Demonstrative Adjectives

Demonstrative adjectives are the words we use to point to specific things: "this," "that," "these," and "those." In English, we have two levels of distance (this/these for near, that/those for far). Spanish has three levels of distance, giving speakers a more precise way to indicate how close or far something is.

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The Three Levels of Distance

Distance	Masculine Sg.	Feminine Sg.	Masculine Pl.	Feminine Pl.	English
Near (speaker)	este	esta	estos	estas	this / these
Medium (listener)	ese	esa	esos	esas	that / those
Far (neither)	aquel	aquella	aquellos	aquellas	that / those (over there)

The Distance System Explained

Think of it as three concentric circles:

1. Este/esta (this) — near the speaker. The thing is close to me.
2. Ese/esa (that) — near the listener or at a medium distance. The thing is close to you, or not too far away.
3. Aquel/aquella (that over there) — far from both speaker and listener. The thing is way over there.

Tip: In everyday spoken Spanish, many speakers use ese/esa for anything not immediately close, and reserve aquel/aquella for things that are truly far away or visible in the distance.

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Este / Esta / Estos / Estas (This / These)

Use these when the thing is near you (the speaker):

Examples

• Este libro es interesante. (This book is interesting.)
• Esta casa es nuestra. (This house is ours.)
• Estos zapatos son cómodos. (These shoes are comfortable.)
• Estas flores son bonitas. (These flowers are pretty.)
• Este café está muy caliente. (This coffee is very hot.)
• Me gusta esta canción. (I like this song.)

Memory aid: Este starts with "e-s-t" — think "estoy aquí" (I am here) — near me.

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Ese / Esa / Esos / Esas (That / Those)

Use these when the thing is near the listener or at a medium distance:

Examples

• Ese libro que tienes es mío. (That book you have is mine.)
• Esa chica es mi hermana. (That girl is my sister.)
• Esos coches son muy caros. (Those cars are very expensive.)
• ¿Quién vive en esa casa? (Who lives in that house?)
• Pásame esas galletas, por favor. (Pass me those biscuits, please.)
• Ese restaurante es muy bueno. (That restaurant is very good.)

Memory aid: Ese — think of pointing at someone: "Hey, you — ese!" (near you, the listener).

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Aquel / Aquella / Aquellos / Aquellas (That Over There / Those Over There)

Use these when the thing is far from both speaker and listener:

Examples

• Aquel edificio es el museo. (That building over there is the museum.)
• ¿Ves aquella montaña? (Do you see that mountain over there?)
• Aquellos árboles son muy viejos. (Those trees over there are very old.)
• Aquellas estrellas son muy brillantes. (Those stars over there are very bright.)
• Aquel día fue maravilloso. (That day [long ago] was wonderful.)

Note: Aquel can also refer to distance in time — something that happened long ago: "en aquellos tiempos" (in those [distant] times).

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Summary Table with Examples

Level	Example (Masc. Sg.)	Example (Fem. Sg.)	Example (Masc. Pl.)	Example (Fem. Pl.)
Near	este perro (this dog)	esta mesa (this table)	estos libros (these books)	estas casas (these houses)
Medium	ese perro (that dog)	esa mesa (that table)	esos libros (those books)	esas casas (those houses)
Far	aquel perro (that dog over there)	aquella mesa (that table over there)	aquellos libros (those books over there)	aquellas casas (those houses over there)

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Demonstrative Pronouns