zaimek

Zaimek, in Polish grammar, is a part of speech that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase or refers back to something already mentioned. Pronouns help avoid repetition and encode information about person, number, gender, and case. They can function as subjects, objects, or other sentence elements, and they often work with prepositions. Polish zaimki can also stand alone in elliptical questions or answers, and they interact with adjectives or determiners in various constructions.

Main categories include:

- Zaimek osobowy (personal pronouns): ja, ty, on, ona, ono, my, wy, oni/one. They inflect for case and number and can serve as subjects or objects (e.g., Ja idę; Widzę go).

- Zaimek dzierżawczy (possessive pronouns/dzierżawczy determiners): mój, twój, jego, jej, nasz, wasz, ich. They function before a noun (mój dom) or, in ellipses, stand in for the possessed noun (To jest mój).

- Zaimek wskazujący (demonstrative pronouns): ten, ta, to; plural ci, te. They point to specific entities and can serve as determiners or pronouns (Ten człowiek; To jest książka).

- Zaimek pytajny (interrogative pronouns): kto, co, jaki, który, ile. Used to form questions (Kto przyszedł? Jaki to problem?).

- Zaimek względny (relative pronouns): który, która, które, co. Introduce relative clauses (To jest człowiek, który mówi prawdę).

- Zaimek nieokreślony (indefinite pronouns): ktoś, coś, nikt, nic. Refer to non-specified persons or things (Ktoś dzwoni; Nikt nie wie).

- Zaimek zwrotny (reflexive pronoun): siebie. Refers back to the subject or is used in reflexive constructions (On myje siebie).

In usage, zaimki may function independently or with nouns, and they form part of the system of agreement and case that characterizes Polish syntax.