History of Polish

The Polish language is a West Slavic language, and thus descends from Proto-Slavic, and more distantly from Proto-Indo-European. More specifically, it is a member of the Lechitic branch of the West Slavic languages, along with other languages spoken in areas within or close to the area of modern Poland, including Kashubian, Silesian, and the extinct Slovincian and Polabian.

This article is about the history and evolution of the Polish language. For the history of the Polish people, see Poles. For the history of the Polish culture, see culture of Poland.

The history of the language can be divided into four periods of development: Old Polish, up to the start of the 16th century; Middle Polish, from the 16th century until the end of the 18th century; New Polish, up to 1930; and Modern Polish, since 1930.[1]

This page lists the most important changes that have taken place in the history of the Polish language.

Phonetic processes from Proto-Slavic
ǫglь > vǫglь > węgiel ("coal")
sę > /sʲã/ > się (/ɕɛ̃/~/ɕɛ/) (generic reflexive pronoun; self, oneself; myself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves, etc. also each other, one another)
bělъjь > biały ("white")
  • Ablaut of vowels before hard (non-palatalized) alveolar consonants: e > o, ě > a
nesą > niosę but nesešь > niesiesz ("you carry")
bělъjь > biały but bělitъ > bieli ("whitens")
  • The traces of the transition of ě into a in verbs after j, š, ž, č have disappeared
slyšatь, slyšalъ, slyšalь > słyszeć, słyszał, słyszeli ("to hear, he heard, they heard"); compare Russian слышать (slyshat’)
visětь, visělъ, visělь > wisieć, wisiał, wisieli ("to hang, he hung, they hung")
The only remnants are stojatь, bojatь ("to stand, to be afraid") > stojać, bojać in dialects of Wielkopolska – stać, bać in the dialect of Małopolska and in the literary language
  • The disappearance of weak yers and the change of strong yers into /e/:
pьsъ > pies ("dog (nom.)") but pьsa > psa ("dog (gen.)")
sъnъ > sen ("sleep (nom.)")
  • Formation of long vowels as a result of:
  • Proto-Slavic ę and ǫ were merged (after ę had palatalized a previous consonant)
  • around the 11th century, there were 4 distinct nasal vowels /ɛ̃/, /ɛ̃ː/, /ɔ̃/, /ɔ̃ː/, as the long and short reflexes of ę and ǫ
  • in the 12th century the pronunciation of ę and ǫ was lowered, eventually merging as /ã/
  • in the 13th and 14th century the only difference was in the vowel length, hence the common symbol ø for all nasal vowels
  • Then, after the nasal vowels had merged, the disappearance of long vowels:
  • the length of /iː/, /ɨː/, /uː/ disappeared without a trace in the early 16th century
  • the length of /aː/, /ɛː/, /ɔː/, /ãː/ caused raising (constriction) of these vowels in the early 16th century:
  • /ɔː/ > /o/ > /u/, written ó
  • /ã/ > /ɛ̃/, written ę (with loss of nasalization in some places); but /ãː/ > /ɑ̃/ > /ɔ̃/, written ą
  • /aː/ > /ɑ/ or /ɒ/, originally written á or å, but eventually merged back to short /a/ by the 18th century. However in many dialects it became /ɔ/ (e.g. pon for standard pan "man") or retained the old pronunciation
  • /ɛː/ > /e/ > /i/ or /ɨ/, written as é in the 19th century ("daléj, daléj/niech się na powietrzu spali" – Adam Mickiewicz's Forefathers' Eve), but eventually it has merged with short /ɛ/
