Lesson 27: The Instrumental Case - By and With

It's time to start getting our heads around the Polish case system more formally as we introduce our 4th case - Instrumental.

So "Dzien dobry albo dobry wieczór. Co dobrego słychać? Witamy na lekcji"

Yes, in the last lesson we saw "na" was "for" and here in "Witamy na lekcji" it is being used as "to". It is still "for" in the way we say "I'm here for class".

"No to dobrze" - if you have been learning Polish anywhere else but here then shame on you! No, not really. But you might have heard people talking about cases a lot. We've talked about three:

• Anwering the question "Co to jest?"
• Answering questions like "Co masz?" - after a verb
• Answering questions like "Czego nie masz?" - something is missing

Of course grammar boffins have names for these and as we are about to start a new case we'd better know those names and get some mental hooks on how we can remember them.

Nominative = "Co to jest?" - simple statements

Now how to remember Nominative is related to simple statements? Well in English we have a word "Nominal" which means "the stated value". If you pull your Hoover out of the cupboard you'll probably see somewhere on it the power in watts - something like 1300W.

But if you connected up all sorts of testing equipment you would find that it isn't exactly 1300 Watts. It might be 1,323 Watts or 1,291 Watts. Reality almost always differs from the Nominal. So Nominal is the stated value.

This reminds me of the Nominative case. Sure, that's how you find the words in the dictionary but very rarely do they appear in the actual language like that. They are forever taking on new endings.

Accusative = "Co masz?" - after a verb

This is actually a fairly easy one to remember. If I say "Masz wino" then I am 'accusing you of having wine. If I say "Lubisz wino" then I am accusing you of liking wine. Even in the question form I can sound like I'm accusing - "You like wine? Are you mad?".

But we can simply remember it as making an accusation. If we are making an accusation (and nothing is missing) then we are in the "Masz/Lubisz/Mówisz" case - we are after the verb.

Genetive = "Czego nie masz?" - something is missing

The first book in the bible is 'Genesis' and in it, it seems like this God chap felt something was missing so he created all sorts of stuff. That's a good way to remember the "Genetive" case is all about something being missing.

Instrumental

OK - this is the first time we've come across this case but it's name makes a lot of sense. If we are using something to do something or achieve something then that thing is our instrument.

• I am going to town by car - I am going to town and the instrument by which I am going to town is the car

Now you've probably heard phrases like "He was instrumental in that project" which means that project would not have been completed without him. It's the same with the statements above. The car was instrumental in my ability to go to town.

English	Polish
I'm going to town by car	Jadę do miasta samochodem

OK - let's break this down:

• "Jadę" - we had "idę" for "to go" but as we covered that was only if you are going by foot. If you are using any form of transport there is a different verb - "I go" is "Jadę".
• "do miasta" - if we are going to town we aren't there now so town is missing us. So this bit is genetive - the something is missing case - and so "miasto" changes to "miasta"
• "samochodem" - we don't use the word 'by' in Polish, we change the way "car" ends instead. It's masculine so we add "em" ... and this is how masculine nouns end in the instrumental case.

So what we are looking at here is a sentence with two cases going on. We start with the genetive and end with the instrumental.

Also see that we have taken out the accent from the 'o' when it was changed to "samochodem". This is one of those things that may well have happened over time - "Samochódem" is difficult to say, "Samochodem" flows better. You'll find this is quite common - when there is an accent close to the end of a word, when the word changes (is added to) that accent drops out.

So how would you say this:

English	Polish
I'm going to town by bus	Jadę do miasta autobusem Click to Reveal

"Świetny!" - starting to sound like a local!

Now "to go" when we are not on foot is a very common verb and as "I go" is very, very common it's not surprising that the 'I' form gives us no clues as to how the other forms might look. However if we get at least one other we can work the rest out:

English	Polish
He/she is going to town by bus	Jedzie do miasta autobusem

So can you think out the other two forms:

English	Polish
On Thursday you're going to town by bus	W cwartek jedziesz do miasta autobusem Click to Reveal
On thursday we're going to town by bus	W cwartek jedziemy do miasta autobusem Click to Reveal

"To go" when it hasn't happened yet

Now remember we had "robić" and "zrobić" that both meant "to do". And we had "pytać" and "zapytać" that both meant "to ask".

