Demonstrative adjectives vs

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES VS. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVES

Imagine that you're in a store browsing through merchandise and talking to a salesperson behind the counter. As you discuss the various products, you will likely use words like, "this," "that," "these," and "those."

I'd like to try on this ring. How much does that book cost? What are these toys made out of? I want to buy three of those light bulbs.


Spanish examples: Quisiera probarme este anillo.

I'd like to try on this ring. ¿Cuánto cuesta ese libro?

How much does that book cost? ¿De qué son estos juguetes?

What are these toys made out of? Quiero comprar tres de esos bombillos.

I want to buy three of those light bulbs.


Please note that even though they are adjectives, we place este, ese, estos, and esos in front of the nouns they modify instead behind them like we normally do.

Also note that the demonstrative adjectives for nearby items are este and ese, not esto and eso. It may seem inconsistent with what you already know about adjectives, but that's just the way it is.

There is a little rhyme that can help you keep your demonstrative adjectives straight: "This" and "these" have t's, "that" and "those" no ‘t’ goes.


If that seemed too easy, it's because it is. Since adjectives (even the demonstrative kind) always agree in gender and in number with the nouns they modify, our Spanish chart needs to be a little more complex:

DEMONSTRATIVE EXAMPLES: ¿Cuánto cuesta este reloj?

How much does this watch cost? ¿Y cuánto cuesta ese reloj?

And how much does that watch cost? ¿Y cuánto cuesta aquel reloj?

And how much does that watch (over there) cost? ¿Cuánto cuestan estas flores?

How much do these flowers cost? ¿Y cuánto cuestan esas flores?

And how much do those flowers cost? ¿Y cuánto cuestan aquellas flores?

And how much do those flowers (over there) cost?

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

Now let's talk demonstrative pronouns. Remember that an adjective is a word that modifies a noun, but a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Let's say that you're in a store again shopping for a pen. Rather than say the word "pen" over and over again, you will probably use pronouns: "How much is this pen?" "How much is that one?" "What color are these?“

Here are some more examples. The first sentence includes an adjective. The second one uses a pronoun:

I like this car. She prefers that one. I like these videos. She prefers those ones.I like these trees. She prefers those.


Notice how we sometimes include the word "one" or "ones" with our pronouns.

In Spanish, the pronouns that we use look very similar to the adjectives: Me gusta este coche. Ella prefiere ése.

Me gustan estos videos. Ella prefiere ésos.Me gustan estos árboles. Ella prefiere aquéllos.

Cultural Note: While you can use your finger to point at any object, in some areas it is considered rude to point at people that way. You may want to nod your head or use a different gesture instead. Speaking of which, some Latinos will point at things with their lips by pursing them together like blowing a kiss.


The only difference is that we add an accent mark to each of the pronouns. The accent doesn't change the pronunciation at all; it falls on the syllable that would normally be stressed anyway. It's only used to distinguish pronouns from adjectives in writing. Coincidentally, the accent mark falls on the first "e" in every pronoun.

Note how we still have the third "really far" category with our pronouns just as we did with the adjectives. It works exactly the same way.

NEUTER PRONOUNS

Now we can translate "this" and "these" and "that" and "those" without any problems, right? What about in these situations?

We're lost and we have no gas. This is not good.

I like reading a good book. I like that too!

NEUTER PRONOUNS

The underlined words are pronouns, but the problem is that they aren't replacing a specific noun, but rather a concept ("being lost" or "reading"). That's not a big deal in English but in Spanish we need to know the gender in order to use the correct pronoun. What is the gender of "being lost" or of "reading a good book"? We really can't say. So what do we do? We use a neuter pronoun that's neither masculine nor feminine:

Estamos perdidos y no tenemos gasolina.Esto no es bueno.

Me gusta leer un libro bueno.¡Me gusta eso también!

NEUTER PRONOUNS

There are three neuter demonstrative pronouns: esto, eso, and aquello. We aren't worried about gender with neuter pronouns. We also aren't worried about number since we're replacing a (singular) concept not (plural) objects.

Please note that: Even though esto, eso, and aquello might seem to fit the demonstrative

adjective pattern better, este, ese, and aquel are the singular, masculine adjectives.

The pronouns esto, eso, and aquello are considered neuter, not masculine, even though they end in "-o."

Even though they are pronouns, esto, eso, and aquello don't have accent marks.

Demonstrative adjectives vs

Education

Transcript of Demonstrative adjectives vs