Help with personal pronouns/word order

[KEVIN CHRISTIANSON]

Dear Seelangers:
My question may not be sufficiently erudite for this list, but I have nowhere
else to turn for help with my questions regarding personal/possessive pronouns
in Polish and their placement in a sentence.

I recently returned from a seven-month stay in Poland and am continuing my
study of Polish here in the States. I'm using several textbooks and have
discovered conflicting information and explanations in them regarding the
personal pronouns and their positions in a sentence which I would like to have
cleared up for me. The texts I've been using in my studies are Swan's FIRST
YEAR POLISH, Miodunka's CZESZ, JAK SIE MASZ? (published in Krakow); the Hugo
POLISH IN THREE MONTHS, Mazur's COLLOQUIAL POLISH, and Rudzka & Goczolowa WSROD
POLAKOW (PART I).

Not all of these texts give the same forms for the personal pand possessive
ronouns. In one
text NASZ is given as the 1stPL Mas form in the accusative, while the other
texts given NASZEGO. In one book MOIMI is listed as the 1st plural possessive
form in the instrumental
while the others give MOIM. In the locative some books give
MOICH as the 1st Mas possessive form while others give MOIM. Likewise where one
book gives MNIE/MI as the 1st M personal form in the dative, another gives only
MI.

Further confusion arises when these books explain the position of the personal
pronouns in a sentence. One book says that the short forms of personal pronouns
precede the verb, while another says that they follow the verb. Similarly, one
book says that the long forms are placed toward the begining of the sentence
preceding the verb in order emphasize or juxtapose new information. (This rule
applies to the accusative and dative in the particular, I seem to recall.)
Another book says that the long forms are used when the accent falls on the
pronoun (otherwise the short forms are used), while Swan's book (which othewise
is quite useful and clear) says that in the genitive, the long forms "are used
after pronouns; the short forms are used after verbs" but alas no sample
sentences are provided to illustrate what is meant by "long forms are used
after pronouns" unless "pronouns" should be "verbs".....

Based on my seven months' experience in Poland, I know that questions regarding
grammar usually result in a major debate among native speakers, but I need some
guidance in this matter, especially when the forms differ from book to book in
the examples I gave.  I do understand that short forms often follow a verb,
that long forms often precede the verb (especially for emphasis or contrast)
and that ni-forms follow prepositions. I also understand how stress patterns
can affect word order. But nevertheless perhaps there are some other rules or
guidelines or tips which some of you can provide to help untangle these and
other grammatical knots.

Dzienkuje bardzo.

Kevin



Kevin Christianson, Ph.D                <<kec7497 at tntech.edu>>
English Department / Box 5053 / Tennessee Tech University / Cookeville, TN 38505

"Cunning, an attribute of intelligence, is very often used to compensate for a
lack of real intelligence and to defeat the greater intellectual powers of
others."  Giacomo Leopardi, PENSIERI, 1845.