ludziom

Ludziom is the dative plural form of the Polish noun ludzie, meaning “the people.” It marks the indirect object or beneficiary of an action and can translate as “to the people” or “for the people,” depending on the verb used and the sentence context.

In Polish, nouns decline for case and number. For ludzie the forms are nominative ludzie, genitive ludzi, dative ludziom, accusative ludzi, instrumental ludźmi, and locative ludziach. The dative plural ludziom is used with verbs that indicate giving, helping, or addressing the people as recipients, such as pomóc ludziom (to help the people), podziękować ludziom (to thank the people), or zorganizować pomoc ludziom (to organize aid for the people). It also appears with expressions like zwrócić uwagę ludziom (to draw the people’s attention). The choice of case is determined by the verb and the syntactic role of the people in the sentence rather than by fixed prepositions.

Usage notes: ljudom is common in humanitarian, civic, and formal discourse, as well as in everyday speech when specifying the beneficiaries of an action. It should be distinguished from other case forms of ludzie, such as ludziach (locative) or ludzi (genitive/accusative), which occur in different grammatical contexts. Etymologically, ludzie derives from Proto-Slavic roots meaning “people,” with the dative plural ending -om forming a standard part of Polish noun inflection.