Этот and Тот: This and That in Russian, Plus Это

Э́тот means this and тот means that, and both agree with their noun like an adjective. Then there is э́то, which means this is or that is and never changes. Most beginner mistakes in this corner of Russian come from mixing those two jobs up.

The whole system on one screen

The endings are coloured by gender, the same colours as Russian noun gender:

The first four rows sit in front of a noun and agree with it. The last row is a different word that happens to look like the neuter:

• э́та кни́га - this book (agrees with кни́га)
• Э́то кни́га. - This is a book. (э́то never changes)

Этот, эта, это, эти: this

Pick the form by the noun's gender, exactly as with но́вый, но́вая, но́вое, но́вые:

Э́тот goes by the noun's grammar, not its ending. Па́па ends in -а but names a man:

• э́тот па́па - this dad

Like any adjective, э́тот also changes with the case of its noun. You will meet the prepositional very early; recognise it for now:

• Мы живём в э́том до́ме. - We live in this house.

Тот, та, то, те: that

Тот works in exactly the same way, with shorter forms:

• тот дом - that house
• та кни́га - that book
• то окно́ - that window
• те пи́сьма - those letters

The two often appear side by side, and that pairing is where тот feels most natural. Here this is coloured as one side of the contrast and that as the other:

• Э́тот дом но́вый, а тот ста́рый. - This house is new and that one is old.
• Не э́тот кот, а тот. - Not this cat, that one.

The noun drops out once it is clear: а тот is and that one. English needs the word one; Russian does not.

Тот has one everyday job that English does with a different word altogether. Не тот means the wrong one:

• Э́то не тот дом. - This is the wrong house.
• Э́то не то сло́во. - That is not the right word.

Это: this is, that is, these are

On its own at the start of a sentence, э́то is a pointing word. It means this is, that is, it is, these are or those are, and it never agrees with anything:

Russian has no verb to be in the present, so э́то carries the whole of this is on its own. The two patterns below differ by two letters and split the sentence in different places:

• Э́то мой брат. - This is my brother. (introducing him)
• Э́тот брат мой. - This brother is mine. (as opposed to another one)

The second is rarer. When you are introducing someone or naming a thing, you almost always want the invariable э́то.

Этот or тот: near and far

English splits this and that by distance. Russian does not, or not as strictly. Э́тот covers a lot of what English calls that:

• Э́тот фильм был хоро́ший. - That film was good. (the one we saw last night)
• Что э́то? - What's that? (about something on a distant hill)

Тот is mostly kept for three jobs:

123

1. 1Э́та ча́шка моя́
2. 2та твоя́
3. 3та ча́шка

Эта чашка моя, а та твоя: this cup is mine, and that one is yours. Тот is for the contrast, so the cup far away on the hill is та чашка too.

So the rule of thumb runs the other way from English. Start with э́тот, and reach for тот when you are setting two things against each other, or picking out the one you meant from the one you got.

Mistakes English speakers make

What to do next

1. Point at five things around you and say what they are: Э́то стол, Э́то окно́.
2. Then describe them with э́тот: Э́тот стол большо́й.
3. Do the drill below, then see мой, твой, наш, which agree the same way.