Demonstrative Pronouns in Polish

Overview

Demonstrative pronouns in Polish point to specific items or people. The main demonstratives are ten/ta/to (this, that) and tamten/tamta/tamto (that one over there). At the A1 level, ten/ta/to is by far the most frequently used and should be your primary focus.

Like adjectives, demonstratives agree with the noun they modify in gender, number, and case. They decline through all seven cases, which means learning their forms is an investment that pays off across many sentence types. The plural forms include the characteristic masculine personal distinction: ci (those men) vs. te (those things/women).

Polish does not distinguish "this" and "that" as sharply as English does. Ten dom can mean either "this house" or "that house." When the distinction matters, tamten specifies something farther away.

How It Works

Nominative forms

	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masc. personal pl.	Other plural
this/that	ten	ta	to	ci	te
that (far)	tamten	tamta	tamto	tamci	tamte

Selected case forms of ten/ta/to

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nom.	ten	ta	to
Gen.	tego	tej	tego
Dat.	temu	tej	temu
Acc.	tego (anim.) / ten	tę	to
Inst.	tym	tą	tym
Loc.	tym	tej	tym

Examples in Context

Polish	English	Note
Ten dom jest stary.	That house is old.	Masculine nominative
Ta książka jest moja.	That book is mine.	Feminine nominative
To jest dobre.	This is good.	Neuter/general
Ci ludzie są mili.	Those people are nice.	Masc. personal plural
Te drzewa są wysokie.	Those trees are tall.	Non-masc. pers. plural
Znam tego człowieka.	I know that person.	Masc. personal accusative
W tym domu.	In this house.	Masculine locative
Tamta kobieta jest miła.	That woman over there is nice.	Feminine, distant
Daj mi tę książkę.	Give me that book.	Feminine accusative
O tym nie wiem.	I don't know about that.	Neuter locative

Common Mistakes

Using ten for feminine nouns

• Wrong: ten książka
• Right: ta książka
• Why: Demonstratives must agree in gender. Książka is feminine, so ta is required.

Confusing ci and te

• Wrong: Ci kobiety są miłe.
• Right: Te kobiety są miłe.
• Why: Ci is masculine personal plural only. For women, use te.

Not declining demonstratives

• Wrong: Widzę ten dom. (for animate nouns)
• Right: Widzę tego psa. (masc. animate accusative = genitive)
• Why: Demonstratives must match the case of the noun they modify.

Usage Notes

To as a standalone word has a special function beyond demonstrative use: it serves as a general pointing word meaning "this is" or "it is," working with any gender: To jest mój brat (This is my brother), To jest moja siostra (This is my sister). In this usage, to does not agree with the noun's gender.

Practice Tips

1. Practice pointing to objects and using the correct demonstrative: ten stół (m), ta lampa (f), to okno (n).
2. Decline ten/ta/to through the cases you know, pairing each with a noun: ten dom, tego domu, temu domowi...
3. Practice the plural distinction: ci mężczyźni (masc. personal) vs. te kobiety/dzieci/domy (everything else).

Related Concepts

• Prerequisite: Noun Gender -- gender determines which demonstrative form to use