Hey, let’s talk about demonstrative adjectives and pronouns in French today, so words that correspond to the English THIS, THAT, THESE and THOSE. The difference between demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns is that the former always accompany a noun and the latter stand on their own.
Demonstrative Adjectives
Let’s start with demonstrative adjectives. They accompany nouns and they take different forms for each gender and number. So, here are the forms of demonstrative adjectives:
| Singular | ||
| masculine | ce | this / that (before consonants) |
| cet | this / that (before vowels and silent h) | |
| feminine | cette | this / that |
| Plural | ||
| both genders | ces | these / those |
And here you can see how they function in both singular and plural:
| Ce chien est heureux. | This / that dog is happy. |
| Cet homme est vieux. | This / that man is old. |
| Cette voiture est rouge. | This / that car is red. |
| Ces chiens sont heureux. | These / those dogs are happy. |
| Ces hommes sont vieux. | These / those men are old. |
| Ces voitures sont rouges. | These / those cars are red. |
CE –CI, CE –LÀ with Demonstrative Adjectives
If you want to differentiate between THIS and THAT, you can add –CI or -LÀ after the noun:
| ce chien-ci | this dog | ce chien-là | that dog | |
| cet homme-ci | this man | cet homme-là | that man | |
| cette voiture-ci | this car | cette voiture-là | that car | |
| ces chiens-ci | these dogs | ces chiens-là | those dogs | |
| ces hommes-ci | these men | ces hommes-là | those men | |
| ces voitures-ci | these cars | ces voitures-là | those cars |
Demonstrative Pronouns
Let’s have a look at demonstrative pronouns now. As far as demonstrative pronouns are concerned, there are two types of them: indefinite demonstrative pronouns and variable demonstrative pronouns.
Indefinite Demonstrative Pronouns
Let’s begin with indefinite demonstrative pronouns. In English we use THIS to refer to objects closer to us and THAT for objects farther away. Here´s how it works in French:
| ceci | this | Ceci est un arbre. | This is a tree. | |
| cela | that | Cela est un arbre. | That is a tree. | |
| ça | that (informal) | Ça, c’est un arbre. | That is a tree. |
As you can see, this system is just a little bit more complex. The pronouns above are used in a general sense. CECI corresponds more or less to THIS in English, CELA and ÇA to THAT, the latter being more informal. ÇA is often followed by the indefinite subject CE, like in the last example above. Most often, however, you just use the indefinite subject when introducing things or people, like in the sentence C’est un chien.
Indefinite Demonstrative Pronouns as Objects
Indefinite demonstrative pronouns are often used as objects. Have a look:
| ceci | this | J’aime ceci. | I love this. | |
| cela | that | J’aime cela. | I love that. | |
| ça | that (informal) | J’aime ça. | I love that. |
Variable Demonstrative Pronouns
And here are the forms of the variable demonstrative pronouns. They are translated into English as THIS ONE, THAT ONE, etc.
| Singular | Plural | |||
| masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | |
| celui | celle | ceux | celles | |
| this/that one | this/that one | these/those ones | these/those ones |
CE –CI, CE –LÀ with Variable Demonstrative Pronouns
If you want to differentiate between THIS ONE and THAT ONE, you can add –CI or -LÀ after the pronoun, just like with the demonstrative adjectives:
| celui-ci | this one | celui-là | that one | |
| celle-ci | this one | celle-là | that one | |
| ceux-ci | these ones | ceux-là | these ones | |
| celles-ci | those ones | celles-là | those ones |
Now have a look at these examples. Here we have different forms of the pronouns discussed above, according to their number and gender.
| Nous observons deux chiens. Celui-ci est blanc et celui-là est noir. We’re watching two dogs. This one is white and that one is black. |
| Je loue beaucoup de chambres. Celles-ci sont très petites. I rent a lot of rooms. These ones are very small. |
| Il achète des cadeaux. Ceux-ci sont pour Pierre et ceux-là sont pour Joe. He’s buying presents. These ones are for Pierre and those ones are for Joe. |
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