb, way too many rules and exceptions and some more exceptions, but we'll take a look at all of them, one at a time.
First of all, we need to define the categories we'll be working with, meaning that we need to know what's really important in learning the verb:
1. Aspect (aspekt)

there are two classes of verbs in Polish: perfective (czasowniki dokonane) and imperfective (czasowniki niedokonane). The first ones are for actions that are completed or will be completed, whereas the others are taking place in some particular moment, without indication of completion.
for example, the pair pić - wypić (to drink):

On pije piwo means that he drinks beer (we have no indication of completion) or that he is drinking beer as we speak.
On wypije piwo means that he will drink all his beer (thus the action being completed at a certain point in the future).

perfective verbs only occur in the past or in the future - the action was either completed earlier, or will be completed. However, a perfective verb in the future looks like an imperfective verb in the present - the pattern of conjugation is the same. Check out at the above mentioned pić - wypić - you conjugate them in the same way, but they express different times. So try to remember it this way: with perfective verbs, what looks (grammatically) as the present is actually an expression of the future.

2. Tense
As far as tense is concerned, you'll probably be relieved to find out there's just three tenses in Polish: past, present and future. But there's several ways to express them.

PAST - both perfective and imperfective verbs occur in the past
- completed action: perfective verb
- action in progress in the past, not completed: imperfective verb
To form the past of both perfective and imperfective vebs, we need the participle and specific endings for each person, singular and plural.
PRESENT - only imperfective verbs occur in the present, there's four big groups of verbs according to the pattern of conjugation (some linguists argue there's actually just three groups, but when we take a look at the present tense I'll explain my choice and why I stand by those people who argue there's four groups)
FUTURE - both perfective and imperfective verbs occur in the future
- we need a perfective verb for a completed action (remember it looks like the present of imperfective verbs)
- we'll express an action that will be in progress at some point in the future with an imperfective verb (to do this, we'll need the verb to be in the future tense and the infinitive or the participle)

3. Mode
- there's three modes in Polish: indicative, conditional and imperative

4. Person
5. Number
6. Gender

- these three categories are important while conjugating verbs because, as you might expect, the question of gender is quite delicate not only when counting nouns or maing the agreement with the adjective, but also when you have to be specific about the person undertaking the action - all information about person(s) and gender is contained in the verb

7. Voice
- this is simple. There's a passive voice and an active voice. Of course, you have to know when to usethe perfective and when the imperfective, but for now no need to enlarge upon this. Pogadamy o tym póżniej :)

Zaimki (Pronouns)

2009-07-03T07:45:00.003+01:00

As compared to the numeral or the verb, the pronoun is quite friendly and easy to remember. Once you've mastered the cases, you should have no problem learning the pronouns. Well, almost no problem, since it's still Polish we're talking about and of course there's some exceptions on the way.
Let's have a quick look at the types of pronouns in Polish

1. Personal Pronouns

singular: ja, ty, on, ona, ono

plural: my, wy, oni (all male & mixed male-female groups), one

Note that ja, ty, my, wy are usually not expressed as subjects, unless emphasized. Thus, we will say:
Czytamy, instead of My czytamy, because the verb gives us full information about the person.

You must remember the polite, formal address as well, because this is the form you'll be using when talking to Polish people, at least for the beginning. If you use ty when talking to someone you've just met, you might be considered rude. However, you'll switch from formal to informal rather quickly, most of the times after a "ceremonial" caled bruderszaft, which involves drinking some vodka and kissing each other on the cheeks. The act of changing from the polite form to a more friendly "you" must be acknowledged by both parties. Also, when talking to someone older, they must be the ones to suggest giving up formal address.
singular: Pan (masc), Pani (fem)
plural: Panowie (masc), Panie (fem), Panstwo (masc&fem)

2. Possessive Pronouns

they take a full set of agreeing endings and act like adjectives - they have the same type of declension

3. Demonstrative and Relative Pronouns

Polish language does not have the category of "article", therefore you will understand from the context if a certain noun is definite or indefinite. Demonstrative and relative pronouns have full case-and-number declension

4. Reflexive pronoun

it means "oneself", "each other", "one another" and it has no Nominative case form

5. Distributive pronouns

they are matched by different pronouns in the plural and in expressing negation, but they all function like adjectives and have full case-and-number declension.

