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This and that…
Sorry to break it to you, but you won´t be surprised: there are three ways to say ‘this’ in
Spanish. Este (masculine), esta (feminine) and esto (neutral). The latter is for when we´re
speaking in general or don´t know the name of the object we´re referring to.
THIS: the one with the ‘t’
ESTE hombre es mi marido, José. This man is my husband, José. (Masculine).
ESTA mesa es mía. This table is mine (because ‘table’ is feminine: la mesa).
Todo ESTO es fantástico. All this is fantastic. (Neutral/general).
THAT: just drop the ‘t’:
ESE dia fue horrible. That day was horrible (‘day’ is masculine – el día - despite ending in ‘a’)
ESA falda es preciosa. That skirt is beautiful. (Feminine).
¿ESO es todo? Is that all? (Neutral)
THESE and THOSE
To make plurals, we normally add an ‘s’, but for both masculine and neutral words, ESTOS
means ‘these’, or ESTAS for feminine words. Similarly, ‘those’ would be ESOS or ESAS.
Estos son mis hijos, y estas son mis sobrinas. These are my children, and these are my nieces.
En la panadería (the bakery, pointing): No quiero esos, sino estos aquí. (I don´t want those,
but these ones here).
THAT ONE OVER THERE!
While we use four words in English, it’s just one in Spanish: ‘That one over there’ is translated
as AQUEL (masculine) or AQUELLA (feminine). For plural (those over there) it´s AQUELLOS/
AQUELLAS. We use this word for objects that´s are far away or not visible.
Eg: Aquella playa parece bonita (that park over there looks pretty)
Aquellos hombres están mirándome (those men over there are looking at me)
MASCULINE FEMININE
this este esta
that ese esa
that (over there) aquello/aquel aquella
these estos estas
those esos esas
those (over there) aquellos aquellas
Note 1: Normally we drop the ‘o’ in the rare event that an adjective (word describing a
thing/person) goes BEFORE the noun. For example, uno becomes un, bueno changes to buen
and aquello to aquel:
¡Quiero uno! (I want one!) but un momento (NOT uno momento - one moment). Un trabajo
bueno (a good job) but un buen trabajo (same meaning).
Note 2: It´s easy to confuse the verb ESTAR (to be), e.g. está aquí (it is here) with esta (this,
feminine). Estar is the only verb in the present tense where you ‘push down’ at the end, as
indicated by the accent. If you stress the wrong syllable of a word, people either won´t
understand you or will think you´re saying something different. So when practising
‘this/that/those’ etc , make sure you push down on the second-to-last syllable, (which may
also be the first, if there are only two of them). Here´s an example:
¿Quisiera seleccionar una tarta? - Vale. Esta está bien [ESS-ta es-TAH bee-EN]. Would you like
to select a cake? Alright. This (one) is fine.
Common expressions with this/that:
Esta mañana/esta tarde/esta noche – this morning, this afternoon/evening, tonight.
En este momento – at the moment (the Spanish say: in this moment).
En ese momento – at THAT moment (in the past)
¿Eso es? - Is that all? - Sí, eso es. (Yes, that’s all). Remember to change your tone of voice to
indicate whether you´re asking, or telling.
Por eso – that´s why (lit: ‘for that’). Eg: Me encanta el sol - por eso vivo aquí. (I love the sun –
that´s why I live here).
Aquel dia… That day (a long time ago).
