Questions & Answers about Ten schod před domem je starý.
In Czech, every noun has grammatical gender. Schod is masculine inanimate, so it uses the masculine form of that/this, which is ten.
- ten = masculine (e.g. ten schod, ten dům)
- ta = feminine (e.g. ta židle – that chair)
- to = neuter (e.g. to auto – that car)
So ten schod is the only correct choice here.
Adding ten makes the noun specific and “pointed at,” similar to that step or this step in English.
- schod je starý = a step is old (sounds very unnatural on its own; too generic)
- ten schod je starý = that step is old / the step is old (you have a particular step in mind, probably visible to both speakers)
Czech doesn’t have articles (a/the), so demonstratives like ten are often used where English uses the/that/this.
The preposition před changes its case depending on meaning: