Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

Demonstrative Adjectives

In English the demonstrative adjectives are used to indicate specific items. Instead of refering to "the sweater", we can point out one particular sweater by saying "this sweater" or "that sweater". The words "this" and "that" function here as demonstrative adjectives (i.e. they are demonstrating or indicating nouns.)

The demonstrative adjectives serve the same purpose Spanish: este suéter "this sweater" or ese suéter "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. [Click here to review Adjective Agreement.]

Additionally, Spanish has an extra demonstrative adjective to indicate items located physically farther away from you. In other words, Spanish has an equivalent to "this" and to "that", but also has "that one over there."

Here are the Demonstrative Adjectives:

"This" and "These"	Singular	Plural
Masculine	este	estos
Feminine	esta	estas

"That" and "Those"	Singular	Plural
Masculine	ese	esos
Feminine	esa	esas

"That one over there" and "Those ones over there"	Singular	Plural
Masculine	aquel	aquellos
Feminine	aquella	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.

Este suéter	This sweater
Estos suéteres	These sweaters
Ese suéter	That sweater
Esos suéteres	Those sweaters
Aquel suéter	That sweater over there
Aquellos suéteres	Those sweaters over there

Esta blusa	This blouse
Estas blusas	These blouses
Esa blusa	That blouse
Esas blusas	Those blouses
Aquella blusa	That blouse over there
Aquellas blusas	Those blouses over there

Click here for Demonstrative Pronouns

Practice Demonstrative *Adjectives* on the Web!

Practice the Demonstratives *pronouns*

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