Demonstratives: ten, ta, to, ci, te | Polish Grammar

Polish has no words for "the" and "a," so the demonstrative ten ("this / that") does a lot of pointing work — it is how you say "this book," "that man," "these keys." Like an adjective, it agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case: ten (m), ta (f), to (n), ci (masculine-personal plural), te (everything else plural). But this page also flags a trap that snares almost every learner: the little word to at the start of To jest… ("This is…") is not the agreeing neuter demonstrative — it is a separate, frozen to that never changes. Telling the two *to*s apart is the key to not making agreement errors.

The agreeing demonstrative: ten / ta / to / ci / te

When ten sits in front of a noun, pointing at it, it agrees with that noun. The five nominative forms:

Gender / number	Form	Example
masculine sg	ten	ten dom (this house)
feminine sg	ta	ta kobieta (this woman)
neuter sg	to	to dziecko (this child)
masculine-personal pl	ci	ci mężczyźni (these men)
non-masc-personal pl	te	te koty, te kobiety (these cats / women)

Ten chłopiec jest moim sąsiadem.

This boy is my neighbour. (masculine → ten)

Ta restauracja jest droga.

This restaurant is expensive. (feminine → ta)

Ci studenci ciągle się spóźniają.

These students are always late. (masc-personal plural → ci)

Te jabłka są kwaśne.

These apples are sour. (non-masc-personal plural → te)

The plural split is the same masculine-personal rule that governs oni/one: ci for groups with a male human, te for women-only, animals, and things. Ci panowie (these gentlemen) but te panie (these ladies).

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The plural demonstrative is a quick litmus test for the masculine-personal category: if you'd say ci, the group has a man in it; if te, it doesn't. This is the same distinction you make for the pronoun oni/one and the adjective -i/-e.

ten declines for case

Being adjective-like, ten also inflects through all seven cases. The most-used oblique forms:

Case	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Masc-pers. pl.	Other pl.
Nominative	ten	ta	to	ci	te
Genitive	tego	tej	tego	tych	tych
Dative	temu	tej	temu	tym	tym
Accusative	ten / tego*	tę	to	tych	te
Instrumental	tym	tą	tym	tymi	tymi
Locative	tym	tej	tym	tych	tych

Masculine accusative is *ten for inanimates, tego for animates (znam tego pana).

Nie znam tego człowieka.

I don't know this man. (genitive/animate accusative → tego)

Mieszkam w tym mieście od pięciu lat.

I've lived in this city for five years. (locative → tym)

Pójdę z tą koleżanką do kina.

I'll go to the cinema with this friend. (instrumental feminine → tą)

Two feminine forms deserve a special note. The feminine accusative is tę (widzę tę kobietę, "I see this woman"), while the feminine instrumental is tą (z tą kobietą, "with this woman"). In careful and written Polish these are kept distinct; in everyday speech many Poles use tą for the accusative too (widzę tą kobietę), which is (informal) and widespread but still flagged as nonstandard in writing.

Proszę tę książkę, nie tamtą.

This book please, not that one. (accusative tę — standard)

ten vs tamten: this versus that

Ten covers both "this" and "that" in most contexts. When you want to stress far as opposed to near, Polish uses tamten ("that one over there") in contrast to ten ("this one here"). Tamten declines exactly like ten with a tam- prefix: tamten, tamta, tamto, tamci, tamte; tamtego, tamtej….

Nie ten stolik, poproszę tamten przy oknie.

Not this table, I'll take that one by the window, please. (ten = near, tamten = far)

Ta sukienka jest ładniejsza niż tamta.

This dress is prettier than that one. (ta vs tamta)

For a fuller comparison of ten, tamten, and the special to, see ten vs tamten vs to.

The frozen to in "To jest…"

Now the trap. There is a second to that looks identical but behaves completely differently. When you open a sentence to identify or introduce something — "This is…", "That is…", "These are…" — you use an invariable to that does not agree with anything. It stays to whether what follows is masculine, feminine, neuter, singular, or plural.

To jest mój dom.

This is my house. (to + masculine noun — to stays to)

To jest moja siostra.

This is my sister. (to + feminine noun — still to)

To są moje książki.

These are my books. (to + plural — to stays singular, only the verb goes to są)

Co to jest?

What is this/that? (frozen to)

Look closely at the third sentence: even though "books" is plural and the verb becomes są ("are"), the demonstrative stays to — it does not become te. That is the tell-tale sign you are dealing with the frozen identifying to, not the agreeing demonstrative. In casual speech the linking verb is often dropped entirely: To moja siostra ("This is my sister").

Contrast the two *to*s directly:

To jest dziecko.

This is a child. (frozen identifying to — 'this is')

To dziecko jest grzeczne.

This child is well-behaved. (agreeing neuter demonstrative to, modifying dziecko)

In the first, to is a standalone "this," frozen, and could just as well precede a feminine or plural noun. In the second, to is glued to the neuter noun dziecko and agrees with it — change the noun's gender and this to would change (ten chłopiec, ta dziewczynka). Mixing them up produces errors like te są moje książki (wrong) for to są moje książki (right).

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Ask: is to standing alone and pointing ("this is…")? Then it's the frozen to — it never changes, even before a plural (to są…). Or is to glued to a neuter noun ("this child")? Then it's the agreeing demonstrative — and it would change form for a non-neuter noun. The dedicated to as 'this is' page drills this further.

Common Mistakes

❌ Te są moje klucze.

Incorrect — the identifying 'these are' uses the frozen to, not the agreeing te.

✅ To są moje klucze.

These are my keys.

The most common demonstrative error: agreeing the sentence-opening to with a plural noun. In To są… the to stays singular and frozen; only the verb pluralises to są.

❌ Ta dom jest duży.

Incorrect — dom is masculine, so the demonstrative is ten, not ta.

✅ Ten dom jest duży.

This house is big.

The attributive demonstrative must take the noun's gender. Dom (m) → ten dom; kawa (f) → ta kawa.

❌ Te studenci są zdolni.

Incorrect — male students are masculine-personal: ci, not te.

✅ Ci studenci są zdolni.

These students are talented.

The plural demonstrative splits like everything else: ci for male-human groups, te for the rest. Te with studenci is a mismatch.

❌ Widzę ta kobietę.

Incorrect — the feminine accusative of ten is tę, not the nominative ta.

✅ Widzę tę kobietę.

I see this woman.

After a verb that governs the accusative, the feminine demonstrative becomes tę (written standard). Leaving it as ta ignores the case.

Key Takeaways

The attributive demonstrative ten / ta / to / ci / te agrees with its noun in gender, number, and case, like an adjective.
The plural splits ci (masc-personal, men present) vs te (everyone/everything else) — the same rule as oni/one.
Ten fully declines: tego, temu, tym, tej…; note feminine accusative tę vs instrumental tą.
tamten = "that (over there)," for the explicit near/far contrast with ten.
The sentence-opening to in To jest… / To są… is a frozen, invariable "this/that is" — it never agrees, even before a plural — and must not be confused with the agreeing neuter demonstrative to.

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