• The shorter version was for things that were happening now or over a period of time in the past or future - that line in time. - "I am doing it", "I used to do it", etc.
• The longer form was for things that had happened, or would happen, at a point in time - a dot in time. - "I asked", "I will ask"

Well if we looked up "to go (by transport)" we would find "jehać, pojehać" and the exact same rules apply. The shorter "jehać" is for now or things that happen in that line in time - "I'm going", "I used to go", etc. The longer "pojehać" is for the dot in time, in the past or in the future - "I went", "I want to go", etc.

English	Polish
I want to go to town by tram	Chcę pojehać do miasta tramwajem

From this, now you know the ending in the Instrumental case is 'em' for masculine nouns, you can work out what the dictionary word for "Tram" is ... "Tramwaj". Yes, pretty much sounds like "Tram way".

So how would you say, assuming all these journeys involved using some sort of transport:

English	Polish
I want to go to the restaurant by tram	Chcę pojehać do restauracji tramwajem Click to Reveal
I want to go to town by car	Chcę pojehać do miasta samochodem Click to Reveal
I want to go to the cinema by bus	Chcę pojehać do kina autobusem Click to Reveal
I want to go to the bank on Thursday	Chcę pojehać do banku w czwartek Click to Reveal
On Thursday I want to go to the supermarket by tram	W cwartek chcę pojehać do supermarketu tramwajem Click to Reveal
Why do you want to go to the supermarket by tram?	Dlaczego chcesz pojehać do supermarketu tramwajem? Click to Reveal
Why don't you want to go to the supermarket by tram?	Dlaczego nie chcesz pojehać do supermarketu tramwajem? Click to Reveal

Things with things

OK - the next other big area you are going to see the Instrumental case is "things with things"

English	Polish
I'm doing (making) new tea with a new product	Robię nową herbatę z mowym produktem

• nową herbatę - I'm accusing myself of making a new tea(!) so it's the accusative case (after the verb) - and so "nowa herbata" changes to "nową herbatę" as we've seen many times now. Nothing new there.
• z nowym - "z" gives us "with" but as the "nowy produkt" is instrumental to our desired drink we need "new" in the instrumental case - for masculine ("produkt" is masculine because it doesn't end in 'o', 'e' or 'a'), so it's "nowy" -> "nowym"
• produktem - as the "produkt" is also instrumental to our desired drink we need that in the instrumental case too - we change the way "produkt" ends the same way as we did for car or bus. It's masculine so "produkt" -> "produktem".

Now I'm making a fairly weak argument here. I mean the "herbata" is just as important as the "product" so they should, in my mind, both be instrumental.

That's why personally I prefer to follow a slightly different way to remember cases which you will see alot around the web. For instrumental it goes like this:

1. When the noun is instrumental to an action - like the car being needed to go to town
2. After 'z'.

There will be more to add to this list but those lists don't get too long so not something to sweat over. For example:

English	Polish
Under the house there is a cellar	Pod domem jest piwnica

Here "Dom" is in the instrumental case even though nothing really seems instrumental to anything else. The house is not instrumental in the cellar existing. It's simply because "if you are after "pod" it's instrumental and that's it.

So our new set of rules for instrumental is:

1. When the noun is instrumental to an action - like the car being needed to go to town
2. After 'z' and 'pod'.

So as we're talking houses let's get another bit of easy to remember vocab:

English	Polish
Garage	Garaż

Yes, another one that is very close to English! So how would you say:

English	Polish
I have a house with a garage	Mam dom z garażem Click to Reveal

But let's get back to our tea and this time make it with milk!

English	Polish
I'm doing (making) new tea with new milk	Robię nową herbatę z nowym mlekiem Click to Reveal

• z nowym - we're after "z" so we need "nowe" in the instrumental case - for neuter ("mleko" is neuter because it ends in 'o'), it's "nowe" -> "nowym"
• mlekiem - as the "mleko" is also after "z" we need that in the instrumental case too - we change the way "mleko" ends. But following the rules would give us "Mlekem" but "Mleko" ends with a hard consonant ('k') and then 'o' so it's softened to "mlekiem".

