Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives.

Maybe this is the first time your read about Spanish Demonstratives. If so, we'll study here, step by step, Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives, that is: "Adjetivos Demostrativos".

First of all, what's a 'demonstrative'? According to UsingEnglish.com, it 'indicates whether something is near or far from the speaker or writer and also shows singular or plural' The English demonstratives are: This - That - These - Those. The difference is that Spanish Demonstratives not only show singular or plural, but also masculine or feminine.

Adjetivos demostrativos
(Demonstrative adjectives)

Masculine	Feminine
este	esta	this
estos	estas	these
ese	esa	that
esos	esas	those
aquel	aquella	that over there
aquellos	aquellas	those over there

This table shows the Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives. The first thing to mention is that in Spanish we use three demonstratives (este - ese - aquel), instead of two (this - that). So este / esta correspond to this and ese / esa to that. But what about aquel / aquella?

We use este / esta to make reference to something that's near in time / location, and ese / esa when we refer to something far from who's talking/writting, but somehow close to the person who's listening.

And finally,in Spanish, we use aquel / aquella when talking about something that is far from both, the person who is speaking and the person who is listening.

As you can see, these adjectives have four forms and they have to be used according to the genre (masculine - feminine)/ number (singular - plural) of the noun they qualify; Let's see, with some examples, how they work:

Masculine singular (este - ese - aquel)
Este gato es grande (This cat is big)[click here to listen]
Ese niño es mi hijo (That boy is my son) [click here to listen]
Aquel hotel es muy caro (That hotel over there is very expensive.) [click here to listen]

Feminine singular (esta - esa - aquella)
Esta historia es muy antigua (This story is very old) [click here to listen]
Esa lección es muy difícil (That lesson is very difficult) [click here to listen]
Yo quiero aquella manzana. (I want that apple over there) [click here to listen]

Masculine plural (estos - esos - aquellos)
Estos libros están nuevos (These books are new) [click here to listen]
Esos hombres dicen la verdad (Those men are telling the truth) [click here to listen]
Aquellos coches son rápidos. (Those cars over there are fast) [click here to listen]

Feminine plural (estas - esas - aquellas)
Estas chicas tienen sed (These girls are thirsty) [click here to listen]
Esas mesas están rotas (Those tables are broken) [click here to listen]
Aquellas mariposas son blancas. (Those butterflies are white) [click here to listen]

Hope this helps!

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