Learn all about Spanish demonstrative pronouns
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos, ¿cómo están?. Habla Dylan. |
| Carlos: What’s going on Pod101 world? My name is Carlos - Spanish demonstrative pronouns - This is a shortcut. In this lesson, you will learn about the demonstrative pronouns. |
| Dylan: Which we know are different to the demonstrative adjectives. |
| Carlos: How different? |
| Dylan: Not by much, you’ll see. |
| Carlos: The conversation is between Andreas and Pablo and they are lost. |
| Dylan: Let me guess, Pablo is not asking for directions right? |
| Carlos: How’d you know? |
| Dylan: Because men are easily predictable in that situation, even if they’re being informal. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| ANDREA: Pablo, mejor yo manejo. |
| PABLO: ¡Que ya le dije que no! Yo sé por donde voy. |
| ANDREA: Pero teníamos que seguir directo yo le dijo. |
| PABLO: Éste es un atajo... |
| ANDREA: Estamos perdidos, nunca vamos a llegar... |
| PABLO: ¡Hay que ser optimistas! |
| ANDREA: Pablo, I had better drive. |
| PABLO: I already told you no. I know where I'm going. |
| ANDREA: But we were supposed to keep going straight, as I told you. |
| PABLO: This is a shortcut... |
| ANDREA: We're lost; we're never going to make it... |
| PABLO: We have to be optimistic! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: All guys are exactly the same in this situation. |
| Carlos: Cause I’m never lost, I’m just, you know, finding a different way. |
| Dylan: Yeah, even with navigation you guys are lost. |
| Carlos: That’s true but… even GPS in Costa Rica doesn’t help anybody. |
| Dylan: Nobody could help you guys even if you wanted help, which you don’t. |
| Carlos: We don’t need help. |
| Dylan: Yeah, right. That’s the problem. Alright. |
| Carlos: Ok, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Mejor”. |
| Carlos: “Better”, “best.” |
| Dylan: “Me-jor”, “mejor”. “Manejar”. |
| Carlos: “To drive”, “to operate”, “to manage.” |
| Dylan: “Ma-ne-jar”, “manejar”. “Seguir”. |
| Carlos: “To follow”, “to continue”, “to keep on”, “to still be.” |
| Dylan: “Se-guir”, “seguir”. “Nunca”. |
| Carlos: “Never”, “not ever.” |
| Dylan: “Nun-ca”, “nun-ca”. “Optimista”. |
| Carlos: “Optimistic.” |
| Dylan: “Op-ti-mis-ta”, “optimista”. “Atajo”. |
| Carlos: “Shortcut.” |
| Dylan: “A-ta-jo”, “atajo”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Ok, let’s have a closer look at the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we will look at is “mejor”. |
| Carlos: “Mejor”. An adverb or adjective that just gets better and better. |
| Dylan: That’s because it means “better” or “best”. |
| Carlos: I love those positive words. |
| Dylan: They’re easy to learn, they have such a good connotation. I mean you can't say anything bad when using the word “mejor”. |
| Carlos: Well, I would generally agree with you but it seems like in our conversation it has a different look. |
| Dylan: Oh yeah? |
| Carlos: Yeah, when Andre says “Pablo, mejor yo manejo”. Well, I heard that one so many times before. |
| Dylan: What? “Pablo, I had better drive”? |
| Carlos: No, I mean like “Carlos, mejor yo manejo”. |
| Dylan: Ha, good friends don’t let friends and all that. |
| Carlos: No, no, they don’t. |
| Dylan: Yeah, it seems here “mejor” is being used to describe a better alternative. |
| Carlos: Right, like “mejor estudio, no quiero sacar una mala nota”. |
| Dylan: Right, like “I better study, I don’t want to get a bad grade.” Did you know that there’s a verb associated with “mejor”? |
| Carlos: No, I didn’t. |
| Dylan: Yes, “mejorar”. Now, if “mejor” means “better/best”, what do you think “mejorar” means? |