You'll probably have to learn the personal pronouns as they are - and worry not if you don't remember all forms, once you start speaking they will all come naturally, and you'll end up wondering why you spent all that time and energy trying to learn something that was so obvious. For the rest of the pronouns, all it takes is good command of the cases.
Here's a chart with declension patterns for the above-mentioned pronouns.

Liczebniki parts 4 - 7

2009-07-02T16:05:00.000+01:00

We didn't give up. We're still learning Polish and we still love it.
The thing is, we've both been so busy, that we hardly had any time for this blog. But we're back now, ready to do some catching up :)
We still had to go through those strange numerals, next we'll take a look at the pronoun, which is really not that big of a deal, and then the real adventure starts: the verb.
So let's do some more counting - these numerals are not very popular in Polish, you won't meet them very often - and learn some really useful stuff, like expressing time, dates and years.
Fractional and Indefinite Numerals.

Liczebniki (part 2 & 3)

2009-03-19T17:20:00.004Z

Today we'll take a look at ordinal and collective numerals.

Ordinal numerals are simple and user-friendly. They act like adjectives, so once you should have no problem, once you've learnt the main form of the numeral.
Collective numerals are a bit more complicated. When it comes to them, there's a few things you have to remember:
a) form
b) the three categories of nouns you count using these numerals
c) declension
d) agreement with the noun (i.e. the case they require for the noun that follows them).
They may not be pretty, but the good news is that once you've figured out the mechanism, you won't have any problems, not to mention that you won't actually be using these numerals very often.

Notes on the use of Instrumental

2009-03-05T00:38:00.006Z

This post is also a response to the comment on this post.
After consulting the books, here's my attempt at making things easier to understand.
First of all, I totally agree with Biluś - with those endings (końcowki) you don't have much of a choice, with or without further explanations about grammar. You learn them by heart, and after a while you'll forget all about the ordeal you've gone through. In this way, you will be able to recognize the Instrumental case, and all the others, just by taking a look at the ending. However, if you want to build up your own sentences and are not sure when and how to use it, maybe this will help:

One of the main constructions requiring Narzędnik (Instrumental) has the following structure:
Kto jest kim
Co jest czym
(Subject) jest (predicative)

In Polish, the subject (kto / co) is in Mianownik (Nominative), whereas the predicative (kim / czym) is in Narzędnik. Let's take a look at your examples:
Marek i Piotr są studentami Politechniki.

Marek i Piotr: Subject (Mianownik / Nominative)
studentami: predicative (Narzędnik / Instrumental) - this gives us further information on the subject of the sentence, and it follows the pattern (subject) są (predicative)

Let's take another example:

On jest Francuzem / lekarzem / studentem.

It is easier if you ask the questions:
Kto to jest? and your answer will be "On" (Mianownik)
Kim on jest? - this gives you further information about profession, nationality etc. and your answer will be a noun in Narzędnik.
It may be that the noun is determined by an adjective - like in your example: Oni są dobrymi przyjaciółmi. In such a situation, the adjective will also be in Narzędnik. You have to pay attention to the fact that even if the cases are different, there is still agreement in gender and number. You can't say, for instance, *Oni są (plural) dobrym przyjacielem (singular).

Finally, some tips and tricks:

look at the verb. Narzędnik mostly occurs after these verbs: być, bywać, zostać, stawać / stać się, okazać się, zrobić się.
look at the subject of the sentence and then at the nouns or nouns + adjectives giving you further information about the subject. They will most likely be in Narzędnik. Note here that if you have just an adjective, without a noun, describing the subject, then you have full agreement - gender, number and case. There is a difference between Marek jest zdolny and Marek jest zdolnym studentem. And don't forget to ask the questions. In the first situation, the question will be Jaki jest Marek?, whereas in the second situation, the question will be Kim jest Marek? (On jest studentem - this is the essential information, and the adjective describing "studentem" will obviously be in Narzędnik).

