Reply
Wed 7 Dec, 2005 04:46 pm
Can someone please tell me how these words for "this" work? In my Berlitz spanish book, it says to use "este" and "esta" for things that are near me, and to use "ese" and "esa" for things that are near someone else. The words "esto" and "eso" are to be used for undefined things.
There has to be a better way to explain the differences between these damn words. What if I want to say "this language sucks."? Would that be a "this" that is near me or near someone else? And how near is near? Do I have to be actually holding the thing in my hand to use "este" or "esta", or does it just have to be in my general vicinity? And if it's an undefined "this" then how the hell do you know if it's near you or near someone else?
Could someone clear this up for me, please?
Muchas gracias,
Kicky
Been there. Didn't do it. Would help if I could.
Thanks anyways, Roger.
What, none of you other vendejos on "este" website can help me out? Well screw you then!
The difference is very similar to "this" and "that" in English as in "Do you like this tree?", or "It is behind that church".
I studied Spanish for years. I learned about "eso" and "esto". Now I speak it daily and I can't remember ever using or hearing these pronouns.
By far, the most common pronouns are "este/esta".
as in "esta idioma magnifica" (this magificent language).
(BTW, you will need to learn to learn to spell swears better. I assume you meant to say "pendejos" which is a quite vulgar word meaning roughly "a**hole").
Aaaah, thanks, Ebrown_p, that's helpful. So what you're saying basically is that if I use "este/esta" as a general rule, I will be fine. Cool. I'll do that.
And thanks for the swear word spelling correction. That will come in very handy.
Quote:So what you're saying basically is that if I use "este/esta" as a general rule, I will be fine. Cool. I'll do that.
That´s right, ebrown has given a good explanation.
If it ends in 'o' it's masculine. If it ends in 'a' it's feminine. Everything has a sex in spanish for instance.
Las flores = the flower
esta flores = this flower
Los pistoles = the guns
Esto pistoles= this gun
Bonus slang word "Chingon" means kick as boss, guy that gets the job done. This guy mens business.
"Whats up chingon?"
" Here comes the chingon"
Amigo, are you sure of this?
esta flores, Esto pistoles...
must be some local speaking...
No. My spanish is rudimentary. The usage might be wrong but I know the 'O' is masuline and the 'A' is feminine. It is a quick answer.
Pero si dices,
Estas flores
Estos pistoles
A mi me parece mucho mejor...
I guess this is a good time to tell you I speak very little Spanish. I'm half Irish. Please translate.(If you want)
If you say,
Estas flores=These flowers
Estos pistoles=These guns
Seems much better to me...
Amigo wrote:
Bonus slang word "Chingon" means kick as boss, guy that gets the job done. This guy mens business.
"Whats up chingon?"
" Here comes the chingon"
For those who don't know, a warning is in order.
Chingon comes from the root verb "chingar" which is a pretty close translation of the word "f*ck". It is also a vulgar word for someone robbing or cheating you.
I wouldn't use this word if you are new to Spanish and don't want to offend.
kicky, I hope this is still useful to you. To answer your original question I can say that on the language example I'd say 'este idioma apesta' when there's been a previous mention of that language and 'ese idioma apesta' when it's just been introduced to the conversation. You can do a decent analogy with vicinity on this ground.
e_brown got the swear word correction.
Amigo is not quite correct:
la flor - the flower
las flores - the flowers
esta flor - this flower
estas flores - these flowers
la pistola - the gun
las pistolas - the guns
esta pistola - this gun
estas pistolas - these guns
Chingar is a vulgar word, the english word it's most close to is 'to ****' because it literally means 'to have sex' but can be used in as many ways and with many, many connotations.
Spanish slang can change city by city. I live in Los Angeles. I have been surrounded by and work with mexicans daily for 30 yrs. If I say "he's a f**ker" do I mean He is a person that literally goes around trying to hump everything? How many differant ways can you use the sentince " He's a f**ker".
With the gun thing I would have thought guns would have been an "o" and not an "a". I mean who would have thought guns would be feminine?
Stumble It!
Tweet This
Bookmark on Delicious
Share on Facebook
Share on MySpace