Today we’ll be talking about demonstrative pronouns and determiners, so words like THIS, THAT, THESE and THOSE. Determiners always accompany a noun and pronouns stand on their own.
Esto – eso – aquello
In English we use THIS to refer to objects closer to us and THAT for objects farther away. Here´s how it works in Spanish:
| esto | (closer to speaker) | Esto es un árbol. |
| eso | (closer to listener) | Eso es un árbol. |
| aquello | (far away from both) | Aquello es un árbol. |
As you can see, this system is just a little bit more complex. The pronouns above are used in a general sense. ESTO corresponds more or less to THIS in English, ESO to THAT and AQUELLO to THAT OVER THERE.
These are pronouns, so they are used on their own. As you can see above, they do not accompany any nouns. But demonstrative determiners do. They take different forms for each gender and number.
Demonstrative Determiners
So, here are the forms of the demonstrative determiners:
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | ||
| este | esta | estos | estas | this (closer to speaker) | |
| ese | esa | esos | esas | that (closer to listener) | |
| aquel | aquella | aquellos | aquellas | that (far away from both) |
And here you can see how they function in both singular and plural:
| Este lápiz es corto. | This pencil is short. |
| Ese reloj no funciona. | That clock doesn´t work. |
| Aquel libro es viejo. | That book (over there) is old. |
| Estos lápices son cortos. | These pencils are short. |
| Esos relojes no funcionan. | Those clocks don´t work. |
| Aquellos libros son viejos. | Those books (over there) are old. |
| Esta niña baila y canta. | This girl is dancing and singing. |
| Esa falda es muy corta. | That skirt is very short. |
| Aquella pared es amarilla. | That wall (over there) is yellow. |
| Estas niñas bailan y cantan. | These girls are dancing and singing. |
| Esas paredes son amarillas. | Those walls are yellow. |
| Aquellas faldas son muy cortas. | Those skirts (over there) are very short. |
Demonstrative Pronouns
And here are the forms of demonstrative pronouns. As you know, the word pronoun means pro noun, so for the noun, instead of the noun. This means they are used without any accompanying noun and are translated into English as THIS ONE, THAT ONE, etc.
| Singular | Plural | ||||
| masculine | feminine | masculine | feminine | ||
| éste | ésta | éstos | éstas | this one (closer to speaker) | |
| ése | ésa | ésos | ésas | that one (closer to listener) | |
| aquél | aquélla | aquéllos | aquéllas | that one (far away from both) |
Now have a look at these examples. Here we have different forms of the pronouns discussed above, according to their number and gender.
| Observamos dos perros. Éste es blanco y ése es negro. We’re watching two dogs. This one is white and that one is black. |
| Alquilo muchas habitaciones. Aquéllas son muy pequeñas. I rent a lot of rooms. Those ones (over there) are very small. |
| Compro dos regalos. Éste es para Pepe y aquél es para José. I’m buying two presents. This one is for Pepe and that one (over there) is for José. |
| Necesito unas pelotas. Necesito ésta y aquélla. I need some balls. I need this one and that one (over there). |
INFO
If you like the article and would like to see more content like this, make sure to subscribe to my Prospero Spanish YouTube channel and visit my blog at prosperolingo.com.
And also please subscribe to my mailing list and newsletter. I have a present for all subscribers – my free 145-page Intensive Spanish for Beginners e-book that will get you started with Spanish if you are a beginner. It contains the first 49 chapters (out of the total of 240 chapters) of my Español Intensivo – Intensive Spanish Course for Beginners book.