A1
este, ese, aquel — this and that
How Spanish demonstratives work, the three-way distance system, and the neuter forms used when nothing is named.
Spanish splits that in two, by whether the thing is near the listener or away from you both.
| masculine | feminine | |
|---|---|---|
| this (near me) | este | esta |
| that (near you) | ese | esa |
| that over there | aquel | aquella |
Plurals: estos, esos, aquellos; estas, esas, aquellas.
Este libro es mío.
this book is mine
This book is mine.
Esa casa es muy grande.
that house is very big
That house is very big.
The middle one is what English lacks. Ese says the one by you, and reaching for aquel instead puts the thing outside the conversation.
They map onto the persons
Este goes with yo, ese with tú, aquel with él. The same three-way split runs through aquí, ahí, allí — here, there, over there.
Aquí, ahí y allí.
here, there and over-there
Here, there and over there.
The neuter forms
Esto, eso and aquello refer to a situation or something unidentified. They have no gender because nothing has been named yet.
¿Qué es esto?
what is this
What’s this?
Eso no es verdad.
that not is truth
That’s not true.
¿Qué es este?
¿Qué es esto?
Este needs a masculine noun behind it, stated or understood. When you do not know what the thing is, you cannot know its gender, so the neuter is the only option.
The accents are gone
Éste and ésta used to be written with accents when they stood alone. The Real Academia dropped that in 2010, so older books and newer ones differ — both are readable and neither is an error.