(no subject)

[soidisantfille.livejournal.com]

This might be a silly question, but I've always found this confusing. When do you use the modifiers то, та, те instead of этот, эта, эти? I was led to believe that both sets roughly mean "that" or "these".

Comments

[arian-archer.livejournal.com]

этот, эта, and эти are equated to the English this/these where то, та, and те are that/those. If I remember correctly.

[orloffm.livejournal.com]

You're absolutely right.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're right.

It is like this, these <-> that, those.

Это, эта, этот, эти - when something is situated close to you.
То, та, тот, те - when it is further away.

Just mind the gender and the number: это-то, эта-та, этот-тот, эти-те.

[soidisantfille.livejournal.com]

Thanks, everyone. That makes sense.

[miram.livejournal.com]

But note that in your above phrase (That makes sense) "that" corresponds to Russian "это": "это [имеет смысл | разумно | понятно]"... (though normally you would say something like "теперь понятно", "теперь [мне] [стало] понятно", "теперь понимаю", "теперь я понял" -- emphasizing your own understanding, rather than quality of the explanation proposed to you).

Another example (from a dictionary): "to understand all the force and finesse of those three languages — понять всю силу и изящество этих трех языков".

A common mistake Russians make in English: "I don't want *this any more" ~ "я больше этого не хочу" (instead of "I don't want that any more").

In other words, if "это" and "то" are confronted in one sentence, they correspond to "this" (closer) and "that" (farther) respectively. If there is only one demonstrative pronoun in the sentence, Russians tend to use "это" by default, while in English "that" is expected.

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

You guys are kinda right, but don't think that the difference is always about distance. They can also be used in a contrast situation: Я люблю этот фильм, а тот я не люблю. Here distance is irrelevant, and this would work even if you were talking about objects. The тот could in reality be closer to you, but you're setting up a contrast. But again, in this sense, this/that is a good generalization of how it works. Also, remember that это and то can also be seperate parts of speech, where they don't modify a noun -- "Это - мой дом" "Я не понимал то, что ты сказал." Those are the best examples, то wouldn't usually be used in that last case, but the concept is right and you get the point.