| Singular | Plural | Translation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Masculine | Feminine | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
| este | esta | estos | estas | esto | this, these |
| ese | esa | esos | esas | eso | that, those |
| aquel | aquella | aquellos | aquellas | aquello | that, those (far in distance or time) |
Demonstrative pronouns replace a specific noun, which has been mentioned or is obvious from context. The noun being replaced is called the antecedent. Demonstrative pronouns agree in gender and number with their antecedent. Whether you use este, ese or aquel depends on how far the antecedent is from the speaker; este is used for close objects or ideas, ese for those further away, and aquel for something quite far or long ago in the past.
En la comodidad aún que tenemos para reunirnos con aquellos que, que creen lo mismo que nosotros, que tienen el mismo pensar.In the comfort that we still have to get together with those that believe the same as us, that have the same thinking. El inglés de los anglosajones de Chicago se me hizo bien diferente al inglés de los tejanos.. … si no les entendía aquellos, pues, menos les entendía a estos.
The Anglos from Chicago’s English seemed very different to me from the Texan’s English… if I didn’t understand those, well I understood these less.
These same forms can also be used as determiners; as seen in the example below esos is the determiner for the noun lugares.
Esos lugares estaban llenos de gente joven.Those places were full of young people.
The neuter singular forms esto, eso, and aquello are used to replace not defined and generic antecedents, meaning this/that thing(s) for example.
A mí me gusta vivir lo que viene, no estar esperando que voy a hacer esto o hacer aquello.I live to live what come, to not be waiting to do this or that.