odmienny

Odmienny is a Polish adjective meaning variable or subject to inflection. In linguistic usage it denotes a word that has inflected forms, i.e., that changes its form depending on grammatical categories such as case, number, gender, or person. The term is formed from the verb odmieniać/odmienić, which means to inflect or decline. The opposite in grammar is nieodmienny, meaning indeclinable.

In Polish grammar, most major word classes are odmienny. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and numerals typically appear in multiple forms to express case, number and gender. Verbs are also inflected through conjugation to indicate person, number, tense, mood and aspect. By contrast, many adverbs and some invariable expressions are considered nieodmienny, as they do not change form.

Usage and examples: the noun dom (house) is declined across the cases (dom, domu, domowi, dom, domem, domu). The adjective ładny agrees with the noun in gender, number and case (ładny dom, ładnego domu, ładnemu domowi, ładny dom, ładnym domem, ładnym domu). The term odmienny is also used more generally to describe things that differ in form or function from another thing, as in “to odmienny od innych” (different from the others).

Odmienny is a standard descriptor in Polish grammar and linguistics, reflecting the broader typology of languages that show varying degrees of inflection.