Demonstrative Adjectives in Spanish – Parte 2
Post 164/365
Miércoles, 6 de septiembre
Buenos días,
Gracias por pasar por Spanish Blog 365 – Learn Spanish and Culture in about 10 minutes a day.
Yesterday we began working with Demonstrative Adjectives.
What that really means, is how to say ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and ‘those’.
When we introduce an object we’ve learned that we can say:
The book or
A book Now we’re learning to say
This book or That book
3 forms of Demonstrative Adjectives
1.
Here are the ones we learned yesterday: this and these
Masculino: este / estos
Femenino: esta / estas
Neutro: esto / estos
These are used to talk about objects that are close to the person speaking. If you are talking, use these to indicate objects that you are holding or that are right by you.
Esta pluma no sirve – This pen doesn’t work.
Este vaso de agua es para ti – This glass of water is for you.
When we use this to talk about time, the ‘time’ is near:
Esta semana – This week
Este mes – This month
And for larger things or intangible things such as:
Este restaurante – the one we are at
Esta clase – the one we are in
Esta idea – the one you just had
The question: ¿Qué es esto? or ¿Qué son estos? is used when asking about objects in front of you.
Here’s a word that relates: aquí – here
2.
Today let’s introduce: that and those
Masculino: ese / esos
Femenino: esa / esas
Neutro: eso / esos
These are used to talk about objects that are close to the person you are talking to or perhaps they are at the other end of the table, not too far, but not right next to you.
Esa pluma no sirve – That pen doesn’t work.
Ese vaso de agua es para ti – That glass of water is for you.
When we use these to talk about time, the ‘time’ is in the past.
Esa semana – That week
Ese mes – That month
And for larger things or intangible things such as:
Ese restaurante – that one on the other side of the street or so
Esa clase – that one when we learned about verbs
Esa idea – that one you had before
Here’s the question using the neuter form:
¿Qué es eso? – What is that?
¿Qué son esos? – What are those?
This word relates: ahí – over there
3.
This set also means: that and those, but they refer to things in the distance.
Masculino: aquello* / aquellos
Femenino: aquella / aquellas
Neutro: aquello / aquellos
*Aquello drops the ‘lo’ when used in front of a masculine noun – Aquel hotel tiene muy buenas vistas del mar. – That hotel way over there has great views of the sea.
These are used to talk about objects that are far from both you and the person you are talking to.
Aquella mujer es mi vecina. – That woman way over there is my neighbor.
Aquellos libros son en español. Those books over there are in Spanish
When we use these to talk about time, the ‘time’ is in the distant past.
Aquel año – That year way back when
Aquella Navidad – That Christmas way back then
And for larger things or intangible things such as:
Aquel restaurante – that one way over there
Aquella clase – that one way back when we started
Aquella idea – that original one you had awhile ago
Here’s the question using the neuter form:
¿Qué es aquello? – What is that way over there?
¿Qué son aquellos? – What are those way over there?
This word relates: allí – way over there
Keep your eyes and ears out for these. You’ll hear them all the time. Remember that they will replace ‘The’, ‘a’, ‘an’ and ‘some’.
Action steps: Note these in your SB365 Journal.
Take time periods such as …
mañana
tarde
noche
sábado
verano
primavera … and play around with the 3 groups from above to say… This morning, that morning, tonight, that night, this afternoon, this summer, this Saturday, this spring, that…
Tomorrow we’ll move these into conversation.
I look forward to seeing back here, then!
Gracias y hasta mañana,
Carolina
