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Los Demonstrativos

Demonstratives

	este mar	this sea	ese nombre	that name
	esta bahía	this bay	esa canción	that song
	estos problemas	these problems	esos locos	those crazy people
	estas preguntas	these questions	esas locas	those crazy women

Technically, the underlined words above are adjectives. The same words can serve as pronouns when used by themselves.

	Este edificio es muy alto.	This building is very tall.
	Éste* es muy alto.	That is very tall.
	Esas calles son muy estrechas.	Those streets are very narrow.
	Esas son muy estrechas.	Those are very narrow.

*an accent is placed over the first e in este when it is used as a pronoun

All of the above demonstrative pronouns take on the gender of the nouns they represent. When the name and the geneder of an object is unknown, esto is used.

Qué es esto?

What is this?

Esto is also used to represent the indefinite--that which doesn't have gender--like ideas or events.

-Ana ganó el premio. -Esto es increíble

-Ana won the prize. -This is incredible!

Now would be a good time to study the stem chaging irregular verbs. Tener Expressions There are many important expressions that are formed with tener.   Estoy seguro que usted va a tener éxito. I am sure you'll be successful.   Tengo prisa. I'm in a rush.

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