MARIA KOWALSKA OR MARIA KOWALSKI, or HOW TO DEAL WITH POLISH FAMILY NAMES

FUSS OVER POLISH FAMILY NAMES

This post has been inspired by questions concerning Polish family names which are often asked in classes of Polish as a foreign language (check here for information on interesting courses). What seems obvious for the Poles as far as their own family names are concerned may be problematic for foreigners, especially in the beginning. Some confusion, among non-slavic students in particular,  is caused by the fact that Polish first and last names need to be inflected. However, when you get to know the Polish declension and conjugation well (should you need to refresh your knowledge of conjugation of Polish verbs, check here) that fact ceases to surprise.

TWO KINDS OF POLISH FAMILY NAMES

There are two most common groups of Polish family names: those that act like nouns and those that end with -ska, -ski, -cka, -cki. As for the first group, there are no major issues: a man is called Adam Nowak and a woman Ewa Nowak. A questios arises in case of the other group, however: if a man’s name is Jan Kowalski, why is his wife’s name Maria Kowalska, not Maria Kowalski? Why does she have a different family name? No, Maria doesn’t have a different family name, she simply uses its feminine form. Names ending with -ska, -ski, -cka, -cki take the adjective form, and the adjective in Polish ends with -a in the feminine form. As you can see, the answer is simple and logical.

FAMILY NAMES OF MARRIED COUPLES AND FAMILIES

Declension is also to blame for the changes in family names of married couples and families. If you want to invite Mr. Nowak and his wife to an important meeting you should address the invitation Szanowni Państwo Ewa i Adam Nowakowie, which you definitely already know since we have written about that recently.  If you are inviting the whole family of Adam and Ewa Nowak, you should use the form Rodzina Nowaków.
When we refer to Maria Kowalska and her husband, we say państwo Kowalscy, and if we include the children, we get rodzina Kowalskich.
As you can see, what seemed to be complicated in the beginning turns out to be easy, clear and logical. Just memorise a few simple rules and you‘ll know what to call who.

Do you know the answer to this question? More riddles on our FB page.

PAŃSTWO KOWALSCY (Mr and Mrs Kowalski) in PAŃSTWO POLSKIE (Polish state)

DWA PAŃSTWA (two meanings of „państwo“)

Today we are going to start with a riddle:

Państwo na K i osiem liter?
Kowalscy!

Wait! Everyone learning Polish not only as a foreign language (information on courses you can find here) knows that państwo is the same as kraj, which means a politically organised group that lives in a territory defined by borders. Hence, there is państwo polskie (literally: Polish state/Poland), państwo niemieckie and państwo francuskie. Does that mean then that a state that starts with K and consists of 8 letters is... Kambodża (Cambodia)? Is the answer to the riddle wrong? Well, no! The answer is correct. The word państwo means not only a form of political organisation but is also the plural of pan and pani. Pan Kowalski (Mr. Kowalski) and pani Kowalska (Mrs. Kowalska) are państwo Kowalscy (Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); pani Nowak and pan Nowak are państwo Nowakowie.

POLISH GRAMMAR TO THE RESCUE

How do we differentiate between these two meanings then? And here’s where grammar comes to your rescue. We say that państwo polskie prowadzi ciekawą politykę zagraniczną (Poland/Polish state pursues an interesting foreign policy); historia państwa polskiego jest bardzo ciekawa (the history of Poland is very interesting); razem z państwem polskim współpracują państwa sąsiednie (neighbour countries are cooperating with Poland); słyszałem wiele dobrego o państwie polskim (I’ve heard many good things about Poland). As you can see, the word państwo here is used in the singular (to państwo is neuter).
When we’re talking about pan and pani Kowalski, they are ci państwo and we need to use the plural verb form (if you don’t remember verbs conjugations, check here) and the plural of the last name. Consequently, we say: państwo Kowalscy przyszli na spotkanie (Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski came to the meeting); to są dzieci państwa Kowalskich (these are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); dałem zaproszenie państwu Kowalskim (I have given the invitation to Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); lubię państwa Kowalskich (I like Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski); słyszeliśmy o państwu Kowalskich wiele dobrego (we have heard a lot of good things about Mr. and Mrs. Kowalski).
As you can see, grammar can be really useful in everyday situations :)

More interesting facts on the Polish language you can find on our FB page.

Let’s not forget about one more thing: the word państwo can also be used to refer to a larger group consisting of men and women. When we would like to welcome participants of a conference or meeting we can say: „Szanowni państwo! Cieszę się, że państwo przybyli na spotkanie.“ (Ladies and gentlemen, I am glad you have come to the meeting). If you want to ask whether you could join the discussion you say: „Czy państwo pozwolą, że zabiorę głos?” (literally: Will you, ladies and gentlemen, allow me to say something?). And at the end you say: „Dziękuję państwu za uwagę.” (Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your attention).

So which państwo starts with K and has 8 letters?