The genitive case: absence with "nie ma"

Nie ma mleka. Nie ma Anny w domu. Nie mam czasu.There is no milk. Anna isn't at home. I don't have time.

When something is there, Polish says jest and the thing is in the nominative: Jest mleko. When it is missing, the sentence changes in two ways: jest becomes nie ma, and the missing thing moves to the genitive (dopełniacz): Nie ma mleka. The same case follows a negated mieć: Mam czas. but Nie mam czasu.

Quick shortcut: nie ma + the missing thing in the genitive. Jest mleko. → Nie ma mleka. Jest Anna. → Nie ma Anny. The verb is the fixed form nie ma, and the genitive endings are the ones from The genitive case: possession and quantity of one.

In English the missing thing keeps its form (there is milk → there is no milk), and only the verb phrase changes. In Polish the thing itself changes (mleko → mleka), because nie ma takes the genitive.

Jest and nie ma

Compare the two sentences, and notice that the missing thing is no longer the subject:

Nie ma works as one fixed expression. It does not change for gender or number, so it is the same for a missing man, a missing woman and missing things: Nie ma Piotra. Nie ma Anny. Nie ma książek. It is different from nie jest, which negates a description and keeps the thing as the subject (see Negation with "nie"): Mleko nie jest zimne. (The milk isn't cold.) For "is not here / does not exist" use nie ma.

The word order is fairly flexible and depends on what you want to stress. To say where something is missing, add w or na with the locative (The locative case: location (w / na + locative)): Nie ma mleka w lodówce. (There is no milk in the fridge.) Nie ma Piotra w pracy. (Piotr isn't at work.) You can also put the person first: Piotra nie ma w pracy.

The genitive endings you need

The endings are the same as for the possessor in The genitive case: possession and quantity of one, so here is only a short reminder with absence examples:

For masculine things the ending is -a or -u and is best learnt together with the word. Adjectives and determiners next to the noun take the genitive as well: Nie ma nowego telefonu. (There is no new phone.) Nie ma mojej książki. (My book isn't here.) Nie ma tego studenta. (That student isn't here.)

Nie było and nie będzie

The pattern works in the past and the future too. The verb is again fixed, the neuter form in the past and the third person singular in the future, even when the missing thing is plural:

Wczoraj nie było Piotra w pracy. (Yesterday Piotr wasn't at work.) Jutro nie będzie lekcji. (There won't be a lesson tomorrow.) When the thing is there, być agrees with its subject as usual (The verb być (to be) in the present, Past tense: -ł, -ła, -ło forms): Anna była w domu. After nie ma the missing thing is not the subject, so Nie było Anny does not change for gender.

Pronouns: nie ma mnie, nie ma go

When the missing person is a pronoun, the genitive forms of the pronoun are used:

Where a pronoun has a short form (cię, go), the short form is the neutral choice, and the long form (ciebie, jego) adds emphasis or contrast: Nie ma ciebie, ale jest Piotr. The pronouns in the nominative are in Personal pronouns (ja, ty, on, ona, ono, my, wy, oni, one).

A few plural forms

If what is missing is plural, the noun takes the genitive plural, which has several patterns. The full picture can wait, and these common words are worth learning as whole forms:

Many masculine nouns take -ów, many feminine and neuter nouns lose their ending (sometimes with an added e, as in książek, okien), and some words are irregular, so check a new word when you meet it.

Nie mam: the genitive after a negated verb

The genitive appears after nie ma and also after many verbs once they are negated. With mieć (to have) you can see it at once, because a positive sentence uses the accusative (The accusative case: inanimate objects and feminine nouns) and a negative one the genitive:

The same shift happens with many other verbs that take an accusative object: Widzę Annę. → Nie widzę Anny. (I don't see Anna.) Piję kawę. → Nie piję kawy. (I don't drink coffee.) Znam to miasto. → Nie znam tego miasta. (I know this city. → I don't know this city.) Masculine animate nouns already look the same in both cases (Mam brata. and Nie mam brata.), so the change is easiest to see with feminine and neuter nouns and with masculine things. A few frequent phrases are worth learning whole: nie mam czasu, nie ma problemu (no problem), nie ma za co (you're welcome).

Common mistakes

• ❌ Nie ma mleko. → ✅ Nie ma mleka. (the missing thing takes the genitive)
• ❌ Nie ma Anna w domu. → ✅ Nie ma Anny w domu. (a missing person too)
• ❌ Nie jest mleka. → ✅ Nie ma mleka. (for "there is no …" use nie ma)
• ❌ Nie mam czas. → ✅ Nie mam czasu. (the object of a negated mieć)
• ❌ Nie mam siostrę. → ✅ Nie mam siostry. (feminine -ę becomes -y)
• ❌ Nie ma on w domu. → ✅ Nie ma go w domu. (genitive pronoun)
• ❌ Nie były książek. → ✅ Nie było książek. (the past of nie ma is the fixed form nie było)

Quick check

Which form fits each gap?

1. Nie ma ___ w domu. (Anna)
2. Nie ma ___. (kawa)
3. Nie mam ___. (czas)
4. Nie ma ___ w domu. (ja)
5. Wczoraj nie ___ lekcji. (być)
6. Nie mam ___. (siostra)

Key takeaways

• To say that something or someone is not there, use nie ma and put the missing thing in the genitive: Jest mleko. → Nie ma mleka.
• Nie ma is a fixed form. The past is nie było and the future nie będzie, whatever the gender or number of the missing thing.
• Pronouns take their genitive forms: nie ma mnie, nie ma cię, nie ma go, nie ma jej, nie ma nas, nie ma was, nie ma ich.
• After many negated verbs, and clearly after nie mam, the object moves from the accusative to the genitive: Mam czas. → Nie mam czasu.
• The endings are the ones from the possession lesson: -a or -u for masculine nouns, -a for neuter, -y or -i for feminine nouns in -a, and learn plural forms as whole words.