Spanish Demonstrative Pronouns - Pronombres demostrativos

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Spanish Demonstrative Pronouns ~ Pronombres demostrativos

Demonstrative pronouns (this one, that one, the one[s], these, those) refer to a previously-mentioned noun in a sentence.

Spanish demonstrative pronouns are more complicated than their English counterparts, because there are different sets and because they must agree in gender and number with the noun they replace.

The three sets of Spanish demonstrative pronouns are éste (this one - something near the speaker), ése (that one - something near the listener), and aquél (those - something far from both the speaker and listener). Note that Spanish demonstrative pronouns are the same as demonstrative adjectives with the addition of an accent over the stressed vowel. There is also a neuter demonstrative pronoun in each set, which does not have an accent.

	this	that	that
masculin singular	éste	ése	aquél
feminine singular	ésta	ésa	aquélla
masculin plural	éstos	ésos	aquéllos
feminine plural	éstas	ésas	aquéllas
neuter	esto	eso	aquello

Demonstrative pronouns are used to replace a demonstrative adjective + noun, or simply refer back to a previously-mentioned/implied noun without repeating its name.

For example...

¿Qué chica lo hizo, ésta o ésa?	Which girl did it, this one or that one?
Estoy leyendo éso.	I'm reading this (one).
Quiero mirar esta película, no me gusta aquélla.	I want to see this movie; I don't like that one.
Todos los perros son lindos, pero prefiero éste.	All the dogs are cute, but I prefer this one.
Éstos son más caros que ésos.	These are more expensive than those.

Éste can mean "latter," while aquél can mean "former."
Luís y Ana van a ayudarnos. Aquél ya está aquí, y ésta llegará a las dos.	Luís and Ana are going to help up. The former (Luís) is already here, and the latter (Ana) will arrive at 2 o'clock.

Neuter pronouns / Indefinite demonstrative pronouns
Neuter pronouns, also known as indefinite demonstrative pronouns, refer to unspecified or unknown nouns, situations, and ideas. Note that these never have an accent.
¿Qué es esto?	What is this?
Eso es imposible.	That is impossible.
Por eso, no puedo hacerlo.	Therefore (because of that), I can't do it.
Aquello no es necesario.	That's not necessary.

Each set of Spanish demonstrative pronouns corresponds with a different place word:

éste	aquí - here
ése	ahí - there
aquél	allí - over there

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