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Demonstrative pronouns (éste etc.) and adjectives (este etc.) in Spanish

These words act like adjectives in front of a noun e.g. estos bollos de chocolate = these chocolate muffins.
Words like ese / esa etc. are closer in distance or time than aquel / aquellas (so aquel coche is a bit like saying 'that car over there').
En esa época = at that time, en aquella época = at that time (but further in the past).
Notice that the 'aquel' forms sound like aqu + the subject pronoun forms él, ella etc.

Meaning	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
this these	este estos	esta estas	esto
that those	ese esos	esa esas	eso
that (distant) those (distant)	aquel aquellos	aquella aquellas	aquello

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I heard Michel Thomas mentioning a way to remember when to use the letter 't' in these words. Imagine the letter 't' with an arrow that is pointing to the letter in front of it, sort of meaning 'this thing here'. Without an arrow, it means something not close up to you.

With a 't'	Without
este hombre = this man esta mujer = this woman estos zapatos = these shoes estas camisetas = these tee shirts	ese hombre = that man esa mujer = that woman esos zapatos = those shoes esas camisetas = those tee shirts

Accent or not?

With an accent on the é, these words can mean things like this one or those ones (and they are used as demonstrative pronouns).
This leads to some confusion. With an accent, it is a different type of word. They are adjectives (describing words) without an accent, and pronouns (words that stand in place of a thing or person) when they have an accent.
When referring to people, the masculine and feminine versions refer to males or females:
ése me lo dijo = that man said it to me
ésa me lo dijo = that woman said it to me
Póngalo en la mesa. No en ésa sino en aquélla = Put in on the table. Not that one but that one over there

(a little reminder of the verb estar = to be, está = he / she / it / you are)

To simplify the matter:

Use an accent when...
You want to say this one, that one e.g. Me gusta éste de aquí = I like this one here
Bear in mind the gender of what you're talking about:
Me gustaría comprar estos patines y ésos = I would like to buy these skates and those ones
(ésas also means those ones but refers to feminine objects).
Ésa me ha dado un regalo = That woman has given me a gift

NEVER use an accent when...
You use the neuter forms esto, eso and aquello
You are using it with a person or object e.g. esa casa = that house, aquellos hombres = those men (over there)

Note that I'm simplifying things here and some people omit the accent from 'this / that one' where you would expect one but most people use them. Just don't worry about it if someone 'breaks' this rule.

Neuter forms

These are simply the ones that don't refer to any particular thing such as an idea (if you are not referring to a person or object, you don't know the gender or if it is plural). They are used frequently when you use it with a preposition.
¡Esto es maravilloso! = That's wonderful!
Déjeme pensar en esto = Let me think about it
Por esto... = For this reason...
Esto de la fiesta = This business about the party (esto here means 'matter' or 'business' in the sense of 'that thing about...')
No sabe nada de ello = He doesn't know anything about it

Are there any errors or do you want to add more information to these pages?
You can contact me at the bottom of the home page.

[ESPAÑOL]

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