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TRANSCRIPT
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 and rejoin us at slide 7, but for the nerds among
us, ‘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 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 feminine object and one for a masculine 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 is ‘there’.
Adverbs of place:
For the two English words there are five Spanish equivalents:
Here (aquí or acá) (interchangeable)
There (ahí, allí, allá) (showing degrees of distance)
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 = here
allí = there
allá = (way over) there
Time to practice!
How would you say….?
this apple here
that 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
A little more on aquel & aquellaWe’ve already learnt that ‘aquel’ and ‘aquella’ are the words for ‘that’ 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
¿Recuerdas aquellos días? Do you remember those days (long ago)?
¿Ese? No, aquel.That one? No, that one (further away).
¿Ves aquella montaña? Do you see that mountain (over there)?
¡Qué noche aquella! What a night that was!
¡Mira aquello! ¿Qué es?Look at that! (in the distance) What is it?
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.
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.
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!
Try this memory aid …Oh, I don’t know so I’ll add an ‘o’.
esto, eso, aquello
So how would you say ….
What is that?
If you don’t know what ‘that’ is?
You would say ….
¿Qué es eso?
What is that?
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 amable.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.
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
Well done, if you’d like to test your knowledge why not do our ‘Spanish Demonstratives
Quiz’?
(NB. You will need to sign in to our site first.)
Feel free to contact us with any questionsor with any lesson requests