nesǫtъ > /nʲɔsãː/ > niosą ("they carry") but nesǫ > /nʲɔsã/ > niosę ("I carry")
bogъ > /bɔːɡ/ > bóg ("god (nom.)") but boga > /bɔɡa/ > boga ("god (gen.)")
kurъ > /kuːr/ > kur ("cockerel")
  • Development of sonorants from Proto-Slavic liquid diphthongs
X - any consonant
T - alveolar
Tʲ - palatalized alveolar (or palatoalveolar)
P - labial or labiovelar
K - velar
Č - retroflex ("rustling"), derived from a palatalized velar
  • XorX, XerT > XarX (sometimes XerT > XʲarT, XorX > XurX, XorX)
korkъ > kark ("neck")
černъjь > czarny ("black")
zerno > ziarno ("seed")
  • XerTʲ > XirTʲ > XʲerTʲ
vertitь > wiercić ("to drill")
  • XerK/XerP > XirzX > XʲerzX (sometimes XarX)
verxъ > wierzch ("top")
verba > wierzba ("willow")
perxъjь > parchy, but perchnǫtь > pierzchnąć ("to chap")
  • in general ir, irʲ > ʲer, ʲerz
sěkyra > siekira > siekiera ("axe")
  • TolX, TelX > TłuX
delgъjь > długi ("long")
stolpъ > stłup > słup ("pillar")
  • but Toln, Teln > Tłun > Tłon
solnьce > słuńce > słońce ("sun")
  • PolX, KolX, PelT > XełX, but sometimes PolX > PołX, PułX
kolbasa > kiełbasa ("sausage")
velna > wełna ("wool")
molva > mołwa > mowa ("speech")
polkъ > pułk ("regiment")
  • ČelX > ČełX > ČołX > ČółX
čelno > czółno ("canoe")
želtъjь > żółty ("yellow")
  • PelTʲ, PelP, PelK > PilX
velkъ > wilk ("wolf")
bogyni > bogini ("goddess")
  • Strengthening of palatalization: sʲ, zʲ, tʲ, dʲ, nʲ > ś, ź, ć, dź, ń (/ɕ, ʑ, t͡ɕ, d͡ʑ, ɲ/)
losь > łoś ("elk")
  • Palatal assimilation
gostь > gostʲ > gość ("guest")
sъpi > spʲi > śpi ("is asleep")
  • Loss of palatalization in certain environments
  • š, ž, č, dž, cʲ, dzʲ, rʲ (> ř > rz) and lʲ (note that hard l > ł /w/ or /ɫ̪/) lost their palatalization altogether:
či > czy ("if")
  • pʲ, bʲ, wʲ, fʲ, mʲ depalatalized when at the end of a word or before a consonant:
golǫbь > gołãbʲ > gołąb ("dove")
  • sʲ, zʲ, tʲ, dʲ, nʲ in some cases depalatalized before a non-palatal consonant:
kotьnъjь > kotʲny > kotny
  • kń > kś
kъnędzь > kniądz > ksiądz ("priest")
  • czs > cs > c, dźs > ćs > c, żs > szs > s
czso > co ("what")
lud – ludzki /lut͡skʲi/ < ludźski ("people – human")
bogaty – bogactwo < bogaćstwo ("rich – richness")
Bóg – boski < bożski ("God – divine")
Włochy – włoski < włoszski ("Italy – Italian")
Ruś – ruski < ruśski ("Rus' – of or relating to Rus'")
  • śćc > jc, dźc > ćc > jc
miejsce < mieśćce < městьce ("place")
ojca < oćca < otьca ("father")
rajca < radźca ("councilmen")
  • źdźs > śćs > js
miasto – miejski < mieśćski ("town – urban")
ujazd – ujejski < ujeźdźski
sześćset /ʂɛjsɛt/ ("six hundred")
sreda > środa (dial. strzoda, rsioda) ("Wednesday")
zrěnica > źrenica (dial. zdrzenica, rzienica) ("pupil")
  • zgn, rgn, rgm > zn, rn, rm
rozgniewać > rozniewać (Old Polish, "to become angry")
burgmistrz (cf. German Bürgermeister) > burmistrz ("mayor")
  • rdc, zdn, łdn, cztw, stb, stł, stl > rc, zn, łn, czw, zb, sł, śl
serdьce > sierdce > serce ("heart")
cztwarty > czwarty ("fourth")
  • ji > i (at least in spelling and while pronouncing clearly)
dojitь > doić ("to milk")
jixъ > ich ("their")
kolo > koło (initially /kɔɫɔ/, nowadays mostly /kɔwɔ/)
  • Word stress initially retained the mobile paradigms of Proto-Slavic, but then became initial, before finally becoming penultimate today.

