startów

Startów is the genitive plural form of the Polish noun start. The word start, borrowed from English, has several related meanings in Polish, including a beginning or onset of something and a competition entry or race start. In Polish grammar, start is a masculine inanimate noun; its plural nominative form is starty, while the genitive plural form is startów, which is the form used in phrases that express quantity or absence.

The genitive plural startów is commonly used after numerals and in expressions of amount, such as pięć startów (five starts), ilość startów (the number of starts), or brak startów (no starts). It is also used in phrases like zaplanowano startów w sezonie, referring to the number of starts scheduled in a season. By contrast, the nominative plural starty is used when the starts themselves are the subject of the sentence, for example: Dwa starty odbyły się wczoraj (Two starts took place yesterday).

In addition to its nominal meaning, start is used in compound forms and verbs: startować means to start or to compete in a race, and startowy is an adjective related to starting or related to starts, as in odzież startowa or pakiet startowy. The term’s use spans sports, broadcasting, computing, and everyday language, often without a strict technical boundary between “beginning” and “competition entry.”