languages, Bulgarian has lost case marking for nouns. However, Bulgarian preserves vocative forms. Traditional male names usually have a vocative ending. More-recent names and foreign names may have a vocative form but it is rarely used (Ричарде, instead of simply Ричард Richard, sounds unusual or humorous to native speakers). Vocative phrases like господине министре (Mr. Minister) have been almost completely replaced by nominative forms, especially in official writing. Proper nouns usually also have vocative forms, but they are used less frequently. Here are some proper nouns that are frequently used in vocative: Vocative case forms also normally exist for female given names: Except for forms that end in -е, they are considered rude and are normally avoided. For female kinship terms, the vocative is always used: Czech In Czech, the vocative (vokativ, or 5. pád – "the fifth case") usually differs from the nominative in masculine and feminine nouns in the singular. In older common Czech (19th century), vocative form was sometimes replaced by nominative form in case of female names ("Lojzka, dej pokoj!") and in case of male nouns past a title ("pane učitel!", "pane továrník!", "pane Novák!"). This phenomenon was caused mainly by the German influence, and almost disappeared from the modern Czech. It can be felt as rude, discourteous or uncultivated, or as familiar, and is associated also with Slovakian influence (from the Czechoslovak Army) or Russian. In informal speech, it is common (but grammatically incorrect) to use the male surname (see also Czech name) in the nominative to address men: pane Novák! instead of pane Nováku! (Female surnames are adjectives, and their nominative and vocative have the same form: see Czech declension.) Using the vocative is strongly recommended in official and written styles. Polish In Polish, the vocative (wołacz) is formed with feminine nouns usually taking -o except those that end in -sia, -cia, -nia, and -dzia, which take -u, and those that end in -ść, which take -i. Masculine nouns generally follow the complex pattern of the locative case, with the exception of a handful of words such as Bóg → Boże ("God"), ojciec → ojcze ("father") and chłopiec → chłopcze ("boy"). Neuter nouns and all plural nouns have the same form in the nominative and the vocative: The latter form of the vocative of człowiek (human) is now considered poetical. The nominative is increasingly used instead of the vocative to address people with their