esta,este,esto...

[raji]

Hi,

I am having great confusion with these words

esta,este,esto,ese,eso.

este also means "east".

Help me understand.

Saludos desde,
Raji

[poli]

Originally Posted by raji

Hi,

I am having great confusion with these words

esta,este,esto,ese,eso.

este also means "east".

Help me understand.

Saludos desde,
Raji

Esta, esto, este means this in Spanish. As you know Spanish connects genderto nouns and the adjectives that discribe the noun must be in agreement in gender with the noun. Este libro (this book- masculine) Esta cancion (this song - feminine)¿Que es esto?(what is this?-undetermined gender)Ese, eso, ese mean that in Spanish and follow the same rule

[geeper]

Here is a grid our Spanish instructor drew for us that helped me a lot.

Position of object    | El    | La      | Los      | Las      | Unknown |
_________________________________________________________________________
Near you              | Este  | Esta    | Estos    | Estas    | Esto    |
Near person spoken to | Ese   | Esa     | Esos     | Esas     | Eso     |
Not near either       | Aquel | Aquella | Aquellos | Aquellas | Aquello |

Its kind of hard to make this out but if you find the type of object across the top (el,la,etc) then look down the left column and determine where the object is you can find what to use. e.g. La object near the person spoken to, then you use Esa. Hope this helps.

[sosia]

It's really a good grid, geeper. Very helpful

[raji]

Gracias Greeper por su "grid"