Demonstrative Adjectives and

Pronouns

Which flag? – THIS flag.

Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns DEMONSTRATE, which means “show.”

English has two sets of demonstrative pronouns:

Do you want THIS apple?

No, I want THATapple.

But what if there are TWO apples?

You wouldn’t say, “I want this apples” or “I want that apples.”

SURPRISE! In English, you have to change demonstrative adjectives to make them agree in

number with the noun:I want THIS apple. BUT . . . I want THESE apples.I want THAT apple. BUT . . . I want THOSE apples.

Spanish looks a little less strange now, huh?

Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives: masc. sing. este (this) ese (that) fem. sing. esta (this) esa (that) masc. pl. estos (these) esos (those) fem. pl. estas (these) esas (those)

Watch out for the masculine forms: remember that, while the masculine singular ends in –e, the plural ends in –os. Don’t get mixed up and write “esto” or “estes.”

Notice that the only difference between “este” and “ese”, “esta” and “esa,” etc., is the “t”. Take the “t” out of “este” (this), and you have “ese” (that).

‘This’ and ‘these’ have t’s; ‘that’ and ‘those’ don’t.” In other words, the words that mean “this” and “these” have t’s in

them (este, esta, estos, estas); the words that mean “that” and “those” don’t have t’s in them (ese, esa, esos, esas).

Guess what: Spanish has THREE demonstrative pronouns:

Do you want this apple?¿Quieres esta manzana?

No.No.

Do you want that apple?¿Quieres esa manzana?

No. I want that apple way over there.No. Quiero aquella manzana.

• “Este” (“this”) is near the speaker.• “Ese” (“that”) is not near the speaker.• “Aquel” (feminine: “aquella”) is far away.

• If you use all three, “aquel” is the farthest away. But if you’re not using all three, you choose “aquel” rather than “ese” if you want to show that something is far away.

ms = masculine singularfs = feminine singularmp = masculine pluralfp = feminine plural

ms este (this) ese (that) aquel (that way over there)fs esta (this) esa (that) aquella (that way over there)mp estos (these)esos (those) aquellos (those way over there)fp estas (those) esas (those) aquellas (those way over

there)

Practicamos…

1) This building2) That building3) That building over there4) This farm5) That farm6) That farm over there7) Make the ones above plural!

Practicamos…

1) Este edificio2) Ese edificio3) Aquel edificio4) Esta granja5) Esa granja6) Aquella granja7) Make the ones above plural!

What we’ve discussed so far is demonstrative ADJECTIVES. Adjectives describe nouns:

Quiero esta manzana. – I want this apple.

Now we’ll talk about demonstrative PRONOUNS. Pronouns take the place of nouns:

No quiero esta manzana; quiero ésa. – I don’t want this apple; I want that one.

The only difference between a demonstrative ADJECTIVE and a demonstrative PRONOUN in Spanish is the accent mark. If it’s a pronoun, there’ll be an accent mark over the first “e” in the word.

If there’s a noun after it, it’s an adjective; if there’s not, it’s a pronoun.

You would NEVER say, “Quiero ese uno” for “I want that one.” You’d just say “Quiero ése.“

Quiero ese libro. – Quiero ése.I want that book. – I want that one.

Quiero esos libros. – Quiero ésos.I want those books. – I want those.

Quiero aquella silla. – Quiero aquélla.I want that chair way over there. – I want that one way

over there.

Quiero aquellas sillas. – Quiero aquéllas.I want those chairs way over there. – I want those way

over there.

Is this an adjective or a pronoun?

1. Quiero ese helado.2. Prefiero éste.3. ¿Prefieres esta granja o ésa?4. Aquel libro es interesante.5. ¿Qué es esto?

What about “esto,” “eso,” and “aquello”? Those are neuter pronouns. What “neuter” means in this case is that the pronoun refers to an idea, not a thing:

I have two books. – I want that one.Tengo dos libros. – Quiero ése.

In the above example, “ése” refers to “libro.”

Juan is my brother. – I didn’t know that.Juan es mi hermano. – Yo no sabia eso.

In the above example, “eso” (“that”) doesn’t refer to an object; it refers to the fact that Juan is my brother. Since you don’t have a masculine or feminine object that the pronoun refers to, you use the neuter form.

¿Qué hacemos ahora?Now, you will complete two practice activities online.Go to our class web calendar:

Spanish 2 Calendar

Complete the two activities listed on today’s calendar.You do NOT need to log in for the study spanish activity, but you DO

need to log in to the quia activity.

La GranjaWriting #1Español 2

GRANJA WRITING #1 5 sentences with the Demonstrative Adjectives (#): Use each term once.

*They must agree with number and gender when used with nouns. Refer to back of vocabulary sheet if needed. este estos esta estas ese esos esa esasaquel aquellos aquella aquellas

Modelo:Este cerdo está feliz, pero ese cerdo está deprimido.This pig is happy but that pig is depressed.