Changes in grammar

Nouns

The declension of nouns has simplified. It now depends on the gender of a noun (smok, o smoku – foka, o foce) (a dragon, about a dragon - a seal, about a seal) and to some extent on the hardness of a noun's stem (liść, liście – list, listy) (leaf - leaves, letter - letters). Two categories have appeared in the masculine gender: the category of animacy and that of personhood (but, widzę but, widzę buty – kot, widzę kota, widzę koty – pilot, widzę pilota, widzę pilotów) (a shoe, I see a shoe, I see shoes - a cat, I see a cat, I see cats - a pilot, I see a pilot, I see pilots).

Traces of consonant stems still remain but almost exclusively in neuter noun stems ending in -en, -ent- (cielę – cielęcia, imię – imienia) (a calf - of a calf, a name - of a name). For all other stems, the long or short form has become characteristic of all cases. In general, in the past endings characteristic of stems ending in -o-, -jo- and -a-, -ja- were most common. Other endings were disappearing. The endings which did not cause the alteration of the stem were becoming more popular. Traces of the lack of softness in some forms of words softened by front vowels (mainly forms ending with a consonant or ending with -i-, e.g. krъvaxъ > *krwach > krwiach) have disappeared. Often softness is the only remnant of old noun endings (Gen. kamane > kamienia) (of stone).

Nominative

The disappearance of short forms of stems may be interpreted as the result of the introduction of the accusative noun form into the nominative.

kamy > *kamy > kamień (kamenь) (stone)
kry > *kry > krew (por. krъvь) (blood)

For neuter nouns the ending -ьje sometimes produced a constricted -é (weselé) (wedding). Names of institutions such as podkomorzé, due to the influence of names such as łowczy (hunting), since the 16th century have been declined as adjectives: podkomorzy (chamberlain).

Genitive

The ending -y has come to be applied to all feminine nouns.

The ending -a has come to be applied to all neuter nouns and to the majority of masculine nouns. In the 16th century, the ending -å, in other words non-acute -a, was applied to neuter stems ending in -ьje: oká (of an eye) but wesela (of a wedding).

After a period of frequent changes (which still has not ended) the ending -u is still applied to some masculine non-personal nouns, but there is no major connection with the original form.

Until the 16th century, the ending -ej, used in the declension of pronouns, was applied to all nouns in the genitive and dative and to feminine nouns in the locative if a noun had an old stem ending in -ja-: paniej, rolej, duszej (lord, role, soul).

Dative

The ending -'e is still applied to feminine nouns with stems ending in -a-.

The ending -y is still applied to feminine soft-stem nouns. Occasionally, in the Old Polish ending -y was applied to neuter nouns with stems ending in a consonant: dziecięci, książęci (child, prince).

The ending -owi has come to be applied to almost all stems of masculine nouns. Occasionally, it was applied to stems of neuter nouns.

The ending -ewi from Old Polish was sometimes applied instead of the ending -owi to the soft-stem nouns and in the 15th and 16th century it started to also be applied to hard-stem nouns.

The ending -u has come to be applied to all stems of neuter nouns. It is still applied to some masculine noun forms ending in -o-, -jo-. Until the 16th century it was used more frequently, especially following the preposition ku (człowieku (human), głosu (voice), ku południu (towards the south)).

Accusative

The accusative has remained the same as the nominative for all neuter nouns.

For masculine nouns, the accusative has remained the same as the nominative for inanimate nouns and for animate nouns it has become the same as the genitive. The reason for this last change was most probably the free word order and the ambiguity that it could entail in phrases such as syn kocha ojciec (a son /nom./ loves a father /nom./) and ojciec kocha syn (a father /nom./ loves a son /nom./). The change of their forms into syn kocha ojca (son /nom./ loves father /acc./) and ojca kocha syn (father /acc./ loves son /nom./) helped to resolve this ambiguity. The accusative was the same as the nominative until the 14th - 15th century (in the region of Mazowsze until the 16th century), and nowadays this feature is preserved in common phrases such as iść za mąż (to get married), siąść na koń (to mount a horse), na miły Bóg (dear Lord!), być za pan brat (to be on intimate terms with sbd.).

The ending -0 is still applied to stems of feminine nouns for which this same ending is applied also in the nominative.

The ending -ę is still applied to the typically feminine nouns.

