Noun genders and "this"
In Polish, nouns belong to one of three genders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. To say "this", you must match the demonstrative pronoun to the noun's gender:
- ten for masculine nouns
- ta for feminine nouns
- to for neuter nouns
Masculine: ten
Masculine nouns typically end in a consonant.
Exception: The word mężczyzna (man) ends in -a, a typical feminine ending. However, because it refers to a male person, it is masculine and takes ten.
| This man is reading. | Ten mężczyzna czyta. |
Feminine: ta and general "to"
Feminine nouns usually end in -a (like kobieta — woman). They pair with the pronoun ta.
While to points out neuter nouns, it is also used as a general pronoun meaning "this" or "it" for an unspecified object or idea.
| This woman understands this. | Ta kobieta to rozumie. |
Neuter: to
Neuter nouns often end in -o or -e (like dziecko — child). They pair with the pronoun to.
| Where is this child? | Gdzie jest to dziecko? |
Here and there
Use tu for "here" and tam for "there".
| This phone is there. | Ten telefon jest tam. |
| Is this newspaper here? | Czy ta gazeta tu jest? |
Asking "who"
To ask "who", use the question word kto.
| Who is here? | Kto tu jest? |
Distance
To describe distances, use adverbs like daleko (far away) or blisko (close).
| This window is far away. | To okno jest daleko. |
| This phone is close. | Ten telefon jest blisko. |
The verb "to sleep"
The third-person singular form of the verb spać (to sleep) is śpi (he/she/it sleeps).
| Who is sleeping there? | Kto tam śpi? |
| This child is not sleeping. | To dziecko nie śpi. |