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Why is the plural form of "koń", "konie"?
To answer that, we need to learn a few rules:
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Polish has "hard" consonants and "soft" consonants. Depending on if the word ends in a hard or soft consonant, it can change what ending the word takes in the plural. (and a lot of other things, too.) You can find many complete lists of hard and soft consonants online.
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"Koń" is an inanimate masculine non-personal noun, which means that the NOMINATIVE and ACCUSATIVE plural is formed by adding "y" to the end of a word if the word ends in any hard consonant except "g" and "k" (ex. Kot -> Koty), adding "i" if the word does end in a "g" or "k" (ex. Ptak -> Ptaki), or by adding "e" if the word ends in a soft consonant. (ex. hotel -> hotele)
In this case, "koń" ends in a soft consonant, "ń", so the plural ends in "e".
So why is it "Konie" instead of "Końe"?
That's because Polish also has some spelling rules: you cannot write "ń" before a vowel. You must replace "ń" with "ni" before a vowel. (Similar thing applies to other kreska consonants, such as ś -> si, ć -> ci, ź -> zi...)
Thus, the plural of "koń" is "konie".
If you don't understand, have questions, or think I've made a mistake, please reply.
Koń is a horse, singular. Konie are horses, plural. They are also pronounced differently – koń is only one syllable, while konie has two syllables with clear /ɲe/ at the end.
Thank you. Didn't find it so clear in this audio here though? But maybe that is just me being at the very beginning of learning this language....
Nope. Oni does not mean girl. It's the nominative masculine personal pronoun (~they). The word for girl is "dziewczyna".