In Old Polish the ending -ą was applied instead of -ę to nouns whose nominative ended with -å widzę duszę, boginię (I see a soul, a goddess) but wolą, pieczą (will, care). Nowadays, the only remnant of this rule is the accusative form panią (lady).

Instrumental

The ending -ą is still applied to all stems of feminine nouns.

The ending -em has come to be applied to all stems of masculine and neuter nouns. The development of -ъmь, -ьmь has contributed to the stabilization of the use of this ending.

The ending -im < -ьjemь was applied to neuter nouns ending in the old -ьje: wiesielim, miłosierdzim (joy, mercy), wyobrażenim (imagination).

Locative

The ending -'e is applied to hard-stem nouns. Until 15th - 16th century it was also applied to masculine and feminine nouns ending in -k, -g, -ch: Bodze (god), gresze (sin), mlece (milk). For noun stems ending in -n-: We dnie i w nocy (during the day and night), but in general: w dniu (during the day).

The ending -y has come to be applied to all feminine soft-stem nouns. Until 14th - 15th century it was also applied to a very small number of stems ending in -jo-, especially i < -ьji for neuter nouns ending in -ьje.

The ending -u has come to be applied to masculine and neuter hard-stem nouns ending in -k, -g, -ch. It has also survived in forms o synu, domu (about a son, about a house) and is also present in the form o panu (due to the influence of the phrase w Panu Bogu) (in the Lord God).

Vocative

The ending -'e (with -e, not -ě2, this is why there is the softening connected to the first palatalization) is applied to masculine hard-stem nouns. Until the 16th century it was also applied to nouns ending in -k, -g, -ch. Nowadays it is present in forms such as Boże, człowiecze, Kozacze (also człowieku, Kozaku), and also księże, additionally after -ec: ojcze, starcze(father, old man) (connected with the third palatalization).

The ending -u has come to be applied to masculine soft-stem nouns ending in -k, -g, -ch and also feminine soft-stem nouns known as 'rodzinne' ('family nouns', used when addressing other family members) (ciociu, Helu) (auntie, Hela). It has also survived in forms such as synu, domu! (son, home!).

The ending -o has survived in the old feminine nouns ending in -a- and has also spread onto the majority of old feminine nouns ending in -ja-.

The ending -y is still applied to feminine nouns which stems in the nominative end with a consonant (myszy, kości!) (mice, bones!) and has spread onto the nouns of the same type as pani (lady).

The forms of neuter nouns in the vocative have remained the same as their forms in the nominative.

Nominative

Until the 15th century the ending -i was the most widely applied ending to the stems of masculine nouns. From the 16th century onwards it was not applied to the stems of inanimate nouns, and from the 18th century – to the stems of nouns referring to non-persons. Forms Włoszy, mniszy (Italians, monks) have been replaced by Włosi, mnisi with the phonetic softness introduced in the 17th century.

In the accusative -y was gradually replacing -i as the ending applied to the stems of masculine nouns. Since the 16th century it was applied even to the stems of nouns referring to persons. It was popular especially in the Enlightenment (syny, wnuki, greki) (sons, grandsons, Greeks). For feminine nouns it is still applied to the stems ending in -a- and also to some forms in the nominative singular ending in -0.

The ending -e, derived from the stems ending in -i- (gost-ьje, lud-ьje) (guests, people), -n- (dьn-e, kamen-e, mestjan-e) (days, stones, townsmen) and forms such as przyjaciele, cesarze (friends, caesars), have dominated soft-stem masculine nouns. For feminine nouns it is still applied to the stems ending in -ja- and has spread onto some of the forms in the nominative singular ending in -0.

The ending -owie in the 14th - 15th century was applied to all stems of masculine nouns. Since the 16th century it has been gradually disappearing, especially from inanimate nouns and those referring to nonpersons, still Norwid (1821–1883) used obłokowie (clouds) to make up a rhyme.

In the Old Polish, soft-stem nouns sometimes had the ending -ewie applied instead of -owie.

The ending -a is still applied to the stems of neuter nouns. Due to the influence of the Latin language, it has been applied since the 15th century to the stems of male nouns borrowed from Latin and German: akta, fundamenta, grunta, (files, foundations, grounds) and temporarily also to originally Polish nouns: okręta, pociska (ships, bullets). Nowadays, applying the ending -a to the stems of masculine nouns is generally not possible, however: akta (files)||akty (acts).

