Estas casas son grandes.

Casas (houses) is feminine plural,

so the word for these must be feminine plural.

These houses are large;

2. noun near the person spoken to: that, those — a form of ese

• noun modified is masculine singular -+ ese

Ese cuarto es grande.

Cuarto (room) is masculine singular,

so the word for that must be masculine singular.

That room is large.

• noun modified is feminine singular —* esa

Esa casa es grande.

Casa (house) is feminine singular,

so the word for that must be feminine singular.

That house is large.

• noun modified is masculine plural —* esos

Esos cuartos son grandes.

Cuartos (rooms) is masculine plural,

so the word for those must be masculine plural.

Those rooms are large.

• noun modified is feminine plural —> esas

Estas casas son grandes.

Casas (houses) is feminine plural,

so the word for those must be feminine plural.

Those houses are large.

3. nouns away from both the speaker and the person spoken to: that,

those —* a form of aquel

Since English does not have this third set of demonstrative adjec-

tives, there is no good translation for them. Sometimes the forms of

aquel translate as “that, those over there” to imply the distance.

• noun modified is masculine singular -+ aquel

Aquel cuarto es grande.

Cuarto (room) is masculine singular,

so the word for that must be masculine singular.

That room (over there) is large.

• noun modified is feminine singular —> aquella

Aquella casa es grande.

Casa (house) is feminine singular,

so the word for that must be feminine singular.

That house (over there) is large.

• noun modified is masculine plural —* aquellos

Aquellos cuartos son grandes.

Cuartos (rooms) is masculine plural,

so the word for those must be masculine plural.

Those rooms (over there) are large.

• noun modified is feminine plural —+ aquellas

Aquellas casas son grandes.

Casas (houses) is feminine plural,

so the word for those must be feminine plural.

Those houses (over there) are large.

Careful

The three sets of demonstrative adjectives may also function as

demonstrative pronouns. As demonstrative pronouns they are not fol-

lowed by a noun and they carry a written accent. (See What is a

Demonstrative Pronoun?, p. 160.)

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