Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives

We have covered past, present and future tenses in Spanish (see the complete list of lessons on the homepage), so we are ready for some easy and fun stuff: Spanish demonstrative adjectives. My theory always has been that you need first to understand these three basic tenses so you can communicate sooner and then learn some other useful things that we left behind.

Today we are going to study the demonstrative adjectives which are used to point out people and objects. It is important to remember that in Spanish a demostrative adjective has to agree in gender and number with the noun it modifies.

¡Listos! (Ready!)

The Most Common Spanish Demonstrative Adjectives

Este (This, masculine and singular)

este libro (this book)
este pueblo (this town)
este hombre (this man)

Esta (This, feminine and singular)

esta casa (this house)
esta ciudad (this city)
esta mujer (this woman)

Estos (These, masculine and plural)

estos libros (these books)
estos pueblos (these towns)
estos hombres (these men)

Estas (These, feminine and plural)

estas casas (these houses)
estas ciudades (these cities)
estas mujeres (these women)

Note:

Tú estás (you are) carries an accent.
Estas (these, feminine) doesn't carry an accent.

Él está (He is) carries an accent.
Esta (this) doesn't carry an accent.

...

Ese (That, masculine and singular)

ese niño (that boy)
ese camino (that road)
ese carro (that car)

Esa (That, feminine and singular)

esa mesa (that table)
esa calle (that street)
esa señora (that lady)

Esos (Those, masculine and plural)

esos niños (those boys, those kids)
esos caminos (those roads)
esos carros (those cars)

Esas (Those, feminine and plural)

esas mesas (those tables)
esas calles (those streets)
esas señoras (those ladies)

...

Esto (This, unidentified object near to the speakers)

- María, ¿qué es esto? (María, what is this?)
- Lo siento, pero no sé. (I am sorry, but I don't know.)

Eso (That, unidentified object far from the speakers)

- José, ¿sabes que es eso? (José, do you know what that is?)
- No, no sé. Eso parece un animal, pero no estoy seguro. (No, I don't know. That seems an animal but I am not sure.)

There are some demonstrative adjectives that indicate that the person or thing pointed out it is more distant, usually far away in space or time. For example...

Aquel (that, masculine and singular)

Yo recuerdo aquel juguete. (I remember that toy.)

Aquella (that, feminine and singular)

Nadie vive en aquella casa vieja. (Nobody lives in that old house.)

Aquellos (those, masculine and plural)

Aquellos años fueron muy hermosos. (Those years were very beautiful.)

Aquellas (those, feminine and plural)

¿Puedes ver aquellas montañas? (Can you see those mountains?)

Idioms Using Spanish Adjectives

Otra vez (again)
¡ Que desagradable ! (how unpleasant)
Estoy Listo (I am ready)
La misma cosa otra vez (the same thing again)
¡ Estoy decepcionado ! (I am dissaponted !)
¡ Estoy contenta ! (I am content !)
No esperaba esto (I did not expect this)
¡ Que divertido ! (How fun !)
Aquí estoy (Here I am)
Allá voy (I am going there)

Just as in most languages, Spanish adjectives are easy compared to verbs. In the next lesson we look at how to ask questions.