The names of offices such as podkomorzé until the 15th century also had the ending -a applied in the plural. In the 16th century forms chorążowie podczasze podchorąże ma pod sobą were widely used; nowadays in the nominative it is chorążowie (warrant officers), in the dative podchorążych (of cup bearers).

The ending -´a (-´å) < -ьja today is used to construct forms such as brat – bracia (brother - brothers), ksiądz – księża (priest - priests). Initially, these forms were interpreted as collective nouns (bracia stała = braty stały) (brothers stood), księża poszła = księdzowie poszli (priests went), and were declined in the same way as female nouns (others of this type in the accusative had applied the ending -ą, in the genitive, dative and locative: -ej). In the writings of Skarga (1536–1612) they were declined in the same way as plural nouns (braciom, braćmi, braciach, księżom, księżmi, księżach) (brothers, priests). In dialect forms such as swaciå, muzykanciå, adwokaciå (matchmakers, musicians, lawyers)can be found.

Genitive

The ending -0 has started to be widely applied to neuter and feminine hard-stem nouns. For soft-stem nouns the ending that is also applied is -y. Until the 17th century, its traces were present in the old masculine stems ending in -o-, -jo-: genitive woz (carriage), god, tysiąc (thousand), dziej, włos (hair). Nowadays, it is present in forms such as przyjaciół (friends), dotychczas (until now).

The ending -ów has become characteristic of the masculine hard-stem nouns, for soft-stem nouns the ending that is also applied is -y. In Old Polish it had a slightly different pronunciation and was more widely applied: pisarzow (of writers), koniow (of horses), dniow (of days), miesiącow (of months), in dialects: krolew (of kings).

For soft-stem nouns the ending that is also applied instead of -ów/-0 is -y.

Dative

In the past, the ending -om has been widely applied to the stems of masculine and neuter nouns. Since the Middle Polish period it has started to be applied to the stems of feminine nouns.

In Old Polish -am prevailed as the ending applied to the stems of feminine nouns. In the 15th - 17th century it was applied also to the stems of masculine and neuter nouns.

The ending -em until the 17th century was sometimes applied instead of -om to the stems of masculine nouns. There are no traces of this ending being applied to the stems of neuter nouns.

The endings -um, -óm in Old Polish were sometimes applied to the stems of neuter nouns instead of -om.

Accusative

Initially, the endings -e/-y in the masculine accusative were distributed as endings applied to the stems of non-person nominative nouns. However, in the 17th century the accusative was made the same as the genitive. This change became common in the 17th century. Old accusative was and still is used for stylistic reasons: króle (kings), pany (masters), chłopy (peasants).

The forms of feminine and neuter nouns in the plural accusative have remained the same as in the plural nominative.

Instrumental

In the past, the ending -ami has been most widely applied to the stems of feminine nouns. Since the 15th century it came to be applied to the stems of neuter nouns and in the 16th - 17th century, despite the resistance of grammarians, to the stems of masculine nouns.

The ending -mi was applied in Old Polish to the stems of masculine and neuter nouns, especially to soft-stem ones, and also to the stems of some feminine nouns in the nominative ending with -0. In principle, today it is only applied to the stems of masculine and feminine nouns in the nominative ending with -0 and having a phonetically soft-stem.

The ending -y was applied in Old Polish to the stems of masculine and neuter nouns, especially to hard-stem ones. Until now it has survived in phrases such as tymi czasy (these days).

The ending -oma, derived from the dual number, was applied to the stems of masculine nouns in the 16th - 17th century.

Locative

In the past, the ending -ach has been applied to feminine nouns. It could also be found in the masculine and neuter but came to be formally applied to nouns in these two genders in the 17th century.

The ending -'ech was applied in the Old Polish to masculine and neuter nouns, especially those with hard-stem: wilcech (wolf), syniech (son), skrzydlech (wings), leciech. The traces have remained in the names of countries: Na Węgrzech (in Hungary).

The ending -och was applied to nouns of all genders in the 14th - 16th century, especially to soft-stem nouns and also to those ending with -k, -g, -ch, most probably because of the influence of the endings such as -owie, -ów, -om.

Vocative

The plural vocative has remained the same as the nominative.

