This and That

Question

Hi

I am learning about this and that and have seen the following:

Masculine este (this) estos (these) Feminine esta (this) estas (these)

Masculine ese (that) esos (those) Feminine esa (that) esas (those)

Masculine aquel (that over there) aquellos (those over there) Feminine aquella (that over there) aquellas (those over there)

But I have also seen eso and esto used - why is this? I can only guess they are variations of that and this for masculine?

Thanks

Hi Dave, and welcome! That (jeje) is a really good question, and I was wondering about all of the Spanish this' and thats when I woke up this morning. - Findy, Jun 2, 2013

Hi dave, I'm eagerly awaiting the answers to your question. - 0095ca4c, Jun 2, 2013

Answer 1

This link may help, look for the section 'when to use the neuter forms eso and esto'.

Thanks, very helpful and I had already guessed it was with unknown things but great to have confirmation :) - daveamour, Jun 2, 2013

De nada :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 2, 2013

Awesome! Thank you! - 0095ca4c, Jun 2, 2013

Gracias for that, Kiwi!! I'd like to print that out and put it up to where I can see it often (like on the window near where I wash dishes). :) - Findy, Jun 2, 2013

lol my pleasure guys, glad you found it helpful :) - Kiwi-Girl, Jun 2, 2013

Answer 2

Clich here for an earlier thread about this and that

Thanks Ian. On that thread I found a slideshow - http://www.slideshare.net/juliandsgomez/adjetivos-y-pronombres-demostrativos - this gives eso and esto as being neutral I'm not familiar with neutal in Spanish - I thought all nouns had gender. - daveamour, May 26, 2013

My only thoguht is that can you have neutral gender if you don't know what the thing is you are talking about - eg "What is this - que es eso" - Is that right? - daveamour, May 26, 2013

I think that is correct dave. - ian-hill, May 27, 2013

Answer 3

Hi Ian

Are you able to answer my question:

But I have also seen eso and esto used - why is this? I can only guess they are variations of that and this for masculine?

Thanks

Dave

They are for "this" and "that" when we don't know the gender of the what we are talking about. - ian-hill, Jun 2, 2013

Or I guess when it doesn't have a gender. They are "neuter" genders. - ian-hill, Jun 2, 2013

Esos and Estos are the plurals for these and those. - ian-hill, Jun 2, 2013

Answer 4

Try this link provided by Francobollo

This link gives all the "this that" -"these those" info you need.

Thanks Ian, you already gave me that link as it was in the other thread. - daveamour, May 27, 2013

Do you know why we have eso and esto though? - daveamour, May 27, 2013

Same for esos and estos - ian-hill, Jun 2, 2013

Yes they are for "this" and "that" when we don't know the gender of the what we are talking about. - ian-hill, Jun 2, 2013