Demonstrative adjetives

Demonstrative adjectives in English.


How to use: "this", "that", "these" and "those".
Demonstrative adjectives help us explain where things are in space. "This" (this, this) and "that" (that, that, that, that) are used to talk about singular or uncountable things . "These" (these, these) and "those" (those, those, those, those) serve to talk about things in the plural:

Este

This book

Esos

That books

estos

These books

Aquellos

Those books

Demonstrative adjectives come before the noun or other adjectives:

Here you are This new English textbook is for you.
(Aquí tienes. Este nuevo libro de texto de inglés es para ti.)

Look over there. Can you see that bird ?
(Mira por allí. ¿Ves ese/aquel pájaro?)

These exercises in this book are difficult.
( Estos ejercicios en este libro son difíciles.)

Who are those strange people ? I can't see
(¿Quiénes son esas/aquellas personas extrañas? No las veo.)

Demonstratives as pronouns.
The demonstratives: "this" "that" "these" "those" are also used without the noun, that is, as pronouns:

What's this on my shirt?
(¿Qué es esto en mi camisa?)

What's that over there?
(¿Qué es eso por allí?)

What are those?
(¿Qué son ésos/aquéllos?)

That is Mount Everest over there.
(Aquél/Ése es el Everest.)

These are some photos of my holiday. Have a look.
(Éstas son unas fotos de mis vacaciones. Echa un vistazo.)

Those are some new students. Let's go and meet them.
(Ésos/Aquéllos son unos nuevos alumnos. Vamos a conocerlos.)

Demonstratives and events over time.
These words help us explain when events happen in time. "This" and "these" are usually used for near-present events and "that" and "those" are often used for events far from the present. Events can be both in the past and in the future:

That terrible Monday was the worst day in my life.
(Ese/aquel lunes terrible era el peor día de mi vida.)

This time I'll do it properly.
(Esta vez voy a hacerlo bien.)

In those days I had long hair. That was twenty years ago.
(En aquellos tiempos tenía el pelo largo. Eso era hace veinte años.)

These days my eyes aren't very good. I have to wear glasses now.
(Últimamente no tengo buena vista. Ahora tengo que llevar gafas.)

When I win the lottery, that will be a wonderful day!
(¡Cuando gane la lotería, aquel día será un día maravilloso!)

We say "this + the date" when we refer to a date within the present time period. We say "next + the date" when we refer to a date of a future period of time:

I'll see you this Friday. (Hoy es lunes de la misma semana.)
(Nos veremos este [¿el próximo?] viernes.)

Let's meet next Friday. (Hoy es lunes de la semana anterior.)
(Quedamos para el siguiente viernes [dentro de dos semanas].)