Demonstrativos / Demonstratives

this, that, these, those

© Marie-Claire Hunter, 2013www.learnenglishspanishonline.com

This lesson is going to talk about words like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and ‘those’.

‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those

If you don’t like grammar look away now, but for those who do, ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and

‘those’ can be adjectives or pronouns.

These words are known as ‘demonstratives’.

Don’t look yet …

Adjectives describe nouns.

‘This’ flower.

Pronouns replace nouns.

‘This’ is for you. (heart)

If the demonstrative appears next to a noun it’s an adjective. If it’s alone it’s a pronoun.

Can you decide if the ones that appear in the following sentences are adjectives or pronouns?

‘This’ girl is my sister.

‘This’ is my sister.

‘That’ boy is my brother.

‘That’ is my brother.

‘These’ are my shoes.

‘Those’ shoes are yours.

How did you do?

‘This’ girl is my sister. (adjective because it appears with the noun ‘girl’)

‘This’ is my sister. (pronoun because it replaces the noun ‘girl’)

‘That’ boy is my brother. (adjective because it appears with the noun ‘boy’)

‘That’ is my brother. (pronoun because it replaces the noun ‘boy’)

‘These’ are my shoes. (pronoun because it doesn’t appear next to a noun)

‘Those’ shoes are yours. (adjective because it appears next to the noun ‘shoes’)

Ok, it’s safe to look now ..

But just so you know, if you see the word ‘demonstratives’ that just means words like ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and ‘those’.

English has two singular demonstratives, ‘this’ and ‘that’.

The one that you choose will indicate whether the noun is near or far away from the speaker or writer.

‘this’ refers to something close by and ‘that’ refers to something further away.

This piglet.

That piglet.

Spanish has three singular demonstratives and they also indicate distance from the speaker.

‘este’ (this), ‘ese’ (that) and ‘aquel’ (that (one) further away)

This piglet.(este)

That piglet.(ese)

That piglet over there.

(aquel)

‘This one’ / ‘That one’In English, when we use ‘this’ or ‘that’ as a pronoun (to replace a

noun) we often add the word ‘one’ or ‘ones’ to complete the meaning.

I would like that one.

But in Spanish this isn’t necessary as the meaning is included in the pronoun.

This one is for you. That one is for you.Este es para ti. Ese es para ti.

2 T’s - A memory aid!

If you find it hard to remember which word means ‘this’ and which one means ‘that’ try to imagine that each set

of words can only use two ‘t’s.

For ‘this’ the English version takes one ‘t’ and so does the Spanish ‘este’.

For ‘that’ the English version uses both so the Spanish is left with none ‘ese’.

Time to practice!

So if the word for piglet is ‘chanchito’ how would you say …?

This piglet. (and you mean this one right here)That piglet. (that one a little way over there)

That piglet. (that one way over there)

And what about if you really wanted this particular piglet how would you say: ‘I want this one.’ (right here by me)?

I hope you said ….

Este chanchito = This piglet. (here)Ese chanchito = That piglet. (there)Aquel chanchito = That piglet. (way over there)Quiero este. = I want this one.

So we’re all set to now to refer to masculine objects but you probably remember that in Spanish, words that describe nouns (adjectives) change to match the noun that they refer to, right?

El libro rojo.Los libros rojos.

La mesa roja.Las mesas rojas.

Well, Spanish demonstratives also change to match the noun or nouns that they modify.

They can be singular or plural, feminine or masculine.

Here are the Spanish demonstratives.

Don’t get caught out!Although we expect that masculine words to end in ‘o’ don’t get

caught out because ‘este’ (this) and ‘ese’ (that) are both masculine but they end in ‘e’ in their singular forms.

Then, just to confuse us, they change to ‘estos’ and ‘esos’ In their plural forms.

So if you look back at the chart what are the two Spanish words for ‘this’, one for a masculine

object and one for a feminine object?

Did you say ‘esta’ and ‘este’?

If you did, well done!

Esta for feminine objects and este for masculine ones.

Now a little more practice!

If you had an apple, una manzana, which is a feminine object, and you wanted to say ‘this apple’

which demonstrative would you need to use?

