darów

Darów is the genitive plural form of the Polish noun dar, which means a gift, present, talent, or endowment. The word covers both tangible presents and more abstract gifts, such as natural abilities or favours believed to be bestowed. In Polish, dar is a masculine noun with a full set of inflected forms; the genitive plural is darów, used in contexts that require the genitive case.

Etymology and range of meaning: dar comes from the Proto-Slavic root *darъ and is cognate with similar Slavic words for “gift” in languages such as Russian (дар). In Polish usage, dar also appears in expressions referring to talents or endowments, for example, “ma dar do muzyki” (has a gift for music). The plural dary typically denotes gifts in a distributive or collective sense, while darów appears when the noun is governed by numerals, quantities, or prepositions that require the genitive case, or when the noun is part of a larger genitive construction.

Usage notes and examples: The genitive plural darów is common after numerals or quantifiers, as in “wiele darów,” “brak darów,” or “wśród darów od sponsorów.” In contrast, the nominative plural dary would be used when the gifts themselves are the subject of the sentence, e.g., “Dary zostały przekazane,”. Usage often hinges on whether the noun is in a counting or associative context versus a subject position.

See also: podarunek (gift), darowizna (donation), dary natury (gifts of nature).