Ktory

Ktory is the non-diacritic spelling of the Polish relative pronoun który, meaning which or that. It is used to introduce relative clauses and to relate a subordinate clause to a noun mentioned earlier. In Polish, the forms of this pronoun vary by gender, number, and case, and they include kalimb forms such as który, która, które, którzy, które, and their declined counterparts in genitive, dative, instrumental, and locative cases.

In grammar, który (and its inflected forms) can function as a relative pronoun or as a determiner that points to a specific item within a known set. It answers questions like which one or which ones, and it can link to both animate and inanimate nouns. For example:

- Który dzień masz wolny? (Which day do you have free?)

- To jest mężczyzna, który przyszedł. (This is the man who came.)

- Widzę dom, który stoi na wzgórzu. (I see the house that stands on the hill.)

- Które książki należą do ciebie? (Which books belong to you?)

- Którzy uczniowie przyszli? (Which students came?)

Morphology and usage notes: forms change for gender (męski, żeński), number (singular/plural) and case (nominative, genitive, dative, instrumental, locative). The basic singular forms are który (masc), która (fem), które (neut/plural). The plural masculine personal form is którzy, while in many plural contexts the form które is used for non-masculine or neuter nouns.

Orthography: Poland’s official spelling uses diacritics, with forms such as który, która, które, którzy. The ASCII variant ktory is common in programming, databases, or environments where diacritics are unavailable or undesirable.

Etymology and related terms: podobne forms appear in other Slavic languages (for example Russian который), reflecting a common Slavic origin for the meaning “which/that.”