Lesson 22: This and That

When it comes to identifying things it's essential to be able to say 'this' and 'that'.

"Witam! Witam! Dzień dobry albo dobry wieczór. No to dobrze ... Jak mówisz 'this' i 'that' po polsku?"

This

"This" is affected by the gender of the noun just like adjectives are. Let's have a look at how while picking up 3 new words.

English	Polish
This document	Ten dokument
This sofa	Ta sofa
This office	To biuro

So the feminine ("sofa") and neuter ("buiro") match - in feminine both "this" and the verb end in 'a', in neuter both "this" and the verb end in 'o'. That just leaves masculine as the odd one out with "Ten".

Now I know what you're thinking, "Hold up, 'to' was supposed to mean 'it' and we've been using it everywhere to say 'it'.

But you are already wise to the idea that many smaller words (like "Czy" and "Jak") change their meanings depending on where they are used. "To" is another! It can be a bit tricky in some ways but in others it saves learning another word!!!

So "To biuro" can mean:

• "It is an office"
• "This office"

If the context of the conversation doesn't make it clear which one of the two it is you can always add 'jest' - "To jest biuro".

So let's try a few:

English	Polish
You think that this sofa is bad? Why?	Myślisz że ta sofa jest zła? Dlaczego? Click to Reveal
I think that this shampoo is old and I want new a shampoo	Myślę że ten szampon jest stary i chcę nowy szampon Click to Reveal
This situation is not ideal	Ta situacja nie jest idealna Click to Reveal

Now "this" also gets affected by the case it is in. Above we see the three forms in the "Co to jest? Co nie to jest?" case. That's how we would find them in the dictionary. If we move to the "Masz/lubisz/mówisz" case ... in other words we are after the verb, ... then "this" changes in almost the same way as any other adjectives. In other words:

• "This" only changes if the noun is feminine (like "sofa")
• However 'ta' doesn't change to 'tą' as we would expect, it changes to 'tę'

English	Polish
I know (about) this document and I know (that) it's good	Znam ten dokument i wiem że, to dobry
I have this sofa and I think (that) it's good	Mam tę sofę i myślę, że jest dobra
I'm buying this office because it's good	Kupuję to biuro bo jest dobre

So let's try thinking these out.

English	Polish
I want this document now	Chcę ten dokument teraz Click to Reveal
We're buying this sofa because I think (that) it's good	Kupujemy te sofę bo myslę że jest dobra Click to Reveal

Now let's move to the "Nie masz/lubisz/mówisz" case ("Something is missing"). Take your time, focus only on the part of the sentence you need to say right now. Say it, the focus only on the next bit of the sentence.

English	Polish
I want to go to this zone	Chcę iść do tej strefy Click to Reveal
I don't know (about) this document but I think (that) it's good	Nie znam tego dokument ale myślę, że jest dobry Click to Reveal
I don't have this sofa but I know (that) it's good	Nie mam tej sofy ale wiem, że jest dobra Click to Reveal

Take a moment to look at those last three sentences and see how the gender of the nouns ("dokument", "sofa", "biuro") flows through the whole sentence affecting how you say 'this' and how you say 'good'.

You've also probably spotted the 'ego' and 'ej' endings are the same as those used on "dobrego" and "dobrej" in previous classes.

You can use adjectives (like "duży", "biały", etc.) here as normal. It does begin to sound quite funny in masculine and neuter...

English	Polish
I don't like this big, cold office	Nie lubię tego dużego, zimnego biura

So let's give this case a go:

English	Polish
I don't have this shampoo	Nie mam tego szamponu Click to Reveal
You don't want this sofa?	Nie chcesz tęj sofy? Click to Reveal
She doesn't like this wine	Ona nie lubi tego wina Click to Reveal
I don't want to go to this museum	Nie chcę iść do tego muzeum Click to Reveal
Why don't you want to go to this museum?	Dlaczego nie chcesz iść do tego muzeum? Click to Reveal

That

Well if you were waiting for some good news ... "Jest tutaj". "This" = "That". Whether "Ten/Ta/To" is taken to mean "This" or "That" will depend on the context.

So "To białe" can actually mean:

• "It is white"
• "This is white"
• "That is white"

And "To buiro" can actually mean:

• "It's an office"
• "This office"
• "That office"

It will all depend on context but we're not going to get away with things being too easy! There is a second word that some courses will tell you means "that" - "Tamten/Tamta/Tamto" - but it isn't strictly true. Here's where "Tamten/Tamta/Tamto" might come out:

• Customer: "Chciałbym to piwo"
• Bar worker: "To?"
• Customer: "Nie, tamto"

So "Tamten/Tamta/Tamto" is sort of "that one" when "that one" is the "other one"! When the first object has been identified and we're trying to identify the second one. But you will hear this:

English	Polish
What am I doing? This and that!	Co robię? To i tamto!

Note we're using neuter here - "To" and "Tamto" - because we don't know what I'm talking about. Just like our "jajko" we don't know if it's feminine or masculine.

OK - let's run through all three cases to see what we've remembered.

English	Polish
This office is big	To biuro jest duże Click to Reveal
I want to have this office on Friday	Chcę mieć to biuro w piątek Click to Reveal
Why do you want to have this office on Friday?	Dlaczego chcesz mieć to biuro w piątek? Click to Reveal
Why do you want to have this office on Friday?	Dlaczego nie chcesz mieć tego biura w piątek? Click to Reveal