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That/Those and This/These in Spanish

 

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  #1  
Old March 17, 2011, 11:49 AM
brimby brimby is offline
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That/Those and This/These in Spanish

I'm having a hard time sorting out esa, esas, ese, esos, esta, estas, este, estos etc. I might have even made some of those up, and am probably missing some. Could I get some examples of that/those/this/these in Spanish with English translations? Thanks.
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  #2  
Old March 17, 2011, 12:57 PM
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Here.
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  #3  
Old March 18, 2011, 02:58 PM
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That/Those and This/These in Spanish

This is the shirt I want to buy
Esta es la camiseta lo que comprar

That color will look great on you
ese color parecerá linda en tú

Will those (over there) earings match this (in my hand) shirt?
Aquellos pendientes irán con con esta camisa



This / These (as in this in my hand, or this right in front of me)
= este / esta

That (as in something you would point at)
= ese / esa / eso

Those / That (farther way, over there)
= aquel / aquella


The best way to learn these is by practicing them out loud with a partner. Pretend that you are the person buying something and the other person is the cashier.

It also helps to point, every time you say them.
este papel - this paper (and touch the paper)
esos zapatos - those shoes (and point to those shoes)
aquellos coches - those cars (stand up and point to way over there, those cars).

This might seem kind of ridiculous, but one thing that helps me to remember these words as an hourglass.

esto
eso
aquel

The smallest word of the three (eso) is in the middle, and the biggest word (aquellos) is the bottom. So eso is in between the thing in your hand and the thing on the other side of the room. It's the middle distance. Aquel is the biggest word and also the biggest distance (it's the thing furthest away from you).

does that make any sense? I've been using that memory trick for a while, now I'm at the point where when I hear it spoken incorrectly, it just sounds 'wrong'

Hope that helps!
Asia
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  #4  
Old March 18, 2011, 04:44 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by asiabird01 View Post
This is the shirt I want to buy
Esta es la camiseta lo que comprar que quiero comprar

That color will look great on you
ese color parecerá linda en tú lucirá bien en ti.

Will those (over there) earings match this (in my hand) shirt?
Aquellos pendientes irán con van / hacen juego con esta camisa
Some corrections above
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Old March 18, 2011, 05:44 PM
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Aren't the accents important on the demonstratives?

i.e. ésta es la camiseta que quiero comprar

You only use esta/este without the accent when you follow it by a noun:

quiero comprar esta camiseta
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  #6  
Old March 18, 2011, 06:59 PM
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The demonstratives used to have accents. They are no longer required.
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Old March 19, 2011, 05:05 AM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
The demonstratives used to have accents. They are no longer required.
Wow, I'd not read that anywhere, thanks

So would you advise using them or not using them? Would Spanish grammar purists frown upon people omitting them?
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Old March 19, 2011, 10:09 AM
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The older generation still uses the accents (I'll get in trouble for saying it that way, but I'm a part of the older generation myself).
No one should frown on your usage of the accents.
The younger generation tends not to use accents, even where expected.
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  #9  
Old March 19, 2011, 03:57 PM
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Those toys are mine.
These days were the best ( In this case Esos)


When I went to the school those days were wonderful for my boyhood, already I did a lot funny things during my boyhood, always I would go to the cinema and the night club with my friends, also I was habited to smoke some many cigarettes in those days.


I will cheerful that you can correct me.
Feeling you free in correct me.
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Old March 19, 2011, 05:59 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CrOtALiTo View Post
Those toys are mine.
These days were the best ( In this case Esos)
These days = estos días
Those days = esos días
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