Those Over There In Spanish

By Concluding updated: August 31, 2022

How to Use Spanish Demonstratives to Talk Nearly This, That, These and Those

At some signal in your travels to Espana or Latin America, yous're going to exist reduced to pointing to explicate yourself.

Instead of accompanying that pointing with just wordless blubbering, you can class it up with a flake of linguistic communication.

In this post nosotros'll look at how to say full general—and enormously useful—Castilian phrases which make utilise of demonstratives.

Download: This web log post is bachelor every bit a user-friendly and portable PDF that you can take anywhere. Click hither to get a re-create. (Download)

Spanish demonstrative adjectives

English speakers meet the globe of things in two categories of proximity: this man and that human (or the plural formsthesemen andthose men).

Spanish speakers in contrast see three types of distance:este hombre(this human being),ese hombre (that man), andaquel hombre (that man over in that location).

The showtime two options get more day-to-twenty-four hours employ, and frequently in the same ways that we utilizethisandthat in English.

The third option,aquel, is used for emphasizing what the speaker considers the noun in question to existquite far.

These words are adjectives, then as you might expect they change according to gender and for plural, as with other Spanish adjectives. For case, you lot say:

el hombre blanco (the white man)

los hombres blancbone (the white men)

la mujer blanca (the white adult female)

las mujeres blancequally (the white women)

Demonstratives undergo like changes.

Here are the full declinations of the Spanish demonstrative adjectives for gender and number:

Distance/number	Masculine	Feminine
this	este	esta
these	estos	estas
that	ese	esa
those	esos	esas
that (over there)	aquel	aquella
those (over there)	aquellos	aquellas

To become a feeling for when and how to use these, let'due south look at some examples.

When and how to use Castilian demonstratives

It'due south important to pay attending to the situations in which they're used, as we desire to acquire a sense of when something is considered shut and when it is considered far in Spanish.

Below, you'll meet a listing of situations, and the proper demonstratives to use for each.

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I'm standing at a fruit stand and holding apples in my easily.

¿Cuánto cuestanestas manzanas?— How much exercise these apples cost?

I'm standing at the same fruit stand, but the apples are on top of a pile and out of my achieve.

¿Cuánto cuestanesas manzanas?— How much do those apples cost?

I'm standing at the fruit stand up and I run into a stall at the other end of the market. I ask a knowledgeable friend nearly their apples, while simultaneously implying that I might feel a scrap lazy nigh the thought of going all the way over there.

¿Cuánto cuestan aquellas manzanas?— How much do those apples over at that place cost?

I'yard at my laptop and a friend is sitting nearby, and I point at my laptop and excitedly exclaim.

¡Este artículo es fantástico!— This article is fantastic!

I'm talking to my friend the side by side twenty-four hours.

¿Has leído ese artículo que te envié? —Accept y'all read that article that I sent you?

I'm talking to my friend a month later.

¿Te acuerdas de aquel artículo sobre los demonstrativos?— Do you lot remember that one article nigh demonstratives?

You're done with a conversation about the by, and you desire to stop the discussion.

Ena quel tiempo era diferente. — Back so things were unlike.

As yous can encounter from higher up, this thought of distance is inexact. It depends more than on the feeling that the speaker wishes to communicate than it does on any specific, measurable altitude. As in English, information technology also takes on a figurative sense when you're talking about concepts or the proximity of nebulous things in time or space.

Spanish demonstrative pronouns

In English language, we don't only employ this/that/those/these as adjectives followed by a substantive (this apple). Nosotros also use them without any substantive at all:

"How much is this?"

"Those are expensive."

These two examples above are considered pronouns, meaning that they supervene upon nouns, like the way this/these would supercede apple/apples.

In Castilian, the masculine and feminine demonstrative pronouns are the same as the adjectives that nosotros've already seen, but there's a new column to be added, for neuter demonstrative pronouns.

These are corking for when you accept no idea what the gender of the thing you lot're referring to is:

Altitude/number	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
this	este	esta	esto
these	estos	estas
that	ese	esa	eso
those	esos	esas
that (over there)	aquel	aquella	aquello
those (over there)	aquellos	aquellas

Technical annotation: Some grammar books and less classy corners of the Internet still claim that in that location should be written accent marks in the masculine and feminine pronouns (éste, ésta, éstos, éstas, etc.), but the RAE (Real Academia Española, the official guardian of the Spanish linguistic communication) has long retired this superfluous headache.

