Questions & Answers about Gdzie jest to dziecko?
Why do we use to here instead of ten or ta?
to is the neuter form of the word for "this". We use it because the noun it points to, dziecko (child), is a neuter noun. You use ten for masculine nouns and ta for feminine nouns.
A child is a person, so why is dziecko a neuter noun?
In Polish, grammatical gender is mostly about the ending of the word, not biology. Because dziecko ends in -o, it belongs to the neuter gender. You will always use neuter words like to with it, whether the child is a boy or a girl.
Can I leave out to and just say "Gdzie jest dziecko?"
Yes, you can! Polish doesn't have words for "a" or "the". So, Gdzie jest dziecko? means "Where is the child?" or "Where is a child?". You only add to when you specifically want to say "Where is this child?" or "Where is that child?".
How do you pronounce the beginning of dziecko?
The combination dzi makes a soft sound similar to the English "j" in "jeep" or "jeans". The c in the middle is pronounced like "ts" in "cats", so the whole word sounds roughly like "JEH-tsko".