osobowa

Osobowa is the feminine form of the Polish adjective osobowy, which means related to a person or, in many contexts, related to passenger or private use. The term is used to describe nouns that denote things involving people or private individuals, and it varies to agree with gender and number of the noun it modifies.

In everyday language, osobowa appears most often in compound terms describing transportation or business forms. In transport, a pojazd osobowy or samochód osobowy designates a vehicle intended for transporting people rather than goods, i.e., a passenger car. This is contrasted with terms such as pojazd towarowy (goods vehicle) or pojazd specjalny (special vehicle). The adjective governs the gender of the noun: with masculine nouns it takes the form osobowy (e.g., samochód osobowy), with feminine nouns it becomes osobowa (e.g., spółka osobowa), and with neuter nouns it is osobowe.

In business and legal language, osobowa appears in phrases describing forms of conduct or organization that involve individuals personally. For example, spółka osobowa refers to a partnership in which partners bear personal liability, as opposed to a spółka kapitałowa, a corporate form with liability largely separated from individual partners. The expression forma osobowa prowadzenia działalności gospodarczej distinguishes partnerships or personal involvement from corporate structures.

Etymology traces osobowa to osoba (person) plus the adjectival suffix -owy. The word functions as an attributive adjective and must agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies. See also samochód osobowy and spółka osobowa for common usages.