Polish "this/that" looks simple until you notice that the little word to does two completely different jobs. Sometimes it agrees with a noun like an adjective (to dziecko, "this child"); sometimes it sits frozen at the front of a sentence and never changes (To jest mój pies, "This is my dog"). Telling these two to's apart is the single most important thing on this page, because confusing them produces agreement errors in almost every introductory sentence.
The core distinction in one sentence
Use the agreeing demonstrative ten / ta / to (and its case forms) to point at a noun ("this house"); use the invariable to to identify something at the start of a sentence ("this/that is…"); and add tamten when you specifically mean "that one over there", in contrast to a nearer one.
The three tools
| Form | Job | Changes for gender/case? | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| ten / ta / to + noun | point at a noun ("this/that") | Yes — agrees like an adjective | ten dom, ta książka, to dziecko |
| tamten / tamta / tamto + noun | "that one over there" (far, contrastive) | Yes — agrees like an adjective | tamten dom, tamta pani |
| To jest… / To są… | identify / introduce ("this is / these are") | No — frozen, never changes | To jest mój pies. To są moje psy. |
ten / ta / to: the agreeing demonstrative
When you point at a specific noun, the demonstrative must match it in gender, number and case — exactly like an adjective. The base forms are ten (masculine), ta (feminine), to (neuter), with ci (masculine personal plural) and te (everything else plural).
Ten dom jest na sprzedaż od pół roku.
This house has been for sale for half a year.
Wezmę tę książkę i tamtą gazetę.
I'll take this book and that newspaper over there.
To dziecko ciągle płacze w nocy.
This child cries all the time at night.
Because it agrees, it changes through the cases together with its noun:
Nie znam tego człowieka.
I don't know this man (genitive after a negated verb).
Powiedziałem to tej pani przy kasie.
I said that to this lady at the till (dative).
tamten: "that one over there"
Tamten is ten with the prefix tam- ("there"). It marks explicit distance or contrast — the far one as opposed to the near one. English usually expresses this same contrast just by stressing "that", or by adding "over there".
Nie ten stolik, tamten przy oknie.
Not this table — that one over there, by the window.
Tamten film widziałem, ale ten jeszcze nie.
That film (over there / the other one) I've seen, but this one not yet.
If there is no contrast — if you simply mean "that house" in a neutral way — Polish is happy with plain ten. Polish ten is genuinely neutral between "this" and "that"; you only reach for tamten when the farness matters.
Widzisz ten budynek? Tam pracuję.
Do you see that building? That's where I work.
The frozen to: identifying, not pointing
Now the heart of the matter. In sentences that identify or introduce something — "This is…", "That is…", "These are…" — Polish opens with to, and this to never changes. It is not the neuter of ten; it is a separate, invariable identifying particle. It stays to regardless of the gender or number of what follows.
To jest mój pies, ma na imię Bary.
This is my dog, his name is Bary.
To moja siostra, a to jej mąż.
This is my sister, and this is her husband.
To są moje psy — uważaj, są bardzo żywiołowe.
These are my dogs — careful, they're very lively.
Look closely at To są moje psy. The thing introduced is masculine plural (psy), yet the opener is still to, not te. That is the proof that this to is frozen: an agreeing demonstrative would have to become te before a plural, but the identifying to refuses to. The verb być still agrees (jest for singular, są for plural), but to itself does not.
To była najlepsza decyzja w moim życiu.
That was the best decision of my life (to stays put; only the verb shows feminine past była).
The test: pointing vs. identifying
Here is the question that resolves every case:
- "this/that [noun]" — you are pointing at the noun and could swap in an adjective ("this red house"). → agreeing ten / ta / to, matched to the noun.
- "this/that is [something]" — you are identifying what something is, with a verb of being. → frozen To jest… / To są…
Ten pies jest mój.
This dog is mine (pointing: ten agrees with pies).
To jest mój pies.
This is my dog (identifying: frozen to).
The same English word "this" surfaces as agreeing ten in the first and frozen to in the second. The difference is whether you are characterizing a noun you've already named (ten) or announcing what something is (to).
Source-language comparison
English has exactly one demonstrative set ("this/that/these/those") and uses it for both jobs without thinking. Polish splits the labor: an adjective-like demonstrative that bends through gender and case, and a frozen sentence-opener for identification. English speakers reliably make two errors. First, they try to make the opener agree — saying *te są moje psy instead of To są moje psy — importing English plural agreement where Polish wants the frozen form. Second, they under-use tamten, expressing far-contrast only by stressing "that" the way they would in English, where Polish prefers the explicit word. For the full case paradigm of agreeing ten, see the demonstrative ten/ta/to page; for the identifying construction in depth, see the to jest construction page.
Common Mistakes
❌ Te są moje psy.
Incorrect — the identifying opener is frozen to, never the agreeing te.
✅ To są moje psy.
These are my dogs.
❌ To pies jest mój.
Incorrect — when pointing at a noun, the demonstrative must agree: ten pies.
✅ Ten pies jest mój.
This dog is mine.
❌ To jest mój pies. To jest moje psy.
Incorrect — before a plural the verb must be są, not jest.
✅ To jest mój pies. To są moje psy.
This is my dog. These are my dogs.
❌ Nie znam to człowieka.
Incorrect — the agreeing demonstrative must take genitive after a negated verb: tego.
✅ Nie znam tego człowieka.
I don't know this man.
❌ Widziałem tamto film.
Incorrect — film is masculine, so the form is tamten, not neuter tamto.
✅ Widziałem tamten film.
I saw that film (over there / the other one).
Key Takeaways
- There are two to's: the agreeing neuter demonstrative (to dziecko, changes for case) and the frozen identifying to (To jest… / To są…, never changes).
- When pointing at a noun, use agreeing ten / ta / to (and ci / te in the plural), matched in gender, number and case.
- When identifying ("this/that is"), open with frozen To — even before plurals: To są moje psy. Only the verb (jest / są / była) changes.
- Use tamten when the distance matters ("that one over there"); plain ten is neutral between "this" and "that".
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Start learning Polish→Related Topics
- Demonstratives: ten, ta, to, ci, teA1 — ten 'this' agrees in gender, number and case like an adjective — but the sentence-opening to in 'to jest…' is a frozen, invariable word that does not agree at all.
- Identifying Sentences: To jest…A1 — The frozen 'this/that is' construction (To jest dom, To są moje dzieci) — why to never changes, why the predicate noun stays nominative, and how it differs from On jest nauczycielem.
- to: This Is, That Is, These AreA1 — The frozen identifying to (To jest…, To są…, To moja siostra) that never inflects — how it points and names, and how it differs from the agreeing neuter to in ten/ta/to.
- Expressing 'the', 'a', and 'some' When NeededA2 — When and how to mark definiteness explicitly in an article-less language — ten, jakiś, jeden, pewien — and how to avoid over-using them.