| Carlos: “To get better” and “to improve”? |
| Dylan: You got a gold star. |
| Carlos: Man, I haven’t gotten a gold star in a long, long time, Dylan. Thank you. |
| Dylan: Es un placer, Carlos. You know there’s a noun too. |
| Carlos: No way. You’re lying to me. |
| Dylan: No. “Mejoría”. “Improvement”. |
| Carlos: I'm going to remember that so that when someone tells me that I have shown improvement in my Spanish, I know what they are talking about. |
| Dylan: Good to know. You’re a sucker for compliments. |
| Carlos: What can I say… |
| Dylan: Now, our next word you definitely know. |
| Carlos: Oh yeah? |
| Dylan: Yeah. The verb “manejar”, “to drive”. |
| Carlos: Don’t remind me. |
| Dylan: You’re still having problems with your car? |
| Carlos: I said don’t remind me. I forgot there was a limit law in Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: Ha, you have to research that stuff. |
| Carlos: Yeah, yeah, yeah. [inaudible 00:03:57] is 2020. |
| Dylan: Looks like Andrea has some foresight. |
| Carlos: Why do you say that? |
| Dylan: Well, you heard her example. We don’t know why yet, but it really seems like she doesn’t want Pablo to drive. |
| Carlos: Right. “Pablo, mejor yo manejo”. |
| Dylan: “Pablo, I had better drive.” |
| Carlos: But Dylan, aren’t there other meanings of “manejar” other than simply “to drive”? |
| Dylan: Yes, good catch. “Manejar” also means “to operate” or “to manage”. |
| Carlos: So using our first meaning I could lie and say “manejo muy despacio”. |
| Dylan: Yes, you could lie and say you “drive very slow”, or you could also say “el presidente de esta compañía la maneja muy bien”. |
| Carlos: “The president of that company operates it very well.” Good stuff, Dylan, we need some positive corporate news in this day and age. |
| Dylan: Yes, we are in very short supply right now. |
| Carlos: Now if I want to talk about driving, can I also say “conducir”? |
| Dylan: Yes you can but “conducir” is more like driving an animal. |
| Carlos: Right, like “conduciendo ganado”, “driving cattle”. |
| Dylan: Exactly, vaquero. |
| Carlos: Wow, no one’s ever called me cowboy before. |
| Dylan: Fine, city slicker. |
| Carlos: That I’m used to. |
| Dylan: Ok, let’s continue to continue. |
| Carlos: Ok, I'm taking that hint. “Continuar”. |
| Dylan: No. |
| Carlos: ¿“Seguir”? |
| Dylan: ¡Exacto! |
| Carlos: “Seguir” a verb that has quite a few meanings. “To follow”, “to keep on”, “to continue”, “to still be”. |
| Dylan: And how is it being used in today’s conversation. |
| Carlos: “Pero teníamos que seguir directo, yo te dije”. |
| Dylan: “But we were supposed to keep going straight like I told you.” |
| Carlos: How many times have you been in this situation? |
| Dylan: What? A man not listening to directions? Too many to count. |
| Carlos: It’s that we have a natural knowledge, a natural sense of direction, Dylan, and that’s our tradeoff. |
| Dylan: Tradeoff? For what? |
| Carlos: Women’s intuition. |
| Dylan: Oh God, Carlos, I'm not even going to respond. You know… |
| Carlos: Ok, well, you know how I learned the meaning of “seguir”? Well, one of the meanings… |
| Dylan: Yeah, and how was that? |
| Carlos: Well, someone you know kept asking me “¿por qué sigues llamando a esa muchacha?”. |
| Dylan: “Why do you keep calling that girl?”, I remember that. |
| Carlos: What can I say? No comment. |
| Dylan: Well thank you for this word. |
| Carlos: Why? |
| Dylan: Because you have made my job that much easier. |
| Carlos: Why? Because not only did I provide you with a related word, “continuar”, but also a sample sentence? |
| Dylan: Yes, I love it when I can just sit back for a second. |
| Carlos: Happy to oblige, Dylan, happy to oblige. |
