Ten pokój jest ładniejszy niż tamten.

to be

Breakdown of Ten pokój jest ładniejszy niż tamten.

• pokój: the room
• ten: this
• niż: than

Questions & Answers about Ten pokój jest ładniejszy niż tamten.

Why does the sentence use ten and tamten?

These are demonstrative adjectives, meaning words like this and that.

• ten pokój = this room
• tamten pokój = that room

They must agree with the noun in gender, number, and case. Since pokój is masculine singular nominative, both demonstratives appear in their masculine singular nominative forms:

• ten
• tamten

So Polish is being more explicit than English: both this and that are grammatically matched to pokój.

Why is it pokój, and what gender is it?

Pokój is a masculine noun in Polish.

That matters because adjectives and demonstratives have to agree with it:

• ten pokój
• ładniejszy pokój
• tamten pokój

If the noun were feminine, the forms would change. For example:

• ta lampa
• ładniejsza lampa
• tamta lampa

So the -y ending in ładniejszy is there because pokój is masculine.

Why is jest included? Can Polish leave out to be in the present tense?