Declension of ten, ta, to | Czech Grammar

If you learn the declension of just one Czech word group thoroughly, make it ten / ta / to. It is the basic demonstrative — that, this, and, in casual speech, very nearly the — and it is one of the most frequent words in the entire language. It is also a structural backbone: its endings echo through the demonstratives tento and tamten, and its pronoun-type endings preview patterns you will meet again in adjectives. Pin down ten/ta/to and a surprising amount of Czech grammar suddenly clicks into place.

ten agrees like an adjective

ten/ta/to is not a fixed pointing word like English that. It sits in front of a noun and agrees with it in gender, number, and case, exactly the way an adjective does. The three nominative singular forms map onto the three genders:

Ten film byl skvělý.

That film was great. (ten + masculine film)

Ta kniha mě nudila.

That book bored me. (ta + feminine kniha)

To auto je moc drahé.

That car is too expensive. (to + neuter auto)

From here on, every time the noun changes case, ten changes with it. You cannot leave it parked in the nominative.

The full paradigm

Notice the stem: the whole table is built on t-, and the plural plus several oblique forms shift to tě- (tě ch, těm, těmi). Spotting that t- / tě- alternation is the key to recognising these forms in the wild.

Singular	Masc. animate	Masc. inanimate	Feminine	Neuter
Nom.	ten	ten	ta	to
Gen.	toho	toho	té	toho
Dat.	tomu	tomu	té	tomu
Acc.	toho	ten	tu	to
Loc. (o…)	tom	tom	té	tom
Instr.	tím	tím	tou	tím

Plural	Masc. animate	Masc. inanimate	Feminine	Neuter
Nom.	ti	ty	ty	ta
Gen.	těch	těch	těch	těch
Dat.	těm	těm	těm	těm
Acc.	ty	ty	ty	ta
Loc. (o…)	těch	těch	těch	těch
Instr.	těmi	těmi	těmi	těmi

The whole plural genitive, dative, locative, and instrumental collapse into a single shape across all genders — těch, těm, těmi — which is a rare gift in Czech grammar. Memorise those three and you have a third of the plural for free.

ten through the singular cases

Here is ten moving through the cases with masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns, so you can feel how it locks onto whatever case the sentence demands:

Bydlím v tom domě naproti.

I live in that house across the way. (masc. locative)

Dej to té paní u okna.

Give it to that lady by the window. (feminine dative)

S tou holkou chodím do práce.

I commute to work with that girl. (feminine instrumental)

Bez toho klíče dovnitř nevejdeme.

Without that key we won't get inside. (masc. genitive)

Mluvili jsme o té nehodě celý večer.

We talked about that accident all evening. (feminine locative)

The animacy split in the accusative

Masculine singular nouns split into animate (people, animals) and inanimate (objects). The demonstrative tracks that split precisely in the accusative: animate masculine takes toho, inanimate masculine keeps ten. This is the same animacy logic that runs through the whole noun system, and ten is the cleanest place to see it:

Vidím toho muže před obchodem.

I see that man in front of the shop. (animate → toho)

Vidím ten dům na konci ulice.

I see that house at the end of the street. (inanimate → ten)

Same verb, same case, same gender — but muž is alive and dům is not, so the demonstrative comes out differently. Get this contrast into your ear and the accusative animate stops being a mystery.

The plural alternation: ti vs ty vs ta

The nominative plural is where learners most often slip, because three forms compete and they are not interchangeable. ti is reserved for masculine animate nouns; ty covers masculine inanimate and feminine; ta is neuter:

Ti kluci pořád něco vyvádějí.

Those boys are always up to something. (masc. animate → ti)

Ty filmy jsem ještě neviděl.

I haven't seen those films yet. (masc. inanimate → ty)

Ty ženy spolu pracují.

Those women work together. (feminine → ty)

Ta okna se musí umýt.

Those windows need washing. (neuter → ta)

💡

The nominative plural ti is the male-people form. If your noun isn't a masculine animate (men, boys, friends, dogs), you almost certainly want ty or ta, never ti.

Beyond pure pointing, ten/ta/to is also Czech's nearest thing to a definite article and an essential partner in ten, kdo / to, co correlative frames. Those uses build directly on this paradigm — see ten as an article and the ten…který correlative.

Common Mistakes

❌ Bydlím v ten dům.

Incorrect — v takes the locative, so it must be v tom domě.

✅ Bydlím v tom domě.

I live in that house.

❌ Mluvil jsem s ta žena.

Incorrect — s takes the instrumental: s tou ženou.

✅ Mluvil jsem s tou ženou.

I spoke with that woman.

❌ Vidím ten muže.

Incorrect — a masculine animate accusative needs toho.

✅ Vidím toho muže.

I see that man.

❌ Ti ženy se mi líbí.

Incorrect — ti is for masculine animate only; with feminine nouns use ty.

✅ Ty ženy se mi líbí.

I like those women.

❌ Dej to ta holka.

Incorrect — the recipient is dative: dej to té holce.

✅ Dej to té holce.

Give it to that girl.

Key Takeaways

ten/ta/to agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case, just like an adjective — it never stays frozen.
The paradigm is built on t-, switching to tě- in the plural obliques; těch / těm / těmi serve every gender.
The accusative shows the animacy split: toho for masculine animates, ten for masculine inanimates.
The nominative plural splits three ways: ti (masc. animate), ty (masc. inanimate + feminine), ta (neuter).

Now practice Czech

Reading grammar gets you part of the way. The exercises are where it sticks — free, no signup needed.

Start learning Czech→