| Dylan: I’ll take care of the next word. |
| Carlos: Please do. |
| Dylan: “Atajo”, a masculine noun. |
| Carlos: Which means? |
| Dylan: Ugh, you are just going to sit back on this one. |
| Carlos: It’s, like I said, only fair. |
| Dylan: In our conversation today we heard a very, very common thing a lost man will say. |
| Carlos: And that is? |
| Dylan: “Este es un atajo”. |
| Carlos: “This is a shortcut.” So what do you say when presented with “este es un atajo”? |
| Dylan: “Siempre nos perdemos por tus atajos”. “We always get lost with your shortcuts!” We might even call it a “desviación”. |
| Carlos: What? A “desviación”? |
| Dylan: A “diversion.” |
| Carlos: Ok, that makes sense actually. |
| Dylan: We “never, never, ever” get though his shortcuts. |
| Carlos: “Nunca, nunca, nunca” or our next word is an adverb? |
| Dylan: Never, not ever. |
| Carlos: Like in our conversation. “Nunca vamos a llegar”. |
| Dylan: “We’re never going to make it.” |
| Carlos: See, you have to have hope. |
| Dylan: Don’t even say it. That is our next word. |
| Carlos: Ah, ok, ok. |
| Dylan: Have you ever heard this? “Nunca más hables así”. |
| Carlos: “Never talk to me that way.” Yes, but I would rather not talk about it. |
| Dylan: I bet. |
| Carlos: Wait, wait. I know the related word. |
| Dylan: And what’s that? |
| Carlos: “Jamás”, “never”. A synonym that I always used to hear and never knew what it meant. I mean I always just thought about the Palestinian militia. |
| Dylan: That has nothing to do with it. |
| Carlos: Well, I know that now. |
| Dylan: Now you may say what you were going to say before. |
| Carlos: What? When you’re lost you have to be optimistic? |
| Dylan: Exactly. |
| Carlos: Ok, now I'm guessing that our last word is the adjective “optimista”. |
| Dylan: Yes, “optimista”, but plural, “optimistas”, because Pablo is saying “hay que ser optimistas”. “We have to be optimistic.” |
| Carlos: Being pessimistic doesn’t help anyone when you’re lost. |
| Dylan: You’re right about that, it doesn’t. |
| Carlos: I always say it’s better to be an optimist and wrong than a pesimist and right. |
| Dylan: Oh, nice. That’s a good one. |
| Carlos: Do you know one? |
| Dylan: Actually, I do. And it is a saying used both in English and spanish. |
| Carlos: And what’s that? |
| Dylan: “Los optimistas ven el vaso medio lleno”. |
| Carlos: “Optimists see the glass as half full.” I’ve always liked that one. |
| Dylan: Better than being the opposite, “pesimista”. |
| Carlos: Yeah, nobody likes pessimists. |
| Dylan: Don’t you just hate when people suck the positivity out of you? |
| Carlos: Sometimes, Dylan, you just have to cut those people out of your life. |
| Dylan: Hey, that’s cold. |
| Carlos: Hey, what can I say? I want to stay happy. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dylan: Ok, today’s demonstrative pronouns. |
| Carlos: Demonstrative pronouns. |
| Dylan: Yes, and pronouns are… |
| Carlos: A pronoun refers to the noun which it takes the place of. With pronouns we can refer to words which are previously mentioned. |
| Dylan: And why do we do this? |
| Carlos: To avoid redundancy. You know how it is. |
| Dylan: Demonstrative pronouns are very similar to demonstrative adjectives. |
| Carlos: How so? |
| Dylan: Well, I think it’s easier to talk about what makes them different. |
| Carlos: You’re the boss. |
| Dylan: Like we’ve just mentioned, pronouns replace the word to which they refer while the adjectives modify the word. |
| Carlos: Got it. |
| Dylan: What makes a demonstrative pronoun different from other pronouns is that it indicates the spatial relationship between the speaker, the person being spoken to and the thing being refered to. |