_______ manzana.(Remember that in Latin American Spanish the ‘z’ makes an ‘s’ sound but in Spanish from Spain it’s more like a ‘th’ sound.)

Did you say …?

Esta manzana.

If you did, great work!

And now for feminine plurals

If you had more than one apple and you wanted to say ‘these apples’ and then ‘those apples’ a bit

further away, what would you say?

_____ manzanas. (these apples)______ manzanas. (those apples)

That wasn’t too hard was it, all you had to do was add an ‘s’.

Estas manzanas. (these apples)Esas manzanas. (those apples)

Masculine plurals are a little trickier!

If ‘este chanchito’ means ‘this piglet’ how would you say ‘these piglets’?

Remember in the masculine forms the ‘e’ ending of ‘este’ and ‘ese’ changes to ‘o’ before you add the ‘s’.

Estos chanchitos. (These piglets.)That’s right, ‘chanchitos’ is a plural noun so the demonstrative ‘estos’ also needs to

be plural.

And if you wanted to say ‘those piglets’ you would have said ‘esos chanchitos’.

Great work!

Now have a go by yourself, fill in the gaps …

MASCULINE

this book _____ libro these books _____ libros

that book _____ libro those books _____ libros

that book (way over there) _____ libro

those books (way over there) _____ libros

FEMININE

this table _____ mesa these tables _____ mesas

that table _____ mesa those tables _____ mesas

that table (way over there) _____ mesa

those tables (way over there) _____ mesas

If you gave these answers, well done!

MASCULINE

this book – este libro these books – estos libros

that book – ese libro those books - esos libros

that book (over there) – aquel libro

those books (over there) – aquellos libros

FEMININE

this table - esta mesa these tables – estas mesas

that table – esa mesa those tables – esas mesas

that table (over there_ – aquella mesa

those tables (over there) – aquellas mesas

Adverbs of place: here, there, over there

Because the demonstratives ‘this’ and ‘that’ and ‘that’ (further away) indicate distance they are often

used with words like ‘here’ and ‘there’ (adverbs of location or place).

‘This’ rabbit is ‘here’. ‘That’ rabbit it ‘there’.

Adverbs of place:

For the two English words there are five Spanish equivalents:

Here (aquí or acá)

There (ahí, allí, allá)

Is there any difference?

Aquí and acá mean = here (close to the speaker)

Ahí means = there (in the vicinity, not too far away)

Allí means = there(at a medium distance away, relatively far away)

Allá means = (over) there (far away from both the speaker and the hearer if there is one)

NB: The choice between aquí and acá can often be regional with acá often favoured in Latin America

Which ones to use?

As you can see, each one has a slightly different nuance but I would suggest just starting with

three that will get you by:

aquí = hereallí = there

allá = (way over) there

Time to practice!

How would you say….?

this apple herethat apple there

that apple over there

Hopefully you said …

this apple = esta manzana aquí (or acá)that apple there = esa manzana allí (or ahí)

that apple over there = aquella manzana allá

Let’s see how much we’ve learnt!Choose the right demonstrative to match the noun.

este, estos, esta, estas, ese, esa, esos, esas, aquel, aquellos, aquella, aquellas

That day. (ages ago) _______ día.This girl. _______ muchacha.That girl. _______ muchacha.Those boys. _______ muchachos.Those boys (far away in time or distance) _______ muchachos.

How did you do?

That day. (ages ago) aquel día.This girl. esta muchacha.That girl. esa muchacha.Those boys. esos muchachos.Those boys (far away in time or distance) aquellos muchachos.

How would you say ….

What is that?

If you don’t know what ‘that’ is?

You would say ….

¿Qué es eso?What is that?

When you don’t know whether something is feminine or masculine you use a neuter pronoun.

There are three, and they all end in ‘o’.esto (this)eso (that)

aquello (that, further away)

NB: These can not be used as adjectives, only as pronouns, they can only refer to unknown or abstract things and can’t describe known nouns.