If a teacher tries to complicate your life past telling you otherwise, send them that link higher up (it's in Spanish).

The RAE does even so allow for this spelling change in sure rare cases. Gluttons for punishment can notice this in the next section of this mail service (it's actually not necessary for most learners, and most native speakers ignore it).

Allow's look at some common examples of the pronouns in action, like if we were in a big open market full of mysterious foods that we've never seen before, say the famous Boquería in Barcelona.

For the showtime case, notation that in this region 1 typically uses the informal addresswith vendors, fifty-fifty those one hasn't met earlier. In some countries, you'll want to exist more formal.

Dame uno de estos, por favor. —"Give me one of these please."

¿Qué es eso? —"What is that?"

No, esos no. Quiero aquellos ahí. —"No, not those.I wantthe other ones way over there!"

When you lot demand to use an adjective with a neuter pronoun, the describing word will be masculine.

Eso es bueno . — "That is practiced."

As with the describing word forms, the demonstrative pronouns tin be used to talk about immaterial things. Take a await at the following situations:

You're hearing a vocal, an idea or almost an invention.

Eso me suena. — That sounds familiar to me.

You're in the centre of a crazy situation. A lot is happening all around you.

Esto es una locura. — This is craziness.

You're admiring an indiscernible thing at a distance.

Aquello es bonito. —That thing over there is pretty.

There are also some very mutual expressions that make use of these pronouns.

¡Eso! — That's it! (Someone's given you the right reply.)

¿Como va eso, estás avanzando? —How is that going? Are you making progress? (At work)

por eso— that's why

a eso de las 15:00 — at most 3 p.m.

aparte de eso — likewise that

¿Y eso qué? — So what?

¿De dónde sacaste eso? — Where did you get that (e.g. weird idea) from?

dicho esto —that (existence) said

con esto en mente— with this in mind

Esto sí es la vida.— This really is the life.

todo esto y más — all this and more than

por aquello —that'southward why

aquello se está animando —things are getting lively

Spelling changes in Spanish demonstrative pronouns

This section is provided for completeness and for Castilian language nerds; beginning and intermediate learners should feel free to skip information technology.

As mentioned previously, written emphasis marks on Spanish pronouns are no longer considered necessary past the RAE and nearly grammarians, editors and publications.

The only exception to this is when at that place could possibly be a confusion between pronouns and adjectives. In that case, you would write the masculine and feminine demonstratives every bit follows (note that pronunciation is e'er unchanged, and the neuter forms aren't affected):

Distance/number	Masculine	Feminine
this	éste	ésta
these	éstos	éstas
that	ése	ésa
those	ésos	ésas
that (over at that place)	aquél	aquélla
those (over there)	aquéllos	aquéllas

The RAE gives the following example as a case in which you could employ a written accent to provide clarity about whether you intend to use the pronoun or the adjective.

¿Por qué compraron aquéllos libros usados?— Why did those people over there buy used books? (i.e.,aquéllos is a pronoun and the subject of the sentence.)

Contrast that to the sentence's meaning without the written accent, which indicates the adjective course is intended:

¿Por qué compraron aquellos libros usados?— Why did they purchase those used books over in that location?

Since the RAE says not to use written accents with demonstratives except in cases similar this, a reader coming across a demonstrative lacking an emphasis might theoretically wonder whether the lack of an emphasis was intentional to signal the adjective sense, or part of the general trend to no longer use accents with the wordaquellos.

Also note that the first example to a higher place is a bit of a tortured leap and sounds odd; it's conspicuously difficult to come up with examples where this written emphasis is useful. If you have any doubt about clarity, a better option in my opinion is to just rewrite the sentence in some other way.

¿Por qué aquella gente compró libros usados? —Why did those people over there buy used books?

You'll still run across the demonstrative pronouns with written accent marks used throughout some publications, similar El País.

Examples of Spanish demonstratives in Afro-Peruvian music

The Spanish language's third, actress-far level in demonstratives gives the language an expressive power that nosotros can't lucifer in English, and a good style to see this in action is through Afro-Peruvian music.

