All three
demonstrative pronouns have a neutral version. Those
neutral versions are never used together with a noun.
They do not substitute a noun
but a more complex content. Something that was talked
about earlier, a whole subordinate clause etc. These
pronouns have the meaning of this
or it.
eso, esto, aquello
eso,
esto, aquello
Eso
no lo sé. = I do not know that.
Esto no me interesa. = I'm not interested in that.
Aquello es una historia
que ya pasó. = That's a story
that's long ago.
eso,
esto, aquello can be combined with todo or nada
Todo
eso, me tiene hasta las narices.
= All this, I'm fed up with it. (- I have
it to the noses)
No me cuentes nada
de esto.
= Do not tell me about it.
Todo aquello era
un desastre.
= All that was a desaster.
Yo creo que los ángeles
no comen ajo. Esto sí que es una
tontería.
= I believe that angels do not eat garlic.
This is really stupid.
Further, the neutral demonstrative pronouns are to be found
in questions
¿Qué
es esto? = What is this?
¿Y con eso,
qué quieres decirme? = What
do you want to tell me with this?
¿Cuánto
cuesta esto? = How much does it cost?
As we have seen the demonstrative
pronouns are not easily transferred 1:1 to the English
ones. Sometimes we use the neutral personal pronoun
it
instead of a demonstrative pronoun. Ssometimes 'this'
is used because we refer to something that we have just
talked about or is to be defined more closely. Therefore
it is easier to forget about the transfer from English
to Spanish and try to take the logic of the Spanish
in. Just the question How
far is the object away 1)
from the speaker? - if close = este,
esta 2) from the one
the speaker is speaking to? - if close = ese,
esa 3) far from both?
= aquel, aquella.
Some
subordinate clauses can be summed up with the neutral
demonstrative pronouns
Jaime
se ha comprado un coche. ¿Sí?
Eso sí que es raro. Creía que
está muriéndose de hambre con lo poco
que gana.
= Jaime has bought a car. Really? That's weird.
I thought he was starving with the little
he earns.
