Los Adjetivos Demostrativos (Demonstrative Adjectives)

Which flag? – THIS flag. Demonstrative adjectives and pronouns DEMONSTRATE, which means “show.”

Los Adjetivos Demostrativos Point out persons, places or things relative to the position of the speaker – distance from the speaker. They always agree in number and gender with the noun they modify. Always come in front of the noun.

English has two sets of demonstrative pronouns: Do you want THIS apple?  No, I want THAT apple.

But what if there are TWO apples? You wouldn’t say, “I want this apple s ” or “I want that apple s.” 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?

Los adjetivos Singular Plural Los Adjetivos Demostrativos este esta ese esa aquel aquella estos estas esos esas aquellos aquellas “this” “that” “that” (over there) “these” “those” “those” (over there)

Este libro es fácil. This book is easy. Esos libros son difíciles. Those books are difficult. Aquellos libros son aburridos Those books (over there) are boring. Los Adjetivos Demostrativos

esta mesa esa silla aquel escritorio

estos cubiertos esa taza aquella pimienta

Click here to go to a brief practice.here

1.I want this cup. 2.She wants that cup. 3.They want those cups over there. Yo quiero esta taza. Ella quiere esa taza. Ellos quieren aquellas tazas. 4.We prefer these forks. 5.You guys prefer those forks. 6.But Luis prefers those forks over there. Nosotros preferimos estos tenedores. Vosotros preferís esos tenedores. Pero Luis prefiere aquellos tenedores.

1.This photo is Manuel’s. 2.Who is that girl? 3.Those people over there are his siblings. Esta foto es de Manuel. ¿Quién es esa chica? Aquellas personas son sus hermanos. 4.I have to buy this table cloth. 5.No, you should buy that table cloth. 6.I think that I like that table cloth over there. Tengo que comprar este mantel. No, debes comprar ese mantel. Pienso que me gusta aquel mantel.

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.