| Carlos: So I could say “this table which is near us both” or “that table which is near only you, but not me”. |
| Dylan: Exactly. Or “that table over there”. |
| Carlos: Which would be far from both of us. |
| Dylan: So let’s follow these three categories. |
| Carlos: Sounds good. I like order. |
| Dylan: So for refering to something that is near both of us, so the speaker and the person being spoken to, we would have “este”, “esta” and “esto”, “this”. |
| Carlos: So “este” would be the masculine singular, and “esta” would the feminine singular. And “esto”? |
| Dylan: Neutral, without gender. |
| Carlos: Right on. So then we follow the simple rule and say that masculine plural noun would be “estos”, feminine plural nouns would be “estas”, and neutral plural would be “estos”. |
| Dylan: Sounds good to me, Carlos. Neutral, without gender. |
| Carlos: Right on. So then we follow the simple rule and say that masculine plural would be “estos”, feminine plural would be “estas”, and neutral plural would be “estos”. |
| Dylan: Wait, wait, wait. Like we said, you studied demonstrative adjective, so you know the forms. So what demonstrative pronoun would I use when refering to something near the person being spoken to? |
| Carlos: What? You mean “that”? Masculine singular “ese”, feminine singular “esa”, masculine plural “esos”, and feminine plural “esas”. |
| Dylan: Nice. |
| Carlos: I may not know how to pronounce everything but I know my information. |
| Dylan: Good, so take care of our last set. |
| Carlos: Ok. So if we’re talking about something that is far from both us, “that” or “those over there”, we could use “aquel” for masculine singular, “aquella” for a feminine singular, “aquellos” masculine plural and “aquellas” feminine plural. |
| Dylan: Good work. But let’s look as some examples so we make sure that these points are clear. |
| Carlos: Sounds good to me. |
| Dylan: “No me gusta esta camisa, prefiero esa”. |
| Carlos: “I don’t like this shirt, I prefer that one.” So these items are close to both of us. |
| Dylan: Exactly. “Aquellos que dicen mucho hacen poco”. |
| Carlos: “Those who talk a lot do very little.” Ah ok, an abstract notion which means, yes, it is very far from both of us. |
| Dylan: Yes, try this one. “Este no es el momento de hacer bromas”. |
| Carlos: “This is not the time to make jokes.” “This time”, we are both experiencing, very close to us. |
| Dylan: “Me gusta esta playa. Pero más me gusta aquella, que queda unas dos horas más hacia el sur”. |
| Carlos: “I like this beach. I like that one more. That’s about two more hours to the south.” Wow, it’s getting complicated, Dylan. |
| Dylan: Notice how demonstrative pronouns demonstrate the location of the thing being referred to in relation to the speaker and the person being spoken to? Let’s not forget that the verb “mostrar”, which means “to show”, is at the heart of the word “demostrativo”, “demonstrative”. |
| Carlos: I hadn’t forgotten that. |
| Dylan: Make sure you don’t confuse demonstrative adjectives with demonstrative pronouns. |
| Carlos: Now how can I make sure of that? |
| Dylan: For example, “no puedo aceptar eso”, “I can’t accept that.” Here, the word “eso” is actually taking the place of what I can’t accept. |
| Carlos: Ok. |
| Dylan: Whereas if I say “no puedo aceptar esa oferta”, “I cannot accept that offer”, the word “esa” is being used as an adjective which modifies “oferta”. |
| Carlos: Now that I’ve gone through both demonstrative pronouns and adjectives, I do feel that the information is clear for both of them. |
Outro |
| Dylan: Ok, that just about does it for today. |
| Carlos: ¡Nos vemos! |
| Dylan: Chao! |
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