Mixed Declension

The mixed declension is characteristic of forms such as poeta (poet), mężczyzna (man), Jagiełło, Fredro, sędzia (judge).

In Old Polish forms such as starosta (prefect), poeta (poet) were declined like feminine nouns. In the 16th century plural forms were changed due to their meaning (also plural dative such as mężczyznam).

Until the 17th century, nouns such as Fredro in plural had forms Fredra, Fredrowi, Fredrę and so on.

In the 15th century nouns such as sędzia < sądьja (judge) were given in singular genitive, dative and accusative forms like adjectives. Later on, forms such as sędzim, sędziem (judge) appeared in the instrumental. Sometimes the locative sędziej was also present.

Adjectives

The declension of adjectives as nouns has almost disappeared (exception: pełen) (full).

The adjectival declension in combination with the pronoun jь has given rise to a new type of declension combining the two: adjectival and pronoun declensions. It is different from the noun declension: jego, tego białego słonia (his, of this white elephant).

Pronouns with genders

The declension of hard-stem pronouns with genders has assimilated to the declension of soft-stem ones.

těxъ > *ciech > tych jak ich (these as their)
togo > *togo > tego jak jego (this as his)

Primarily, the singular feminine accusative ending was -ę. The form ją (her) was the only exception. Due to the influence of adjectives the use of the form -ą came to be more widely applied. Nowadays, the only existing form is tę. (In 1996 the accusative form tą was accepted as accepted as informal standard Polish.)

Pronouns without gender

They have undergone just slight changes:

azъ > jazъ > jaz > ja (I)
mene > *mienie > mnie (me)
kogo > kogo (without any major phonetic changes)
čьso > czso > cso > co (what)

The old genitive čьso was transferred to the accusative and has spread to be applied to the nominative. The old accusative has preserved its prepositions: w niwecz < vъ nivъčь, przecz < prěčь, zacz < začь.

Numerals

Ordinal, multiplicative and multiple numerals declined and still decline in the same way as adjectives so they will not be discussed here.

One

Numeral jedinъ has preserved the mixed pronoun-adjectival declension.

One hundred

For the declension of numerals a new and quite irregular pattern has been constructed, based on the dual number.

Twenty - ninety, two hundred - nine hundred

Combinations of words have been turned into compounds.

Collective numerals

The forms of collective numerals have been blended (portmanteau)

masculine genitive dъvoj-a or dъvoj-ego > dwoj(e)ga (two)

Dual number

Dual number has disappeared, only some endings have been preserved: oczy (eyes), uszy (ears), rękoma or rękami (with hands), also in vernacular dialects and in proverbs: "mądrej głowie dość dwie słowie, lepszy wróbel w ręku niż gołąb na sęku". ("Two words are enough for a smart head, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush").

Conjugation

The distinction between stems of the present tense verbs and stems of the past tense verbs has been preserved.

Infinitive

The ending -i has disappeared (at first from endings *-cy < -ci):

by-ti > *byci > być (to be)
nes-ti > *nieści > nieść (to carry)
dvigną-ti > *dźwignęci > dźwignąć (to lift)

Present tense

It has undergone just slight changes:

nes-ą > niosę (I am carrying)
rek-ą > *rzekę > rzeczę (I am saying), exception: tłukę (I am smashing)
rec-i > *rzec(y) > rzeknij ? (you say), exception: tłucz (you smash)
nes-e-mъ > *niesiem > niesiemy (we are carrying)

Many verbs have changed their present tense forms:

żywię – żywiesz > żyję – żyjesz (I am alive / I live – you are alive / you live)
grzebę – grzebiesz > grzebię – grzebiesz (I am digging / I dig – you are digging / you dig)
kolę – kolesz > kłuję – kłujesz (I am stinging / I sting – you are stinging / you sting)
porzę – porzesz > pruję – prujesz (I am unstitching / I unstitch – you are unstitching / you unstitch)
rostę – rościesz > rosnę – rośniesz (I am growing / I grow – you are growing / you grow)
kradę – kradziesz > kradnę – kradniesz (I am stealing / I steal – you are stealing / you steal)
łupam – łupasz > łupię – łupiesz (I am splitting / I split – you are splitting / you split)
kłamam – kłamasz > kłamię – kłamiesz (I am lying / I lie – you are lying / you lie)