Try this memory aid …Oh, I don’t know so I’ll add an ‘o’.

esto, eso, aquello

Some examples …¿Qué es esto? What is this?

¿Y eso de allá? And that over there?

¡Esto es genial! This is great!

¡Eso es! That’s it!

Aparte de eso ….Apart from that ….

¡Eso es el colmo! That is the last straw!

¡Mira aquello! ¿Qué es? Look at that! (in the distance) What is it?

So know you know a lot about Spanish demonstrative adjectives and pronouns and

the adverbs of place that often go with them.

Let’s make a few sentences using all of these elements to see how much we can remember.

How would you translate these sentences?

This book is mine. (if you were holding it)That book is mine. (if it was sitting on the table)

That day. (a long time in the past)What is that? (when you have no idea what it is)Those biscuits are delicious. (pointing to them)

These biscuits are delicious. (eating them)This cat is very friendly. (holding it)

I don't want that house. I want that one (further away).

And the answers are …Este libro es mío.

This book is mine. (if you were holding it)Ese libro es mío.

That book is mine. (if it was sitting on the table)Aquel día.

That day. (a long time in the past)¿Qué es eso?

What is that? (when you have no idea what it is)Esas galletas están deliciosas.

Those biscuits are delicious. (pointing to them)Estas galletas están deliciosas.

These biscuits are delicious. (eating them)Este gato es muy simpático.

This cat is very friendly. (holding it)No quiero esa casa, quiero aquella.

I don't want that house. I want that one (further away).

If you answered correctly ….You’re probably ready to move onto the next

subject!

Unless of course you’re one of the strange ones that really likes grammar and you’d like to read the supplementary info

that follows © Marie-Claire Hunter, 2013 www.learnenglishspanishonline.com

A little extra!Aquí and acá usually appear with este, esta, estos, estas (this/these) 

- to refer to things physically or psychologically close to the speaker

Este libro aquí/acá. This book here.Estos libros aquí/acá. These books here

Ahí  and  Allí usually occur with ese, esa, esos, esas (that/those) -to refer to things not too far away physically or psychologically.

Ese libro ahí/allí. That book there.Esos libros ahí/allí. Those books there.

Allá usually appears with aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas (that/those)- to refer to things physically or psychologically far away from the speaker, and the

hearer (if there is one)

Aquel libro allá. That book (way over) there.Aquellos libros allá. Those books (way over) there.

aquí, acá, allí, allá

If it seems a little confusing that there is more than one word meaning 'here' and more than one meaning 'there' - a good tip is

that the words ending with í denote an exact location whereas those ending with á can denote a vague or less specific location.

ADVERBS OF PLACE

DEMONSTRATIVES SINGULAR

MASCULINO FEMENINO

aquí / acá (here) this este esta

ahí / alli (there) that ese esa

allá (over there) that (further away) aquel aquella

PLURAL

MASCULINO FEMENINO

aquí / acá (here) these estos estas

ahí / alli (there) those esos esas

allá (over there) those (further away) aquellos aquellas

Here’s a table that might help you to remember how to use these words together.

A little more on aquel & aquellaWe’ve already learnt that ‘aquel’ and ‘aquella’ are the words for ‘there’ when we are referring to something further or far away.

Bear in mind however that this doesn’t just have to be physical distance, these words can also refer to emotional or psychological

distance.

Some examples …

aquel día = that day (a while ago)

en aquel entonces = in those days, back then

aquel novio estaba loco = that boyfriend was crazy

no me gustaba aquel hombre = I didn’t like that man

Remember that este, ese, aquello etc can be used as adjectives as well as pronouns.

The adjectives and pronouns are identical apart from the fact that there are three extra ‘neuter’ forms that can only be used as pronouns.

MASCULINE FEMININE NEUTER

THIS este esta esto

THAT ese esa eso

THAT (further away) aquel aquella aquello

There used to be a rule that demonstrative pronouns should have an accent (éste, ésta, ése, ésa etc) to differentiate them from the demonstrative adjectives but in 1950 the Real Academia Española changed the rule and unless the meaning is

ambiguous the accents are not necessary. (although some people still use them)

Things to remember!

The End