Demonstrative Adjectives

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In English the demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate specific items in relation to ourselves. To indicate a specific sweater that I want you to look at, I will point to the sweater and ask "What do you think of this sweater." And you might reply, "I don't like that sweater".

The words "this" and "that" are demonstrative adjectives (i.e. they demonstrate or indicate nouns.) They indicate not only a specific item or items but also where they are in relation to the speaker. The demonstrative adjectives serve the same purpose Spanish: este suter" this sweater" or ese suter" that sweater". But they are demonstrative adjectives! This means like all other adjectives in Spanish they must agree in gender and number with the nouns they modify. Additionally, Spanish has an extra demonstrative adjective to indicate items located physically even farther away from you. In other words, Spanish has an equivalent to "this" and to "that", but also has "this or that one over there." Here are the Demonstrative Adjectives: "This" and "These" Masculine Feminine "That" and "Those" Masculine Feminine "That one over there" and "Those ones over there" Masculine Feminine Singular este esta Singular ese esa Plural estos estas Plural esos esas

Singular

Plural

aquel aquella

aquellos aquellas

Este, esta, estos and estas are used to point out things (nouns) which are physically close to the speaker as well as to whomever he or she is speaking, usually within easy reaching distance. It corresponds to the English "this" or "these" and would be used under the same circumstances. Ese, esa, esos and esas are used to point out things (nouns) which are further away from the speaker (but not necessarily to the listeners), not within easy reaching distance. It corresponds to the English "that" or "those" and would be used under the same circumstances. Aquel, aquella, aquellos and aquellas are used to point out things (nouns) which are far away from both the speaker and the listeners, but within visual distance. It corresponds to the English "that one (way) over there" or "those ones (way) over there" and would be used under the same circumstances. This sweater These sweaters That sweater Those sweaters

Este suter Estos suteres Ese suter Esos suteres

Aquel suter Aquellos suteres Esta blusa Estas blusas Esa blusa Esas blusas Aquella blusa Aquellas blusas

That sweater over there Those sweaters over there This blouse These blouses That blouse Those blouses That blouse over there Those blouses over there

Los adjetivos demostrativos indican de que se habla. este/esta ese/esa/aquel/aquella estos/estas this that these

esos/esas/aquellos/aquellas those En ingls, los adjetivos no tienen formas diferentes segn el genero del sustantivo.

La diferencia entre ese y aquel no existe en ingls sino con una frase que explica que una cosa est ms lejos. ese libro aquel libre esos libros that book that book (over there) those books

aquellos libros those books (on the other side of the room)