The three-way system and gender agreement
Ten minutes on the topic's two form questions together: the three-way split by distance - овај near you, тај near the listener (and the everyday default), онај far from both - and the fact that all three decline exactly like an adjective, gender by gender, singular and plural. Build sentences pointing at a shop and a bottle with the right distance and the right ending, before the unit's own use lesson puts the same pattern to work in full sentences.
The part of the grammar page this lesson drills — read it here, then use it.
The three-way system: овај / тај / онај
Овај points to something physically close to the speaker: Овај сто је нов. (This table [right here] is new.) Онај points to something far from both speaker and listener, often literally out of reach or across the room: Онај сто тамо је стар. (That table over there is old.)
Тај is the genuine middle term: something close to the person you're talking to, rather than to you - Та књига коју држиш је моја. (That book you're holding is mine.) In everyday speech тај also does double duty as the default, neutral "that" whenever distance from speaker and listener isn't really the point.
Agreement: gender and number
All three demonstratives decline exactly alike, and exactly like adjectives (see the tables below). Овај сто (masc.), ова књига (fem.), ово село (neut.) all point to the same physical closeness - only the ending changes.
| Gender | овај (near speaker) | тај (near listener) | онај (far from both) |
|---|---|---|---|
| muški | ovaj | taj | onaj |
| ženski | ova | ta | ona |
| srednji | ovo | to | ono |