Now seriously - don't worry too much about this. If you said "Robię herbata z mlekem" everyone is going to know what you mean. The more you listen to Polish when you are 90% right, the more you are going to pick up and refine that last 10% because you are in the ball park and you are able to communicate!

OK - finally feminine:

English	Polish
I'm doing (making) new tea with new water	Robię nową herbatę z nową wodą

"Woda" ends in 'a' so we know it's feminine and in the Instrumental case the ending 'a' of the noun gets a tail to become "wodą" while "nową" matches the accusative case.

That's the Instrumental case - are you thinking, "Po prostu szok? Nie prawda!" - Both masculine and neuter match each other and in both the adjective is ("nowym") and the noun ends in this very distinctive 'em' ("produktem" / "mlekiem"). Meanwhile in the feminine both adjective ("nową") an noun ("wodą") end in 'ą'). That's all you need to remember.

And because the 'em' sound is so distinctive you'll hear it often and be able to say in a wise and educated voice, "Ah, the instrumental case"

Drinks

All this means you will understand most of this drinks menu now:

So "Kawa" we have done to death and here we see it's plural - "Kawy" ("Coffees"). We've also seen "Ciepły" ("Warm") so it stands to reason that "Napoje" probably means "drinks"

English	Polish
Coffee and Warm Drinks	Kawy i Napoje Ciepłe

But "Napoje" ends in 'e'. Odd. And as we are in the plural the adjective ("Ciepłe") gives us no clue as to what gender it is. This is just one of those exceptions. It's masculine.

English	Polish
A drink	Napój

So how would you say:

English	Polish
I'm doing (making) new coffee with new water	Robię nową kawę z nową wodą Click to Reveal
I'm doing (making) new coffee with new milk	Robię nową kawę z nowym mlekiem Click to Reveal
I want a large coffee with good milk	Chcę dużą kawę z dobrym mlekiem Click to Reveal
Why do you want a large coffee with good milk?	Dlaczego chcesz dużą kawę z dobrym mlekiem? Click to Reveal
Why don't you want a large coffee with good milk?	Dlaczego nie chcesz dużą kawę z dobrym mlekiem? Click to Reveal

With What

Now we've already seen "What" changes from "Co" to "Czego" in the Genetive (something is missing) and this idea of "What" changing because of the case continues in the Instrumental but here there is a logic to follow.

If something is instrumental then we're doing something with it. So any time you want to ask "With What" there is a specific way to say the "What" bit.

English	Polish
With what are you making tea	Z czym robisz herbatę

So have a crack at these:

English	Polish
With what are you making coffee?	Z czym robisz kawę? Click to Reveal
With what do you have a problem (What's your problem)?	Z czym masz problem? Click to Reveal
With what are you buying this lamp (What are you buying this lamp with)?	Z czym kupujesz tę lampę? Click to Reveal

That last one is ambiguous in English. It could mean, "What other item(s) are you going to buy?" or "How are you going to pay?". "Z Czym" refers to "With what other item(s)".

Noun endings

OK - time to update our table:

Case	Masculine	Femine	Neuter
SINGULAR - NOMNATIVE	To duży aparat	To duża klawiatura	To duże wino
SINGULAR - ACCUSATIVE	Mam duży aparat	Mam dużą klawiaturę	Mam duże wino
SINGULAR - GENETIVE	Nie mam dużego aparatu	Nie mam dużej klawiatury	Nie mam dużego wina
SINGULAR - INSTRUMENTAL	z nowym produktem	z nową wodą	z nowym mlekiem
PLURAL - NOMNATIVE	Są duże aparaty	Są duże kawy	Są duże wina
PLURAL - ACCUSATIVE	Mam duże aparaty	Mam duże kawy	Mam duże wina
PLURAL - GENETIVE	Nie mam dużych aparatów	Nie mam dużych kaw	Nie mam dużych win

Lesson 28: Cheap, Expensive and a bit of Revision