Questions & Answers about To jest ich dom.
In sentences of the pattern To jest X (This is X / That is X), to is a special neutral demonstrative pronoun that does not agree in gender with the noun that follows.
- To jest dom. – This is a house.
- To jest ich dom. – This is their house.
Even though dom is masculine, you still use to in this structure.
If you want the demonstrative to agree with dom, you change the structure:
- Ten dom jest ich. – This house is theirs.
Here ten agrees with dom (masculine), but notice the word order and structure are different.
No, Ten jest ich dom is not correct Polish.
You have two main options:
- To jest ich dom. – This is their house.
- Ten dom jest ich. – This house is theirs.
In the second version you must keep dom after ten, because ten has to modify a noun (this house), not stand alone in this particular sentence.
Both can translate as This is their house / This house is theirs, but they focus slightly differently:
To jest ich dom.
- Very neutral, very common.
- Often used when you are introducing or pointing something out:
- Someone asks: Co to jest? (What is this?)
- You answer: To jest ich dom. (This is their house.)
Ten dom jest ich.
- Puts a bit more emphasis on ten dom (this particular house).
- Can sound like you’re contrasting or clarifying ownership:
- Ten dom jest ich, a tamten jest nasz.
(This house is theirs, and that one is ours.)
- Ten dom jest ich, a tamten jest nasz.
Grammatically, To jest ich dom is a [To jest + noun] structure;
Ten dom jest ich is [Demonstrative + noun + jest + possessive pronoun].
Yes, in everyday spoken Polish you will very often hear:
- To ich dom.
The meaning is the same: This is their house.
Omitting jest is natural in speech and informal writing, especially in short, clear sentences.
However, in:
- formal writing
- textbooks
- very careful speech
you are more likely to see or hear the full form To jest ich dom.
Ich is a possessive pronoun meaning their.
Important points:
- It refers to they / them (oni / one).
- Ich is invariable: it does not change for gender, number, or case.
You use the same form with any noun:
- ich dom – their house
- ich samochód – their car
- ich mama – their mother
- ich dzieci – their children
This is different from possessives like:
- mój, moja, moje (my – masculine, feminine, neuter)
- nasz, nasza, nasze (our – masc., fem., neut.)
Those change with gender and case; ich stays the same.
Both relate to them, but they are used differently:
ich
- Possessive: their
- Object form: them (direct/indirect object, without preposition)
Examples:
- To jest ich dom. – This is their house.
- Widzę ich. – I see them.
nich
- Used after prepositions when referring to them
Examples:
- Mówię o nich. – I am talking about them.
- Idę do nich. – I am going to them / to their place.
So:
- before a noun (their X) → ich
- after most prepositions referring to them → nich
- as a simple object form (without preposition) → usually ich
In the plural you need to change both the verb and the noun:
- To są ich domy. – These are their houses.
Changes:
- jest (is) → są (are)
- dom (house) → domy (houses)
For plural to stays to in this pattern:
- To są moje książki. – These are my books.
- To są ich dzieci. – These are their children.
Polish has two common patterns after być (to be):
With nominative (base form):
- To jest ich dom. – This is their house.
- On jest lekarz. – He is a doctor.
With instrumental (often with professions/roles/characteristics):
- On jest lekarzem. – He is a (as a profession) doctor.
- To jest problemem. – This is (what is) the problem.
With To jest ich dom, you are simply identifying the object: This is (what?) their house → nominative dom.
You would not say To jest ich domem in this context; that sounds wrong here.
Dom is a regular masculine noun. Here is the singular and plural in the most useful cases:
Singular:
- Nominative (kto? co?) – dom – house (subject, dictionary form)
- Genitive (kogo? czego?) – domu – of the house
- Dative (komu? czemu?) – domowi – to/for the house
- Accusative (kogo? co?) – dom – (I see) the house
- Instrumental (z kim? z czym?) – domem – with/by the house
- Locative (o kim? o czym?) – domu – in/about the house
- Vocative (o!) – domie – (rarely used)
Plural:
- Nominative – domy – houses
- Genitive – domów – of houses
- Dative – domom – to/for houses
- Accusative – domy – (I see) houses
- Instrumental – domami – with/by houses
- Locative – domach – in/about houses
- Vocative – domy – (same as nominative)
In To jest ich dom, dom is in the nominative singular.
Approximate pronunciation in English-friendly terms:
- To – like toh (short, not “too”)
- jest – like yest (similar to yes with a final t)
- ich – like eeh with a soft h at the end (similar to German ich but usually a bit more like plain h for learners)
- dom – like dom (like domino without the ino)
Stress pattern: in Polish, stress is generally on the second-to-last syllable, so here:
- TO jest ICH DOM – all are single syllables, so they get even stress, maybe a slight emphasis on what you’re pointing at or on ich if you stress the owner.
Yes, there is a nuance of distance:
To jest ich dom.
- Neutral this/that, often referring to something you’re currently pointing at or talking about, not strongly marking distance.
Tamten jest ich dom.
- Tamten = that one (over there).
- Stronger sense of physical distance: the house is further away.
However, Tamten jest ich dom is stylistically a bit awkward; more natural would be:
- Tamten dom jest ich. – That house (over there) is theirs.
- Tamten to ich dom. – That one is their house.
For most everyday purposes when just pointing at a house, To jest ich dom is what you want.