{"id":329,"date":"2017-10-22T21:07:01","date_gmt":"2017-10-22T21:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/?p=329"},"modified":"2017-11-12T16:51:27","modified_gmt":"2017-11-12T16:51:27","slug":"polish-demonstrative-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.clozemaster.com\/blog\/polish-demonstrative-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"The Polish Demonstrative Pronouns \u201cten\u201d and \u201ctamten\u201d: A Simple Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

Demonstrative pronouns<\/strong> are used to point at things, usually in order to distinguish them from other things. In English, the basic demonstrative pronouns are <\/span>this<\/i><\/strong>, <\/span>that<\/i><\/strong>, <\/span>those<\/i><\/strong> and <\/span>these<\/i><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Polish, there are two types of pronouns. The so-called <\/span>proximal<\/b> demonstrative pronoun\u00a0ten<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0is used to point to things which are <\/span>close to the speaker<\/b>. On the other hand, the purpose of the\u00a0<\/span>distal <\/b>demonstrative pronoun\u00a0tamten<\/em><\/strong> is pointing at things that are <\/span>further away<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you wanted to say \u201c<\/span>this<\/strong> dog doesn\u2019t bite\u201d<\/span> while pointing to a nearby dog, you would use the <\/span>proximal<\/b> pronoun <\/span>ten <\/b>and say\u00a0\u201c<\/span>ten<\/strong> pies nie gryzie\u201d<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Then, you could point to another dog that is running around at some distance and say \u201cbut <\/span>that<\/strong> one<\/strong> does\u201d, using the <\/span>distal<\/b> pronoun <\/span>tamten<\/b>:\u00a0\u201c<\/span>ale <\/span>tamten<\/strong> gryzie\u201d<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Based on the example above, the distinction might seem to boil down to \u201c<\/span>ten<\/i><\/strong> = <\/span>this<\/i><\/strong>, <\/span>tamten<\/i><\/strong> = <\/span>that<\/i><\/strong>\u201d, but it\u2019s not always that simple. This is mainly because the English pronoun <\/span>that<\/i><\/strong> is used in many diverse ways, which often have nothing to do with pointing to remote things. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thus, the simplest way express the difference between <\/span>ten <\/i><\/strong>and <\/span>tamten<\/i><\/strong>\u00a0would probably be:<\/span><\/p>\n

ten<\/i><\/b> = the one here<\/b><\/p>\n

tamten<\/i><\/b> = the other one \/ the one over there<\/b><\/p>\n

(By the way, this is reflected in the very structure of the word <\/span>tamten<\/i><\/strong>: it is actually the demonstrative pronoun <\/span>ten<\/i><\/b> combined with the word <\/span>tam<\/i><\/b>, which means \u201cthere \/ over there\u201d.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Of course, demonstrative pronouns aren\u2019t just used to express literal physical distance. You could say \u201c<\/span>podoba mi si\u0119 <\/span>ten<\/strong> pomys\u0142\u201d<\/span> (\u201cI like <\/span>this<\/strong> idea\u201d) to refer to the idea you have just heard about from your friend, or \u201c<\/span>kupi\u0142em <\/span>tamten<\/strong> samoch\u00f3d\u201d\u00a0<\/span>(\u201cI bought that<\/strong> car\u201d) to make it clear that you are talking about a car you mentioned some time ago.<\/span><\/p>\n

Number and gender of Polish demonstrative pronouns<\/b><\/h2>\n

Just like adjectives and some other pronouns, demonstrative pronouns have different forms for each grammatical number<\/strong>, gender<\/strong>, and case<\/strong>. Let\u2019s start with <\/span>number and <\/span>gender, and we\u2019ll get to <\/span>case later.<\/span><\/p>\n

The general rule is quite simple. Y<\/strong><\/span>ou should always use a pronoun in the same number and gender as the noun that follows it<\/strong>:<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim jest ta<\/strong><\/abbr><\/span><\/i>\u00a0dziewczyna? <\/span><\/i>(\u201cWho is <\/span>this<\/strong> girl?\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Ten<\/strong><\/abbr> rz\u0105d jest skorumpowany. <\/span><\/i>(\u201c<\/span>This<\/strong> government is corrupt.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Czy tamto<\/strong><\/abbr><\/span><\/i>\u00a0okno si\u0119 otwiera? <\/span><\/i>(\u201cDoes <\/span>that<\/strong> window open?\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Tamte<\/strong><\/abbr> domy s\u0105 du\u017ce. <\/span><\/i>(\u201c<\/span>Those<\/strong> houses are big.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

