That/Those and This/These in Spanish

[brimby]

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.

[aleCcowaN]

Here. (http://spanish.about.com/od/adjectives/a/demonstrative_adjectives.htm)

[asiabird01]

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

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

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

[conejodescarado]

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

[Rusty]

The demonstratives used to have accents. They are no longer required.

[conejodescarado]

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?

[Rusty]

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.

[CrOtALiTo]

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.

[conejodescarado]

Those toys are mine.
These days were the best ( In this case Esos) :bad:


These days = estos días
Those days = esos días

[brimby]

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.

Here's my correction for you, Crotalito. This isn't the only way to do it, but I tried to make what you are saying as clear and natural as I could while keeping the basic order of your sentences intact:

When I went to school, those days were wonderful during my boyhood. (The word "boyhood" isn't really used in natural speech very much, just so you know) I did a lot of fun things when I was young. (Here you could say "Always I would", "I always would", or "I would always", but the last one sounds the most natural) I would always go to the movies and the night club with my friends, and I had a habit of smoking many cigarettes in those days.

I would (or will) be happy if you corrected (or correct, if you used will) me.
Feel free to correct me.

--

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I understand ese, estos, esa, etc. a lot better now.