niekomu

Niekomu is a rarely attested form in Polish that is sometimes described as a nonstandard or dialectal negation of the indirect object pronoun. It is said to convey the idea “to no one” or “to nobody” in contexts where the indirect object is negated. In contemporary standard Polish, the widely accepted form for this sense is nikomu, the dative form associated with nobody. Niekomu is not part of prescriptive grammar and is seldom listed in modern dictionaries.

Usage and status: Niekomu appears primarily in older literature, some regional varieties, and certain glossaries that document nonstandard forms. It is generally regarded as nonstandard or archaic by contemporary grammars. Its occurrence is explained by historical variation in which negation could attach to pronouns in the indirect-object position. In formal writing, most speakers substitute nikomu or rephrase to avoid a negated dative.

Form and etymology: The form combines the negation particle nie- with the dative pronoun komu (to whom). This mirrors a broader historical pattern in Polish where negation and object forms interact in pronoun usage, though today nikomu is the preferred and standard form for the same meaning.

See also: nikomu, Polish grammar, negation in Polish.