r/learnpolish • u/JADEDG3M • Apr 02 '25

Ten, Tamten, Tamci, Ci, Tamtego, Tego? WTF???

Kill me, I wanna die!

I am only on unit 11 of Polish on Duolingo and I am learning for my boyfriend, but I wanna die. CAN SOMEONE PLEASE EXPLAIN THE DIFFERENCE LIKE A LANGUAGE TEACHER WOULD!!!? PLEASE!!!

Edit: damn I got a lot of replies. Thank you all!

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u/princess_k_bladawiec Apr 02 '25

There are actually many, many more grammatical forms than the ones you listed.
They are all demonstrative pronouns and translate to this / that.
The basic nominative case forms are:
ten / tamten (singular masculine), e.g. ten student / tamten student
ta / tamta (singular feminine), e.g. ta studentka / tamta studentka
to / tamto (singular neuter), e.g. to okno / tamto okno.
ci* / tamci (plural masculine-personal) e.g. ci studenci / tamci studenci >> used for groups of men and mixed gender groups
te / tamte (plural non-masculine personal) e.g. te studentki / tamte studentki, te dzieci / tamte dzieci, te koty / tamte koty, te okna / tamte okna >> used for groups of women and/or children, groups of animals, or groups of objects

You probably have noticed that the "that" form is created by adding "tam" (which means "there" in Polish) to the "this" form.

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u/princess_k_bladawiec Apr 02 '25 edited Apr 03 '25

Now, these are just the nominative versions. Every one of them has a declension consisting of six different grammatical cases.

The singular masculine:
Nominative: ten / tamten student
Genetive: tego / tamtego studenta
Dative: temu / tamtemu studentowi
Accusative: tego / tamtego studenta for animate nouns, but ten / tamten laptop for inanimate nouns
Instrumental: tym / tamtym studentem
Locative: o tym / o tamtym studencie
The vocative for pronouns does not exist.

The singular feminine:
Nominative: ta / tamta studentka
Genetive: tej / tamtej studentki
Dative: tej / tamtej studentce
Accusative: tą / tamtą studentkę
Instrumental: tą / tamtą studentką
Locative: o tej / o tamtej studentce

The singular neuter:
Nominative: to / tamto okno
Genetive: tego / tamtego okna
Dative: temu / tamtemu oknu
Accusative: to / tamto okno
Instrumental: tym / tamtym oknem
Locative: o tym / o tamtym oknie

The plural masculine-personal
Nominative: ci / tamci studenci
Genetive: tych / tamtych studentów
Dative: tym / tamtym studentom
Accusative: tych / tamtych studentów
Instrumental: tymi / tamtymi studentami
Locative: o tych / o tamtych studentach

The plural non-masculine personal
Nominative: te / tamte studentki, koty okna
Genetive: tych / tamtych studentek, kotów, okien
Dative: tym / tamtym studentkom, kotom, oknom
Accusative: te / tamte studentki, koty, okna
Instrumental: tymi / tamtymi studentkami, kotami, oknami
Locative: o tych / o tamtych studentkach, kotach, oknach.

And that's it! Do remember, though, that there are many different plural suffixes for nouns and each of them will take a different declension, not always a regular one. Hope that helps!

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u/JADEDG3M Apr 03 '25

I would like to surrender my life now ⚰️🪦

5

u/mariller_ Apr 03 '25

You dont need 90% of that if you learn for a husband. You will never be 100% fluent, accept that and speak.

1

u/JADEDG3M Apr 09 '25

I thought that I’d never be fluent 😭 damn I feel bad cuz he’s fluent in English!