Hopefully, this will clear things up a bit (and remember that Instrumental has many other uses and specific prepositions. If you need any help with those, let us know).
Powodzenia!

Learning the cases

2009-03-04T08:56:00.002Z

This post is in response to anonymous' comment on this post. I'm assuming my own lack of a grammar foundation here - I was never taught the mechanics of grammar and, in order to learn Polish, I had to learn what the different parts of speech actually do - even down to adverb/adjective... so, I sympathise, anonymous!

My esteemed przyjaciółka, Sam, will be able to help explain more than I can about why the instrumental is used in the particular example you give: 'Marek i Piotr są studentami Politechniki. Są dobrymi przyjaciólmi, chóć kazdy jest inny'

However, this was my strategy for being able to 'spot the case' in an exam I sat last year - it's a very old technique of learning: by rote - but it worked like a dream, so I pass it on in the hope that it might be useful to you, too.

Print the following documents, which are (arguably) the most important cases and their endings:

Look at the completed table and test your memory of it - then try to write the endings out from memory in the blank tables. I guarantee, you make yourself do this over the course of a week, you'll remember. Good luck!

Odmiana nazw wlasnych

2009-02-03T10:08:00.004Z

We still have a long way ahead of us with those numerals (working on them), but in the meantime here's part of a paper I had to write in my kultura jezyka course, about declension of names.

Liczebniki (part 1)

2009-01-09T23:01:00.004Z

Cześć Wam, i Wszystkiego Najlepszego w Nowym Roku!

We’re back in business.

A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do, and this means, among other things which are not related to Polish in any way, learning the numeral. In my opinion this is the toughest and crappiest part of Poish grammar, not to mention I find it somewhat senseless – it’s so complicated that even Polish people have problems getting the right forms.

So let’s try to shed some light on those numerals (liczebniki).

First of all, here’s a list of all types of numerals, which we’ll be taking one at a time, trying to clear things up in terms of declension and syntax.

1. Cardinal num. = liczebniki główne (jeden, piętnaście, trzysta, miliard)

2. Ordinal num. = liczebniki porządkowe (czwarty, dwunasty)

3. Collective num. = liczebniki zbiorowe (czworo, jedenaścioro)

4. Indefinite num. = liczebniki nieokreślone (dużo, kilkanaście)

5. Fractional num. = liczebniki ułamkowe (pół, trzy cywarte)

6. Multiplicative num. = liczebniki mnożne (podwójny, poczwóry)

7. Reified num. = wielorakie liczebniki (dwojaki, pięcioraki).

So let’s start with liczebniki główne.

P.S. it may look scary, although I’ve tried to keep it simple. It takes some patience and some practice, nothing more (ok, it took me about one year, a job in a bar, three grammar exams and one summer course to figure out the numeral, but that’s just me, I’ve never been good with numbers).

Case Names: English and Polish

2008-12-14T11:37:00.002Z

After Sam's helpful post on those elusive double-duty prepositions, I realised I needed to refresh myself on the actual names of the cases in English (you can do a search of this blog for functions of the cases):

Nominative (mianownik)
Genitive (dopełniacz)
Dative (celownik)
Accusative (biernik)
Instrumental (narzędnik)
Locative (miejscownik)
Vocative (wołacz)

Double Duty Prepositions

2008-12-14T01:34:00.004Z

Once we have the cases figured out and we know what prepositions to use for each one of them, it's time to take another step and discover those prepositions which work with more than just one case, based on context and meaning.

DOUBLE DUTY PREPOSITIONS

między (between, among)

Włóż zeszyt między książki. (Biernik)
Między zeszytami leżą książki. (Narzędnik)

In the first example, the preposition is connected to a movement verb in the imperative, whereas in the second example we have a static verb.
Note also the expression "między nami" (between us) - Narzędnik
na

Idziemy na egzamin. (Biernik)
Grzyby są na stole. (Miejscownik)

If the preposition occurs after a movement verb, indicating the destination / purpose, then we use Biernik. If we want to indicate location, connected to a static verb, we use Miejscownik.
nad

Jadę nad morze. (Biernik)
Jestem nad morzem. (Miejscownik)

