Demonstrative Adjectives and Pronouns Confusion Help

Question

1.—¿Quién es aquella chica? Aquélla es mi hermana. 2.—Ésa cuesta doscientos dólares. ¿Cuánto cuesta esta computadora?
3.—¿Quiere ver aquellas faldas? Sí, quiero ver aquellas. 4.—¿De qué color son aquellos pantalones? Aquellos pantalones son azules. 5.—Éste es muy caro. ¿Ese auto es muy caro o muy barato? 6.—¿De qué color es aquel cinturón? Aquel cinturón es marrón. 7.—Éstos son amarillos. ¿De qué color son esos vestidos? 8.—¿Puede mostrarme ese vestido? Sí, puedo mostrarle ese. 9.—¿Cuánto cuestan esos guantes? Esos cuestan doscientos dólares. 10.—Ésa es de Manuela. ¿De quién es esta camisa?

Answers are in bold

Is what I have correct? i'd appreciate some help. I'm going over pronouns in my spanish class and I am stuck on this assignment. Write a response for each question using a demonstrative pronoun. Use a demonstrative adjective to write a question for each response.

Gracias

Answer 1

What Jubilado says is correct. What he neglected to mention is that the demonstrative pronouns have accent marks.

Ex. este vestido = this dress. éste= this one. (could refer to any masculine gender word, but in context it probably refers to the dress.) Ex. "Le gusta ese vestido or éste? "Do you like that dress or this one?

esa chica that girl. ésa= that one

Esa chica es de Cuba, aquélla es de España. That girl is from Cuba that one (further away) is from Spain.

Quick rule. If the demonstrative is followed by a noun it is a demonstrative adjective. No accent.

If the demonstrative is not followed by a noun it is a demonstrative pronoun. It needs an accent.

#2¿Cuánto cuesta ésta computadora? #5¿Ése auto es muy caro o muy barato? #7¿De qué color son éste vestidos? #10¿De quién es ésta camisa? *will THESE work now?* - ConSpanish1411, Sep 13, 2015

No, porque todos estos demostrativos son adjectivos porque hay sustantivos que los siguen. No necesitan tildes. - Daniela2041, Sep 13, 2015

I had better put this in English. These don't need accents because they are followed by nouns. It's when they stand A L O N E without a noun following that an accent is required. Check out my examples one more time. - Daniela2041, Sep 13, 2015

:) - ian-hill, Sep 13, 2015

Answer 2

A demonstrative pronoun could be: este, estos (m), esta, estas (f) esto (neuter singular) this, these.

ese, esos (m), esa, esas (f) eso (neuter singular) that, those (by you or near us)

aquel, aquellos (m), aquella, aquellas (f) aquello (neuter singular) that, those (over there away from both of us)

A demonstrative adjective is used with (modifies) a noun and agrees in number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine or feminine) they are the same as the pronouns except esto and aquello are not adjectives.

In #2, 5, 7 and 10 you are mixing "this" and "that" you need to be consistent.

So are #'s 2, 5, 7, and 10 the only ones with errors? - ConSpanish1411, Sep 13, 2015

Yes and @Jubilado's explanation is right. - Roulette36, Sep 13, 2015

So I'm not missing accents in 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, and 9? I should have accents in 2, 5, 7, and 10? - ConSpanish1411, Sep 13, 2015

Sorry if i'm being difficult, I'm just finding pronouns challenging, lol - ConSpanish1411, Sep 13, 2015

I don't use accents on demonstrative pronouns. I seem to remember reading that the R. A. E. no longer requires it, but if your learning that and Daniela is teaching it use them. - Jubilado, Sep 13, 2015

Answer 3

Just as point of clarification, there is a controversy, and I will quote from here:

http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/demonstratives.htm

Note: The rule used to be that the demonstrative pronouns always carried a written accent, while the demonstrative adjectives did not. But in 1959 the Real Academia Española, the institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language, ruled in its revised spelling rules Nuevas normas that the written accent is only required to remove certain ambiguities, the type of which almost never appear in written Spanish. Thus, in practice, the written accent is not required. However, it should also be noted that not everyone has jumped on the RAE bandwagon, -- including Madrid's daily newspaper El País as well as the majority of Spanish grammars that you are likely to encounter.

You will find people as result, who are like Daniela and say you must have them (the traditionalist view), people who say the RAE says you don't need them and correct things to take them away (the modernist view), and people like myself, who accept, and use them either way.

That being said, as a learner, it is nice to learn them and use them, because it helps understand the difference, and it is much easier to suppress them later than to have to learn them from scratch. So I think Daniela's method of teaching is best.

I just wanted to be sure no one got confused if they saw other opinions on this. Or saw things where they are not used.

@ConSpanish14: Your link didn't go anywhere for me. See my edited 2nd answer for more clarification. - Jubilado, Sep 13, 2015

No. The rule is simply- followed by a noun, no accent, not followed by a noun- accent. Esas cosas son...., ésas son... - bosquederoble, Sep 13, 2015

Just like Daniela said. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 13, 2015

So for example, "Sí, quiero ver aquéllas faldas." The aquellas would not have an accent because it's being followed by skirts, which is a noun? - ConSpanish1411, Sep 13, 2015

Correct. :) - bosquederoble, Sep 13, 2015

Answer 4

2.—Ésa cuesta doscientos dólares. (That one [by you] costs $200.) ¿Cuánto cuesta esta computadora? How much does this computer [by me] cost?

Question says "this computer" and answer "that one."

5.—Éste es muy caro. This one [by me] is very expensive. ¿Ese auto es muy caro o muy barato? Is that car [by you] very expensive or very cheap?

Question says "that car", answer "this one,"

7.—Éstos son amarillos. These [by me] are yellow. ¿De qué color son esos vestidos? What color are those dresses [by you] ?

same pattern as the other two.

10.—Ésa es de Manuela. That one [by you] is Manuela's. ¿De quién es esta camisa? Whose shirt is this [by me] ?

ditto

Now, they could be correct if the two people were opposite each other, so maybe they are fine. You can decide whether to keep them the same or not. I hope at least my explanation about pronouns versus adjectives was helpful. If you do need more help you can send me a personal message through my profile.