Long marginalized in Peru, this grand musical tradition is now ane of Southward America'due south great cultural assets. This has nothing to do with Andean panpipe music you may have heard; Afro-Peruvian music is marked by soaring melodramatic vocals and thumping cajón (a wooden box drum that is sabbatum on and pounded at with open up palms).

The songs are corking for Castilian learners considering the lyrics are relatively straightforward and the vocalist mostly sings clearly and at the front of the mix.

Let'southward take a await at the offset few lines of "Yo perdí el corazón" equally interpreted by the great Manuel Donayre.

First, attempt to listen to the starting time few lines without reading the lyrics below the video. What exercise you think the choice of demonstrative adjective says about the singer'southward relationship to the romantic moments of the past?

Yo perdí el corazón
una tarde lejana
una tarde de aquellas
cuando el amor nos llama

I lost my heart
on a faraway afternoon
ane afternoon of those
when love calls us

Are you feeling the power of Spanish demonstratives?

Aquellas is our farthest-removed demonstrative pronoun, so we get the sense that the singer feels that these afternoons of loving arefirmly in his by. If he had chosenesas instead, nosotros might be led to believe that he could still experience some moments when love calls, but withaquellas it doesn't seem so likely to ever happen again, in spite of the use of the present tense.

Here are the total lyrics; practice listen to the rest of the vocal! His delivery of "el culpable soy yo por tener corazón" (the guilty i is me for having a heart) is a stroke of pure melodramatic brilliance.

And so equally non to wallow in only one man's despair (and likewise to stay focused on demonstratives), we'll skip over now to "Alma, corazón y vida" ("Soul, Centre, and Life") equally interpreted by Eva Ayllón, the queen of Afro-Peruvian music.

Check out just the opening lines outset, and see what similarities yous can spot in her attitude.

You'll notice that in the two opening lines we're already on a familiar theme of Afro-Peruvian music:

Recuerdo aquella vez que yo te conocí
recuerdo aquella tarde

I remember that fourth dimension that I met you
I remember that afternoon

The ii uses of the demonstrative adjectiveaquellais already setting us up for the tragedy to come later in the song. Whenever she met the object of her angel, information technology'due south not a moment that she considers comfortably close—it'due south somewhere in the (painfully!) distant past.

Later explaining that she brutal in dear, she goes on to use more demonstrative adjectives (the following is the same video synced to ane:03). Once more, try to mind to a few lines before you await at the lyrics. Which ones does she utilize and why?

Oye esta canción que lleva
alma, corazón y vida
esas tres cositas zippo mas te doy
porque no tengo fortuna

Hearthis song that carries
soul, heart, and life
those 3 little things, and nothing more, I requite you
because I don't have a fortune

The showtime demonstrative estatells us simply that the singer is referring to the present song being sung, not another vocal.

For the second demonstrative the singer choosesesas because the things (soul, heart and life) are existence handed over, so they're no longer in her possession, but aren't at some great distance either.

This song is thus about a love that started in the afar by but is enduring into the present, fifty-fifty if information technology'due south completely unrequited past that jerk who's the object of her amore.

If you're looking for more Afro-Peruvian music to study or sob to, David Byrne put together a fantastic compilation.

That's it for our complete roundup of Castilian demonstratives.

If you live in an expanse with Spanish speakers, head out to your local fruit market and effort using the adjectives to buy fruit you know (esta manzana —this apple) and the pronouns to buy things you don't know (quiero eso — I desire that).

If you don't, try doing a similar function-play with a teacher or language commutation partner.

Another mode to do listening for demonstratives is with native-language content, which yous can notice in places like YouTube, Netflix or FluentU.

FluentU offers a picayune extra support for linguistic communication learners—it's a language learning app that has thousands of authentic Castilian videos with interactive subtitles so you can both see and hear words used by natives. Relieve the demonstratives you lot hear to your vocabulary lists and flashcards decks for more targeted practice.

Presently, you'll be waxing on nigh your long-lost childhood (aquel tiempo — that menstruum), and maybe launching into your ain melodramatic dearest songs.

Download: This blog post is available every bit a convenient and portable PDF that yous tin take anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)