to je / to sú

This Is and These Are

Level 1

To je means "this is" or "that is", and to sú means "these are" or "those are". Use them to point at people and things and say what they are.

How It Works

The pattern: To + je / sú + a noun in the nominative.
To je môj brat. (This is my brother.)
To sú moje deti. (These are my children.)

One word for this and that: Slovak uses to for both. To point at something close to you, you can say toto je: Toto je môj dom. (This here is my house.)

The verb follows the noun: Even though to looks singular, the verb agrees with the noun after it. Two or more people or things take sú. In the past the verb also takes that noun's gender: To bol môj brat. To bola moja sestra. To boli moje deti.

Saying no: Put nie in front of the verb, using the forms from nie som / nie je: To nie je môj telefón. To nie sú moje kľúče.

Asking: Kto je to? (Who is that?) asks about a person and Čo je to? (What is that?) about a thing. Answer with the same pattern: To je Peter.

to versus ten, tá, to: Here to just points, so it never changes. When the word stands right in front of a noun it agrees with that noun: ten dom, tá škola, to mesto (see ten / tá / to).

Examples (6)

  1. To je môj brat.

    This is my brother.

    Word by Word: That is my brother.

  2. To je Bratislava.

    This is Bratislava.

    Word by Word: That is Bratislava.

  3. To sú moje deti.

    These are my children.

    Word by Word: That are my children.

    The verb is sú because deti (children) is plural.

  4. Kto je to? – To je naša nová kolegyňa.

    Who is that? – That's our new colleague.

    Word by Word: Who is that? – That is our new colleague.

  5. To nie je môj telefón.

    That isn't my phone.

    Word by Word: That not is my phone.

  6. To bola moja sestra.

    That was my sister.

    Word by Word: That was my sister.

    In the past the verb takes the gender of the noun: bola because sestra is feminine.

Common Mistakes

  • Keeping je before a plural noun.

    To je moje deti.
    To sú moje deti.

    The verb agrees with the noun after it, not with to. Deti is plural, so use sú.

  • Putting the noun after je into an object form.

    To je moju sestru.
    To je moja sestra.

    After je the noun names what something is, so it stays in the nominative, the dictionary form: moja sestra, not the object form moju sestru.

  • Placing nie after the verb.

    To je nie môj telefón.
    To nie je môj telefón.

    Nie goes directly in front of je or sú: nie je, nie sú.

How It Connects

Tap a pattern to see what it builds on and what it leads to.

to je / to súLevel 1This Is and These Are

Learn This First

Before This Is and These Are, learn Present Tense of byť. to je and to sú use the present forms of byť.

Words in This Pattern