Poproszę o rachunek / Pytam o zdanie. (Biernik)
Mówiłam o tym zdaniu. (Miejscownik)

When meaning "for", "concerning", the preposition "o" is followed by Biernik, when meaning "about", it is followed by Miejscownik.
po

Idę po wodę. (Biernik)
Jestem po pracy. (Miejscownik)

The preposition "po" is usually followed by Biernik when connected to a verb of movement in order to express purpose. Otherwise, it is followed by Miejscownik.

w

Pojechaliśmy w Tatry. (Biernik)
Byliśmy w Tatrach. (Miejscownik)

Pojechaliśmy za miasto. (Biernik)
Byliśmy za miastem. (Narzędnik)

Once again, the verb decides the preposition and the case, thus we use Biernik for movement, and Ms. or N. for static vebs.

Witam :)

2008-12-13T00:36:00.003Z

Thanks for the introduction, Biluś. The pleasure is all mine - when it comes to learning Polish, I'm like a kid in a toy store, I just can't seem to get enough of it. Give me some grammar, some words that are impossible to pronounce, add some exceptions to that and a few idioms and you've made my day. I'll be more than happy to share the stuff I discover, and I'm really excited to be contributing to this blog, which has been one of the most useful tools I've used in the process of polishing my Polish.
So I say we get down to business, jak najszybciej :)
Sam

New News!

2008-12-12T11:04:00.002Z

My last post about hibernation is updated now - the blog awakes because (I'm pleased and honoured to report) of Sam, who will now take up the slack here and be posting about her own adventures in both Poland and po polsku. Introduce yourself, Sam...

hibernacji - hibernation

2008-11-06T11:53:00.002Z

Well, I'm having to face realities - I've just started a doctorate and won't find any time for either studying Polish or posting to this blog for the forseeable future. I'll leave the blog posts up, they may be useful to somebody sometime. Thanks to everybody who's visited :-)

I will be posting to my research blog, which you can follow if it takes your fancy!

Pozdram, Biluś

Verbs of Motion

2008-05-07T13:49:00.004+01:00

These form a separate system which you just have to learn. However, it does rest on just two verbs: iść (to go on foot) and jechać (to move by means of transportation) - so there's no general movement, in Polish you either go on foot or by a vehicle. This table expresses the main (first person) aspects for the past, present and future:

For waaay more detail look at the resources in the Uczmy Się Polskiego (links) at right of here:

pp 80-81 Polish Grammar in a Nutshell
pp 291-293 A Grammar of Contemporary Polish
pp 108-110 A Concise Polish Grammar

If you can't find the right pages in the pdf files, just press ctrl-f and search for 'verbs of motion'.

Polish Alphabet - Polski Alfabet

2008-05-04T17:31:00.007+01:00

Looking around the Interweb for some helpful stuff for a Polish exam (an exam in Polish! my first - I feel validated!), I came across a really excellent resource for anybody interested in Polish and Poland, PolishForums.com. It has a tagline 'Poland for Expats and Tourists', which sounds awful, but in fact it's quite brilliant and some very fine people have kindly spent time writing informatively about Polish culture, geography, romance, history, film, literature - and of course you can just join in and ask a question if you don't find what you want here. My interest was language and there's lots here; I skipped lightly over 'sexual phrases in Polish' (!) and found a wonderful resource at Practice Your Polish/Polish Lessons Units - a whole series of videos introducing the Polish alphabet and pronunciation (the one I include here, Polish Lessons Unit 1, is also on YouTube):

Great vid, Janusz!

5. Verbs which have the imperfective form only

2008-03-24T09:29:00.003Z

Here's the final posting on aspects of verbs referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008. So, you don't need to learn a second verb form - just learn that these DON'T have a perfective form: Verbs which have the imperfective form only

4. Perfective Verbs with two different stems

2008-03-24T09:16:00.001Z

Here's the fourth of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: Perfective Verbs with two different stems

3. Perfective Verbs formed by a stem alternation and a change of the stem suffix

2008-03-24T09:10:00.002Z

Number three of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: Perfective Verbs formed by a stem alternation and a change of the stem suffix

2. Perfective Verbs formed by a change of the stem suffix

2008-03-24T08:54:00.003Z

Post number two of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: Perfective Verbs formed by a change of the stem suffix

1. Perfective Verbs formed by adding a prefix

2008-03-24T07:53:00.004Z

So, you can find the first of five aspect tables referred to in the blog posting below (Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective) from Sunday, 23 March 2008: perfective verbs formed by adding a prefix.

