Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns
Demonstrative adjectives are words that “point out” nouns. They come before the nouns they modify
and they agree with the nouns in both gender and number.
este, esta, estos, estas – this; these
These demonstrative adjectives are used to point out nouns that are close to both the listener
and speaker, or to what directly concerns the speaker.
An adverb you would use with this category would be “aquí”.
ese, esa, esos, esas – that; those
These demonstrative adjectives are used to point out nouns that are not close to the speaker.
They may be close to the listener.
An adverb you would use with this category would be “ahí”.
aquel, aquella, aquellos, aquellas – that; those (over there)
These demonstrative adjectives are used to point out nouns that are far away from both the
listener and the speaker.
An adverb you would use with this category would be “allí”.
A demonstrative pronoun corresponds to the adjective exactly but it has a written accent mark.
éste
ésta
éstos
éstas
ése
ésa
ésos
ésas
aquél
aquélla
aquéllos
aquéllas
There are three neuter demonstrative pronouns –
esto
eso
aquello
These neuter forms refer to unidentified or unspecified nouns, situations, ideas, and concepts. They do
not change gender or number. They do not have an accent mark.
EXAMPLES:
Yo quiero leer este libro.
I want to read this book.
Yo quiero leer éste.
I want to read this one.
¿Qué es esto?
What’s this?