In each of the sentences above, the form of the demonstrative pronoun is governed by the noun that comes after it. D<\/em><\/span>ziewczyna <\/span><\/i>is a <\/span>singular feminine<\/b> noun, so it requires the <\/span>singular feminine<\/b> pronoun <\/span>ta<\/i><\/b>.<\/i>\u00a0R<\/em><\/span>z\u0105d <\/span><\/i>is a <\/span>singular masculine <\/b>noun, so it must be preceded by the <\/span>singular masculine<\/b> form <\/span>ten<\/i><\/b>, and so on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Both <\/span>ten<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>tamten <\/i><\/b>have five basic (nominative) forms, covering all possible numbers and genders:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"All<\/p>\n

It is easy to see that the <\/span>tamten<\/i><\/strong> forms are just the\u00a0<\/span>ten <\/i><\/strong><\/i>forms\u00a0with the prefix <\/span>tam\u00a0<\/i><\/strong>added, which makes them much simpler to memorize.<\/span><\/p>\n

Since the choice of the demonstrative pronoun depends on the noun it describes, to pick the correct pronoun you must know the noun\u2019s gender. This might be a little tricky, considering that even objects and concepts such as <\/span>samoch\u00f3d<\/span><\/i> (\u201ccar\u201d; masculine gender) and <\/span>wolno\u015b\u0107<\/span><\/i> (\u201cfreedom\u201d; feminine gender) have their own fixed gender.<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also the distinction between <\/span>plural masculine personal<\/b> and <\/span>plural non-masculine<\/b> nouns. In a nutshell, groups with at least one male are described using the <\/span>masculine personal <\/b>pronouns <\/span>ci<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>tamci<\/i><\/b>: <\/span><\/p>\n

Ci<\/strong><\/abbr> lekarze nie wiedz\u0105, co robi\u0105<\/span><\/i>. (\u201c<\/span>These<\/strong> doctors have no idea what they\u2019re doing.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Kim s\u0105 tamci<\/strong><\/abbr><\/span><\/i>\u00a0m\u0119\u017cczy\u017ani?<\/span><\/i> (\u201cWho are <\/span>those<\/strong> people?)<\/span><\/p>\n

Ci<\/strong><\/abbr> ludzie s\u0105 naszymi go\u015b\u0107mi. <\/span><\/i>(\u201c<\/span>These<\/strong> people are our guests.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, when talking about groups of women, children, animals, objects or concepts, we use the<\/span> non-masculine<\/b> pronouns <\/span>te<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>tamte<\/i><\/b>:<\/p>\n

Znam tamte<\/strong><\/abbr><\/span><\/i>\u00a0dziewczyny.<\/span><\/i> (\u201cI know <\/span>those<\/strong><\/span> girls.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Jak zdoby\u0142e\u015b te<\/strong><\/abbr><\/span><\/i>\u00a0pieni\u0105dze?<\/span><\/i> (\u201cHow did you get <\/span>this<\/strong> money?\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

Te<\/strong><\/abbr> zasady nie maj\u0105 sensu. <\/span><\/i>(\u201c<\/span>These<\/strong> rules do not make sense.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n

If you\u2019d like to know more about grammatical number and gender in Polish pronouns, you can look up the<\/span> \u201cNumber and gender\u201d section of the post on personal pronouns<\/span><\/a> \u2013 most of the explanations there are also applicable to demonstrative pronouns.<\/span><\/p>\n

Grammatical case\u00a0<\/b>of Polish demonstrative pronouns<\/b><\/h2>\n

As mentioned before, grammatical case is, next to number and gender, one of the three variables affecting the form of demonstrative pronouns. <\/span><\/p>\n

Each pronoun can appear in one of six cases that reflect its grammatical function in the sentence. In the example sentences in the previous section, most demonstrative pronouns were either in the <\/span>nominative <\/b>case (which is reserved for the subject of the sentence), or the <\/span>accusative <\/b>case (which is typical of direct objects).<\/span><\/p>\n

Below is a neat color-coded pronoun chart with the forms of <\/span>ten<\/i><\/b> and <\/span>tamten<\/i><\/b> in all six cases:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Pronoun<\/p>\n

You might recognize a familiar pattern here \u2013 the endings assumed by particular forms are very similar (and often identical) to the endings of <\/span>adjectives<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>possessive pronouns<\/span><\/a> in the same grammatical case.<\/span><\/p>\n

For example, the ending –<\/em><\/span>emu<\/b><\/em> will appear in the <\/span>singular masculine dative<\/b> forms of all these parts of speech:<\/span><\/p>\n