Aspects of verbs: imperfective and perfective

2008-03-23T17:36:00.003Z

So, you’ve learnt quite a few Polish verbs and are feeling very pleased with yourself – then, you find out that almost every English verb is equal to two Polish verbs! Yes, we’re talking about the two aspects – essentially, whether an action has been completed or not. So, for example with the verb robić (to do, to make):

Imperfective is robić – “Wczoraj robiłem zadanie, kiedy przyszedł kolega.” (yesterday I was doing my homework, when my friend came round) – thus, the homework didn’t get done and the imperfective expresses an uncompleted, unfinished action (often translated as a progressive tense in English with -ing, for example 'was going', 'is going', "will be going")
Perfective is zrobić – “Wczoraj wieczorem zrobiłem zadanie, a potem czytałem książkę.” (Yesterday evening I did my homework and then read a book. – ah! the homework is done so the perfective is a completed, finished action (often translated as a simple tense in English, for example 'went', 'go' 'will go').

For more on aspects, see page 269 of the excellent A Grammar of Contemporary Polish for a more in-depth explanation; also there is a very good discussion in Wikipedia about Aspects in Slavic languages, which draws mostly on the Polish example. However, and this is the point of this and the couple of postings following here: there are NO CLEAR RULES defining which prefixes form the perfective verbs – so you just have to learn the perfective version of the imperfective verbs parrot-fashion. However, it does help to know that perfective verbs are formed by:

adding a prefix
changing the stem suffix
a stem alternation and a change of the stem suffix
having two completely different stems (!)
verbs only having the imperfective form – no perfective, yaay...

If that looks complicated, then I’ve tried to simplify (a bit) by putting the above list into table form (in the posts immediately after this one) to print out and learn by self-testing – which is why there are three tables for each variant: one is complete for your reference, one is empty in the last column so you can test yourself on the meanings of the verbs, and one has an empty column for you to complete in order to learn the perfective forms. By the way, the forms are first and second persons singular and third person plural – if you can’t work the others out, let me know...

Vocative Case

2008-01-04T15:07:00.002Z

Answers the questions who or what are you calling - or to call someone from a distance. This case is rarely used and some say don't even bother to learn it... who am I to argue? However, there are uses that are common:

when using titles - very important in Polish society - the Vocative is obligatory: Dzień dobry, panie profesorze! (Hello, professsor-Voc.!)
with diminutive (affectionate) forms of first names: Kasiu! Grzesiu! Hanu!

Locative Case

2008-01-04T15:06:00.002Z

Case of location - answers the questions 'Who am I talking about?' (o kim?) I am talking about the movie star - and 'What am I talking about?' (o czym?) - and What is it on? On the plane, On the street, In the building. Note that it is only used after the prepositions:

na 'on, at'
w 'in'
po 'about, along'
przy 'near, by'
o 'concerning'

Instrumental Case

2008-01-04T15:06:00.001Z

Generally related to the English preposition 'with' or 'by' when referring to transportation.

Answers the questions-whom am I doing something with? With what am I doing something with? I am talking on the phone with Joseph. I am traveling by train. This is also a case of location, most commonly used with "Z" or with." also Przed-in front of Nad-above Pod-under, bellow Za- behind.

Dative Case

2008-01-04T15:05:00.006Z

The indirect object (always the person to whom something happens or is given: she gave me her address).

Also used after four prepositions:

dzięki (thanks to)
wbrew (contrary to, against)
ku (to, toward)
przeciw/ko (against)

Accusative Case

2008-01-04T15:05:00.003Z

The direct object of most verbs; the object of some prepositions.

Answers the questions: What is the action is about? Whom the action is about? I see the tree. I see what? The tree. I see Mark. I see who? Mark. We would like to visit Krakow . What would you like to visit? Krakow . I have a new dress. What do you have? A new dress.