Instead of -ętъ for athematic verbs or for verbs with stems ending in -i-, the form -jątъ is used:

dus-ętъ > *dusią(t) > duszą (they are strangling/they strangle)
dad-ętъ > *dadzią(t) > dadzą (they will give)
Conjugation -am,-asz

Based on the conjugation of athematic verbs, the new conjugation -am, -asz has been introduced (very rarely -em, -esz):

gra-je-šь > *gra-je-sz > *gr-a:-sz > grasz (you play)
gra-je-tъ > *gra-je-0 > *gr-a:-0 > gra (he/she/it plays)
gra-je-mъ > *gra-je-my > *gr-a:-my > gramy (we play)
gra-je-te > *gra-je-cie > *gr-a:-cie > gracie (you-plural play)

By analogy to dam (I will give) - dasz (you will give):

gra-ją > gra-j-ę (until 14th – 15th century) > gram (I play)

in general (compare with dadzą) (they will give):

gra-ją-tъ > grają (they play)

Past tenses

Aorist - a past perfective tense, used to mark an action that happened only once and was fully accomplished in the past. Initially, it was used with both perfective and imperfective verbs. Out of the three types of aorist: asygmatic, sygmatic I and sygmatic II, only the sygmatic I was used in the Polish language. It was used with verbs which stems in the infinitive ended in a vowel.

Imperfect - was used to mark an action that took place or was repeated in the past. It was used with imperfective verbs.

Aorist and Imperfect merged and then disappeared. The ending characteristic of the aorist has remained present in some dialects: byłech, byłek (=byłem) (I was)

The past imperfective tense has become a past simple tense bylъ jes-mь > byłem. (I was)

The pluperfect is currently disappearing.

Future tense

The present forms of perfective verbs have retained their future meaning.

The future tense of imperfective verbs is still constructed by combining a conjugated form of będę with an infinitive or a past participle: będę chwalić or będę chwalił. (I will be praising).

Conditional

The Protoslavic form of a conditional was replaced by the aorist (Old Polish bych), which then underwent some changes due to the influence of past tense endings.

Participles
  • The present tense active participle has come to be declined in the same way as adjectives. The present tense adverbial participle has also been introduced: gotujący, gotując (cooking).
  • The traces of the present tense passive participle have remained in forms such as świadomy (aware of), rzekoma (alleged).
  • The type I past tense active participle has remained in the form of the past tense adverbial participle: ugotowawszy (having cooked), kopnąwszy (having kicked), obdarłszy (having stripped).
  • The type II past tense active participle has become the base for the construction of the past tense (gotowałem) (I was cooking) and also the future complex tense (będę gotował) (I will be cooking). It is still used with some intransitive verbs (zgniły, zmokły) (rotten, soaked).
  • The past tense passive participle has remained animate: bity (bitten), poznana (met), wiedzione (led).

Dual number

Dual number survived until 14th - 15th century with some slight changes:

first person -vě > *-wie > -wa (due to the influence of the first person masculine dual: dwa konja) (two horses).
second person -ta > -ta
third person -te > *-cie > -ta (became the same as the second person to be differentiated from the second person plural)

In the 16th century dual number disappeared from the literary language. It has been preserved in a number of dialects but the meaning of words in the dual number is equal to their blending in plural. The first person ending -ma is sometimes used as a result of merging -wa with -my.

chodźwa, chodźma (=chodźmy) (/we/let's go).

Only in the region of Tarnobrzeg does the distinction still exist for niesiewa, nieśwa (dual number) and niesiemy, nieśmy (plural) (we carry, let's carry).

See also

References
  1. "Język polski przez wieki - Nasz Dziennik - Kultura - Poniedziałek, 2 marca 2009, Nr 51 (3372)". 2012-03-03. Archived from the original on 2012-03-03. Retrieved 2020-01-30.

Sources
  • Stanisław Rospond, Gramatyka historyczna języka polskiego, PWN, Warszawa-Wrocław 2005
  • Deputacya Od Król. Towarzystwa Warsz. Przyjaciół Nauk, Rozprawy i Wnioski o Ortografii Polskiéj, Drukarnia Józefa Węckiego, Warszawa 1830
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