In short

Ukrainian points with two demonstratives: цей (“this”, something near) and той (“that”, something farther away). Unlike English this/that, they are not fixed words — they behave like adjectives and must agree with their noun in gender, number and case. So “this book” is not one form but four, depending on what you point at: цей, ця, це, ці. Learn to change the ending to match, and you can point at anything.

The rule

A demonstrative pronoun stands in front of a noun and identifies it: this one here, or that one over there. In English the word never changes; in Ukrainian it copies three features from the noun it points to:

• Gender (in the singular): masculine цей / той, feminine ця / та, neuter це / те.
• Number: in the plural gender disappears and you use one form for all genders — ці (“these”) and ті (“those”).
• Case: whatever case the noun takes in the sentence, the demonstrative takes the matching ending. It declines almost exactly like a hard adjective.

Two practical consequences to remember from the start:

1. For a masculine animate noun in the accusative, the demonstrative copies the genitive form: Я зна́ю цього́ студе́нта (“I know this student”). For inanimate masculine nouns the accusative equals the nominative: Я чита́ю цей журна́л.
2. Sentence-initial це meaning “this is / these are” (Це кни́га — “This is a book”) is a separate, unchanging pointing word. Do not confuse it with the agreeing neuter це that sits before a neuter noun (це сло́во — “this word”).

Forms & patterns

цей — “this” (near). It declines almost like a hard adjective; note the mobile stress.

той — “that” (far). Same endings, same shifting stress.

In the accusative the two masculine forms and the two plural forms split by animacy: inanimate copies the nominative (цей / ці), animate copies the genitive (цього́ / цих).

Examples

Common mistakes

• цей кни́га -> ця кни́га — the demonstrative must match gender; кни́га is feminine, so it takes ця, not the masculine цей.
• ця дім -> цей дім — дім is masculine, so use цей; do not be misled by nouns that “sound” feminine.
• це студе́нти -> ці студе́нти — for a plural noun use ці / ті; це / те are the neuter singular, not a plural.
• Я ба́чу цей хло́пця -> Я ба́чу цього́ хло́пця — a masculine animate object in the accusative takes the genitive-shaped form цього́ / того́.
• у той мі́сті -> у то́му мі́сті — after a preposition of place the demonstrative goes into the locative; the nominative той is wrong here.

Tips

• Keep the two directions clear: цей / це / ця / ці point at what is near (“this / these”), той / те / та / ті at what is farther (“that / those”).
• Decline the demonstrative together with its noun, the way you would an adjective — same case, same number, matching gender.
• In the plural, gender vanishes: just ці for “these” and ті for “those”, whether the noun is masculine, feminine or neuter.
• For a masculine animate accusative, reach for цього́ / того́ (identical to the genitive): Я зустрі́в того́ вчи́теля.
• Watch sentence-initial Це…: Це мій друг (“This is my friend”) uses це as a fixed pointing word that never changes — different from це before a neuter noun.
• цей and той are register-neutral: the forms are the same whether you address someone with ти or ви.