este esto esta....'?

Question

i don't get the difference between all of these. like when and why do you use one and not the other? i suppose i understand the difference b/w este and esta (m. and f.) but it's when the accents start coming in that i get confused. and i don't get the use of 'esto' either. what is its purpose'

Answer 1

Esto is just a neutral, generic "this." As opposed to "this male or female noun." It might help to think of este and esta as "this one," and esto as "this (in general)."

The accents don't come into play with these words, but the verb estar conjugates into forms that are spelled the same, and those do take the accent. That's the difference.

Answer 2

esto is used when you don't know what it is

¿Qué es esto? What is this?

este = m
esta = f

but there isn't a plural for este, so you uses estos for m. plural or unknown items.

To add to the confusion, este also means east
and está is the 3rd person singular of estar

As they say, the content tells you which one to use.
I forgot éste, ésta = this one