nieznanych

Nieznanych to genitive plural form of the Polish adjective nieznany, meaning unknown. It is used to describe nouns in genitive case, most often within noun phrases referring to people or things whose identity is not known. It also appears in the accusative plural for masculine personal nouns, where the form coincides with the genitive plural.

Forms and usage

- masculine personal nominative plural: nieznani

- feminine plural nominative: nieznane

- neuter plural nominative: nieznane

- genitive plural: nieznanych

- accusative plural (masculine personal): nieznanych

Common contexts

Nieznanych is frequently found in journalism, literature, and formal writing to indicate unknown persons or items. Examples include:

- Śledczy prosili o informacje od nieznanych świadków. (the investigators asked for information from unknown witnesses)

- Wśród nieznanych sprawców doszukano się powiązań z innymi zdarzeniami. (among unknown perpetrators, connections to other incidents were sought)

- Nieznanych ludzi nie należy oceniać bez poznania kontekstu. (one should not judge unknown people without understanding the context)

Etymology and relation to other forms

The word derives from the prefix nie- plus znany, meaning not known or unknown. Nieznanych is the broader genitive plural form used when the noun it modifies is in genitive case; the base adjective also has nominative forms nieznani (masc. personal), nieznane (fem./neut.). Together with related forms nieznany, nieznani, and nieznane, it forms a full inflection set for describing unidentified subjects or items.

See also

nieznany, nieznani, nieznane.