Do este and aquello mean the same thing?

Question

Thanks.....

Answer 1

In Spanish there are 3 different references to how far away something is from the speaker. These basically translate in English to: this, that, and that (way over there). If I am standing in the middle of the room, and I point to a boy 1foot from me, I will say "este chico), meaning "this boy". If I point to a boy 10 feet from me, I will say "ese chico", meaning "that boy". If I point to a boy 30 feet from me, I will say "aquel chico" meaning "that boy way over there," Obviously, it's all relative. If we are talking a space the size of the United States, some place within a 100 miles of us would be "este lugar" meaning "this place". Some place 500 miles from us would be "ese lugar" meaning "that place" and some place 1500 miles from us would be "aquel lugar" meaning "that place way over there". There are also feminine forms: "esta chica" means "this girl"..."esa chica" means "that girl"...and "aquella chica" means "that girl way over there." All of these 6 terms (este/esta/ese/esa/aquel/aquella) are used with animate and inanimate objects. They also have plurals, which operate within the same guidelines.

I hope this has helped to explain to you.

Answer 2

- este, esta, esto: muy cercano al hablante:

Este libro que tengo en las manos es muy interesante.

¿Qué es esto que tengo pegado en la espalda?

- ese, esa, eso: cercano al hablante:

Ese libro que tienes en las manos es muy interesante.

Esa corbata que llevas no me gusta.

¿Qué es eso que llevas pegado a la espalda?

- Aquel, aquella, aquello: más lejano al hablante.

Aquel libro que estabas leyendo en la Biblioteca el otro día parecía muy interesante.

Me gustaba aquella corbata que llevabas el día de tu boda.

¿Qué era aquello que llevabas pegado a la espalda el día de la fiesta?

Basically, este means "this" when you're taking about an object right next to you and "aquello" is an object really far away or not visible, as you see in the last example. if you don't understand it, one of the sentence says.

For aquello:

"That book you were reading at the library the other day looked very interesting."

"I liked that tie that you wore on the day of your wedding."

For este: "This book that I have in my hands is very interesting"

Hope it helps.

• excellent breakdown - mateo2 Dec 26, 2009

Answer 3

Okay.....este is this.........and aquello is that. They do not mean the same thing. You can think of it like this. I use the word este to describe inadimate objects. And then I use aquello to describe living things. That helps with my confusion.
So if you were to say would you like this water? you would say Quieres este agua? If you were to say do you like that boy? You would say Te gustas aquello?

• .....to describe inadimate objects. The word is inanimate. - Yeser007 Nov 2, 2009

Answer 4

They are different words with different meanings.

Can you explain in some more detail what is causing you your misunderstanding so we can be more help to you?

Answer 5

You're asking if the two demonstrative adjectives this and that mean the same thing. Do they mean the same thing in English? No.

Answer 6

this and that dont mean the same thing

Blockquote mexican

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• No capitals and no punctuation. How is a non-English speaking individual supposed to learn our language? - Yeser007 Nov 2, 2009