Most common verbs used: I see, I have, I like.

Other examples: I am going to buy a plane ticket. I am going to buy what? A plane ticket. I am going to sell my car. I am going to sell what? My car.

The accusative also follows preposition that indicate going towards or motion. Pzez-through Na-on, to, towards, for I am going to the market. I am waiting for my love. I will be on vacation. I am walking through the building.

Incidentally, the most common Polish cases are the nominative (dictionary form) and accusative, which account for almost 65% of the Polish cases. The nominative, accusative, genitive, and locative accounts for over 90% of the Polish cases. But you still have to learn them all :-)

Genitive Case

2008-01-02T10:26:00.000Z

The case that marks a noun as being the possessor of another noun (which is why it's also widely known as the possessive case). Thus "Danuta's brother" is brat Danuty (or Danuty brat) and "father's automobile" is samochód ojca (or ojca samochód).

In Polish, the genitive is also used:

with direct object after a negated verb (thus Mam klucz (I have a key) with the accusative is negated as Nie mam klucza (I don't have a key) with the genitive).
after words naming quantity or measure (corresponds to of in English: szklanka herbaty (a glass of tea), dużo czasu (a lot of time).
after certain verbs, such as: potrzebować (to need), słuchać (to listen to ), szukać (to look for), uczyć (to teach), uczyć się (to study, learn), używać (to use).
Cardinal Numbers from 5-21, 25-31, 35-41, 45-51, etc... are followed by the genitive plural (thus Zyzio ma sześć lat, Tomasz ma piętnaście samochodów).
Finally, genitive is used with a wide range of prepositions. Several express the starting point of moton: z domu (out of the house), z koncertu (from the concert), od Danuty (from Danuta). Other prepositions requiring the genitive case are u (by, in the presence of), do (to, into), dla (for, on behalf of), and bez (without).

Via Frank Y. Gladney's excellent Elementary Polish

Nominative Case

2008-01-01T18:49:00.001Z

Subject of the sentence.

Answers the questions: What is it? Who is it? It is a Park. What is it? a park. It is Mark. Who is it? Mark. The park is green. What is green? the park. The man is walking. Who is walking? the man.

Usually used with the verb "to be"

This is the case that simply names the entity in question and does not mark its dependence on any other word in the sentence. It is the case of the subject of the sentence.

In English, the role a noun plays in the sentence is indicated mainly by its position. When we hear Stan loves Barb we recognize Stan as the subject of the sentence (the source of the affection) and Barb as its object (the direct object of the sentence). In Barb loves Stan the different word order assigns different sentence roles to the two nouns.

In Polish, where "Stan" is Staś-, "loves" is kocha, and "Barb" is Baś-, it is CASE that communicates who loves whom. Case is indicated by the noun's case ending. NOMINATIVE case, which is indicated by a nominative-case ending (let us represent it as NOM), marks the subject of the sentence. ACCUSATIVE case, which is indicated by a accusative-case ending (let us represent it as ACC), marks the direct object of the sentence. So "Stan loves Barb" may be represented as Staś-NOM kocha Baś-ACC, and "Barb loves Stan" may be represented as Baś-NOM kocha Staś-ACC

(source)

Polskie Cases Overview

2008-01-01T18:47:00.002Z

This is going to be my starting point, as this is probably where I have the most difficulty. Thing is, nouns and adjectives change their endings in singular and plural according to the way they're used as either subject or object or even if they're used with a particular preposition, verb or prepositional phrase (whatver that is) - and I just NEVER know when to '-ego' and when to '-ą' or '-ę'...

Anyway, there are seven cases to squeeze into your head - count 'em, here presented in their traditional order:

Nominative (mianownik)
Genitive (dopełniacz)
Dative (celownik)
Accusative (biernik)
Instrumental (narzędnik)
Locative (miejscownik)
Vocative (wołacz)

The following posts will all be a more in-depth presentation of each case, with not too much text but hopefully-helpful links (uczmy się polskiego on the right of here), useful guidance and exercises (100 Exercises on Cases!) plus a mind map like the one here (just click on it for a larger version):