Page:A simplified grammar of the Polish language.djvu/19



To this declension belong the verbal substantives in ie, but, as a rule, they are only used in the singular.

Many other substantives are also used only in the singular, especially when a collective idea is implied; as, żyto, ‘barley;’ jazda, ‘cavalry;’ dziatwa, ‘children.’ Others are only used in the plural; as, chrzciny, ‘ baptism;’ lowy, hunting.' Substantives can also be modified into diminutives and augmentatives; as, krówka, ‘a little cow;’ mieścisko, ‘a great ugly town.’ In some substantives in the last syllable in the locative a and o are changed into e, as gniazdo, ‘the nest,’ w gniezdie; siodło, ‘the saddle,’ w siedle; jezioro, ‘the lake,’ w jezierze; żelazo, ‘the iron,’ w żelazie.

The following substantives are also irregular:-oko, ‘the eye;’ ucho, ‘the ear,’ in the plural; xiąze, ‘prince,’ is irregular in the singular-in the plural it is declined like cielęta, 'calves'.