Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns

Question 1

What is the concept of demonstrative pronouns and adjectives?

Answer 1

Let’s talk about adjectives & pronouns:

There are several types of adjectives:

They answer to “which”

a) qualitative (guapa, inteligente…)
b) numeric (primero, segundo, tercero…)
c) possessive (mi, mis tu, tus, su, nuestro…)

D) DEMONSTRATIVE (este, ese, aquel…)

Pronouns simply takes the place of noun.

Question 2

What are the demonstrative adjectives?

Answer 2

It has to do with the distance between the speaker and the object he/she is pointing to:

near far far away

este ese aquel

esta esa aquella

estos esos aquellos

estas esas aquellas

(this, these) (that, those) that, those over there

Question 3

Did you notice that THESE ADJECTIVES agree in gender and number with the noun they point to?

Answer 3

Yes, that is right! Look at THESE EXAMPLES:

Este libro Estos libros

Esta chica Estas chicas

Question 4

What about the demonstrative pronouns?

Answer 4

THESE also agree in gender and number with the noun they replace and they have accents marks:

near far far away

éste ése aquél

ésta ésa aquélla

éstos ésos aquéllos

éstas ésas aquéllas

¿Prefieres este libro o aquél?

Question 5

Did you notice something peculiar about the example from Card 4?

Answer 5

Here is the sample sentence from Card 4:

¿Prefieres este libro o aquél?

When you use the demonstrative adjectives you need to have the adjective + noun.

For the demonstrative pronoun, the nouns was removed, but the pronoun has an accent mark.

Question 6

Do I use the demonstrative adjectives or pronouns when I don’t know what the noun is or when speaking in general terms?

Answer 6

Neither are used. Instead, you need to use the nutral forms:

near far far away

esto eso aquello

¿Qué es esto? What is this?

No sé nada de eso. I don’t know anything about

that.

Question 7

Let’s talk about the differences between

aquí, ahí, allí / allá

Answer 7

Check this out:

near far far away

aquí ahí allí or allá

Think about THESE as key words for each distance.

Question 8

Analyze THESE WORDS and explain their differences:

está esta ésta

Answer 8

está > is the third singular conjugation of estar

esta > is a demonstrative adjective

ésta > is a demonstrative pronoun