How to speak and write Polish in an inclusive way?

In this article, we present various forms of inclusive language usage. For many people they may sound rather strange, unusual, but gradually it is worth getting used to them (after all, every living language is constantly changing). Since the task of The Polish Course is to teach the Polish language in this article we focus on language tips for grammar, pronunciation, spelling and vocabulary. For words specifying gender, always use both masculine and feminine versions, once inserting as the first form, the masculine, once the feminine: dziennikarze and dziennikarki (journalists), znajome and znajomi (acquaintances), byliśmy and byłyśmy (we were). In writing, the so-called “deska” can also be used. Its advantage is, because of its open graphic form, that it also includes non-binary people: blogger_ka, representatives_ki. Non-binary people also have the option of using Polish, we provide some more suggestions below. As a user of Polish, you need to know that although these forms are justified to use, they are not widely known by Poles, so we suggest that you first learn the standards of Polish, and after mastering them, expand your knowledge with the following possibilities. Of course, if you find the need, you can learn these forms in parallel with the standard materials. In the next section you will also find suggestions that differ strongly from the standards, or are still considered incorrect these days. When expressing yourself to non-binary people, or to people you don’t know what gender they are, it’s a good idea to use neutral forms. Instead of lekarz (doctor) use the term osoba lekarska (medical person), instead of aktywistka (activist^fem) – osoba aktywistyczna (activist person). You can find a glossary of such forms here. If you want to go a step further, you can also use gender-neutral forms are e.g. wszys*, chętnx instead of wszyscy/wszystkie (everybody), chętni/chętne (willing, eager). The form containing x can also be addressed to people whose gender you simply don’t know. Instead of masculine and feminine nouns denoting persons, you can use neutral neologisms ending in –rze, -cze, -o: anioł / anielica à anieło (angel); wytwórca / wytwórczyni à wytwórcze (producer). Here you will find a glossary. You can ask a non-binary person about their use of pronouns: on, ona, ono or onu (he, she, it or “gender neutral singular third person pronoun”). To a person who says that their pronoun is ono (it), we use the neuter gender in all respects: ono, miłe, chciałobyś, dostałobyś, państwo (nice, you would like, you would get, gender neutral form of “ladies and gentlemen”). Other examples and explanations can be found here.In conjugation, many neutral forms are identical to masculine, so some people prefer to use modified variants using other forms: jejgo, onu (“herhis”, “gender neutral singular third person pronoun”). You can find details about them here.The indefinite pronoun ktoś (someone) or the negative pronoun nikt (nobody) imposes masculine forms on the rest of the sentence. So why not change it? Other forms will easily adapt to the grammar of the Polish language: Nikt nie chciał. → Nikto nie chciało. (Nobody wanted.) You can find more possibilities here.Now you can read some more recommendations below. Not all sentences have been translated into English, as some sentences cannot be translated or should be translated in the same way as it was before.You can change the sentences so that the person is not the subject: usłyszałam dzwonek telefonu (I heard the phone calling) → zadzwonił telefon (the phone was ringing) przestraszyłem się nagłego hałasu (I was scared by the sudden noise) → jakiś nagły hałas mnie przestraszył (a sudden noise startled me)You can use defective verbs instead of regular ones: powinieneś skoczyć do sklepu (you should go to the store) → trzeba by skoczyć do sklepu (“There’s a need to go to the store.”) widziałem fajerwerki (I saw fireworks) → widać było fajerwerki (fireworks were seen)You can use the passive voice instead of the active voice: zgubił telefon (he lost his phone) → telefon został zgubiony (the phone was lost) znalazłam telefon (I found the phone) → telefon został znaleziony (the phone was found)You can use impersonal forms: pani w urzędzie powiedziała mi (the lady in the office told me) → w urzędzie powiedziano mi (“in the office it was told to me”) znalazłam telefon (I found the phone) → znaleziono telefon (the phone was found) jak jesteś zalogowany, to możesz edytować wpisy (when you are logged in, you can edit entries) → jak się jest zalogowanym, można edytować wpisy (when logged in, you can edit entries)slyszałam dziwne odgłosy (I heard strange noises) → było słychać dziwne odgłosy (there were strange noises)You can use the 3^rd person plural as the impersonal form: pani w urzędzie powiedziała mi (the lady in the office told me) → w urzędzie powiedzieli mi (in the office, they told me)You can change the subject into the celownik (dative) form: przypomniałem sobie (I remembered) → przypomniało mi się zmarzłam (I was freezing) → zrobiło mi się zimno zrobiłem (I did) → udało mi się zrobić (I managed to do) nigdy nie myślałam o tym w ten sposób (I’ve never thought of it that way) → nigdy nie zdarzało mi się myśleć o tym w ten sposóbYou can use the impersonal future tense instead of the personal: będę robiła (I will do) → będę robić będę jadł (I will eat) → będę jeśćYou can use present and future tense instead of the past gdy robiłem wczoraj obiad, skaleczyłem się nożem (while I was making dinner yesterday, I cut myself with a knife) → robię wczoraj obiad i jak się nie skaleczę (while I am making dinner yesterday, I cut myself with a knife)You can use participles instead of the past tense: usiadłem na kanapie (I sat on the couch)→ usiadłszy na kanapie (after sitting on the couch) wypiłam herbatę (I drank the tea) → wypiwszy herbatę (after drinking the tea) posprzątałem mieszkanie (I cleaned the apartment) → mieszkanie posprzątane (the cleaned apartment)You can try to avoid using conditional forms: czy mógłbyś mi pomóc? (could you help me?) → czy możesz mi pomóc? (can you help me?) może bym tak pojechała na wakacje? (maybe I could go for a holiday?) → może pojadę na wakacje? (maybe I will go for a holiday?)Archival, abbreviated pronouns may be used. Although historically these forms are masculine, nowadays they are so rarely used that it is worth trying to reinterpret them: to dla niego (for him) → to dlań mieszkam u niej (I live at her place) → mieszkam uńSimilarly, we can use them together with the passive voice: zrobiła (she did) → było przezeń zrobione (it was done by “her/him/…”)You can use Old Polish varieties of adjectives. Although historically these forms are masculine, nowadays they are so rarely used that it is worth trying to reinterpret them. jestem szczęśliwa! (I’m happy) → jestem szczęśliw! czemu jesteś taki zmartwiony? (why are you so worried?) → czemu jesteś tak zmartwion?You can sometimes use shortcuts: Katarzyna Nowak → K. Nowak Szanowny Pan Białek (Dear Mr Białek) → Sz. P. Białek (D. M. Białek) Towarzyszka Q (Comrade Q) → Tow. Q (Com. Q)With collective numerals you can use the neutral numerals: dziesięciu pracowników (ten workers) → dziesięcioro pracującychYou can always rephrase the sentences: psa się cieszy, że wróciłem (my dog is happy, that I came back)→ psa się cieszy, że jestem z powrotem w domu (my dog is happy, that I’m back)→More examples can be found at https://zaimki.pl/.Sources: – Jak pisać i mówić o osobach LGBT+ [How to speak and write about people of the LGBT+ community], Newsroom, Warszawa (2021) – Kompendium wiedzy o języku niebinarnym, neutralnym płciowo i inkluzywnym [A compendium of knowledge about non-binary, gender-neutral and inclusive Polish language]: https://zaimki.pl/ – Source of the picture: https://www.lgbthealth.org.uk/