{"id":209,"date":"2008-08-21T11:58:05","date_gmt":"2008-08-21T15:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=194"},"modified":"2014-06-10T14:38:49","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T14:38:49","slug":"this-and-that-in-polish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/this-and-that-in-polish\/","title":{"rendered":"This and That in Polish"},"content":{"rendered":"

The distinction between \u201cthis\u201d<\/em> and \u201cthat\u201d<\/em> is more or less clear in English. Or at least I\u2019ve always thought so. But as one of our readers has pointed out, while \u201cthis\u201d is easier to grasp when translated into a foreign language, things can get really goofy with \u201cthat\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, I can assure you that people who learn English have exactly the same problem, but in the opposite direction. And just look at \u201cthat\u201d<\/em> in the previous sentence. It\u2019s a different \u201cthat\u201d<\/em> from when talking about \u201cthat house is nice\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

See? In English \u201cthat\u201d<\/em> is used just about everywhere and for just about everything.<\/p>\n

Translating all those \u201cthats\u201d<\/em> into Polish can be a real pain. In fact, I\u2019ve been scratching my head and debating how to do it in the least painful way for the past couple of days.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

I suppose we should start with the easiest \u201cthat\u201d of all \u2013 the demonstrative pronoun. Which is when you point at something and say \u201cnot this, THAT!\u201d
\nAs in English, in Polish there is also a distinction between \u201cthis\u201d and \u201cthat\u201d.
\nLet\u2019s try to add a noun to see how it works in action.<\/p>\n