Family
Family
Family words are some of the first nouns worth learning, and they set up a quirk of Polish gender you'll meet again and again: not every noun's gender matches what its ending suggests.
Grammar Comparison
Grammar Comparison
tata Looks Feminine But Isn't
tata, kolega
dad, (male) friend
Nouns ending in -a are usually feminine in Polish, but a small, important group of masculine nouns referring to men also end in -a — tata (dad) is the clearest example. Adjectives and verbs describing tata still agree with masculine gender ('mój tata', not 'moja tata'), even though the noun's ending looks feminine at a glance.
Mama/Tata vs. Matka/Ojciec
mama / tata
mom / dad
Mama and tata are the everyday, affectionate terms you'll hear constantly in conversation — the equivalent of English 'mom' and 'dad'. Matka and ojciec are more formal or clinical-sounding, closer to 'mother' and 'father', and feel stiff in casual talk about your own family.
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
- English
- the family
- English
- mom
- English
- dad
- English
- brother
- English
- sister
- English
- son
- English
- daughter
- English
- husband
- English
- wife
- English
- grandparents
- English
- uncle
- English
- aunt