There are two more types of adjectives that are placed in front of the noun. Possessives and demonstratives are very specific types of adjectives that are extremely useful. It is imperative to learn how to use possessive adjectives and demonstrative adjectives to even approach fluency in the language. Luckily, they are very simple to learn.
Possessive adjectives
Possessive adjectives indicate the owner of the noun they modify. They are usually placed in front of the noun and must match the gender and number of the noun they describe, not the gender and number of the owner of the noun. The possessive adjectives are listed in Table 1 .
| TABLE 1 | Possessive Adjectives in Front of a Noun | | mi, mis (my) | nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras (our) | | tu, tus (your) | vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras (your) | | su, sus (his) | su, sus (their) | | su, sus (her) | su, sus (their) | | su, sus (your) | su, sus (your) | |
The order of the adjectives is the same as the order of the pronouns referring to the owner. If the person who owns it is yo, the possessive adjective is mi or mis. If the owner is tú, the possessive adjective is tu or tus. If the owner is él, ella, or usted, the possessive adjective is su or sus. Just remember that the number of the adjective matches the noun being owned, not the owner. Once you decide to use the adjective su, you only make it plural if it is in front of a plural noun. It doesn't matter how many people own the noun. If they own a book, “their book” is written su libro. If he owns many books, “his books” is written sus libros.
It's also tricky because the possessive adjective su is used to mean his, her, their, and your. Remember that él, ella and usted share the same conjugated form of the verb and they also share the same possessive adjective. If you ( usted) own a book “your book” is written su libro. If you ( tú) own a book, “your book” is written tu libro.
Notice that the subject pronoun tú has an accent and means “you.” The possessive adjective tu has no accent and means “your.” Since nuestro and vuestro end in - o, they will change to match both the number and gender of the noun they modify. That is why there are four forms of these adjectives.
A different form of possessive adjective is used when it follows the noun. This most commonly occurs with a linking verb such as ser or estar, but also can happen when the noun is preceded by an article. You will notice in Table 2 that all possessive adjectives have four forms. Be careful to use the form of possession to match the gender and number of the noun it follows.
| TABLE 2 | Possessive Adjectives after a Noun | | mío, mía, míos, mías (my, mine) | nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras (our, ours) | | tuyo, tuya, tuyos, tuyas (your, yours) | vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras (your, yours) | | suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (his) | suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (their, theirs) | | suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (her, hers) | suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (their, theirs) | | suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (your, yours) | suyo, suya, suyos, suyas (your, yours) | |
Notice in the following examples that the long form of the possessive adjective is used in conjunction with an article.
| mi libro = el libro mío | my book | | tu pluma = la pluma tuya | your pen (informal you) | | nuestro amigo = el amigo nuestro | our friend | | vuestra hermana = la hermana vuestra | you all's sister | | su madre = la madre suya | his, her, their or your (formal) mother | |
As mentioned earlier, a common usage of this version of possessive adjective is after a form of the linking verbs ser or estar. Notice that the English possessive is different when it follows a form of “to be” (is or are.) For example, “ my book” becomes “the book is mine.” In Spanish, the possessive adjectives from Table 2 are placed after the noun whether there's a linking verb or not.
| el libro mío | my book | | El libro es mío | The book is mine. | | Las fotografias bonitas tuyas | Your pretty pictures | | Las fotografias bonitas son tuyas. | The pretty pictures are yours. | | La casa nuestra | our house | | La casa es nuestra. | The house is ours. | | Las niñas suyas | his girls, her girls, their girls, your(formal) girls | | Las niñas son suyas | the girls are his, the girls are hers, the girls are theirs, the girls are yours. | |
Demonstrative adjectives
A demonstrative adjective is a word that demonstrates the proximity or distance of the noun it modifies. This (singular) and these (plural) are used to indicate that the noun being modified is here. To indicate something is farther away— there—the demonstrative adjectives are that (singular) and those (plural).
In Spanish, you will need to indicate the gender as well as the number of the noun being modified by a demonstrative adjective. The word for this has a masculine and feminine form ( este and esta), and the word for these has a masculine and feminine form ( estos and estas).
The words for that ( ese, esa) and those ( esos, esas) also indicate gender and number, and are actually just like the “closer” words except that they're missing the letter t. Remember the rule with a rhyme: this and these both have t's, that and those don't.
Demonstrative adjectives are placed before the noun. Here are some examples:
| Este libro es interesante. | This book is interesting. | | Esta silla es anaranjada. | This chair is orange. | | Estos estudiantes son inteligentes. | These students are intelligent. | | Estas peliculas son aburridas. | These movies are boring. | | Ese radio es viejo. | That radio is old. | | Esa niña es adorable. | That little girl is adorable. | | Esos restaurantes son caros. | Those restaurants are expensive. | | Esas playas son bonitas. | Those beaches are pretty. | |
In Spanish there are actually three distances: here, there, and far away. If you want to indicate that a noun is “way over there,” you use the singular demonstrative adjective aquel/ aquella, or the plural aquellos/ aquellas. There is no English equivalent to these words so it's best to translate them as “that___way over there” or “those___s way over there.” The following sentences exemplify this concept. You'll notice that sometimes it sounds better to say “far away” instead of “way over there.”
| Aquel chico es guapo. | That boy (way over there) is attractive. | | Aquella nación es rica. | That nation (far away) is wealthy. | | Aquellos libros son viejos. | Those books (way over there) are old. | | Aquellas montañas son blancas. | Those mountains (way over there) are white. | |
To indicate the three different distances in the Spanish language, there are three important words to learn. These words are a good clue as to which demonstrative adjective is appropriate for the sentence. Table 3 shows which demonstrative adjective should be used with each distance.
| TABLE 3 | Distances and Demonstrative Adjectives | | Distance | Demonstrative adjective | | aquí = here | use: este, esta, estos, or estas | | allí = there | use: ese, esa, esos, or esas | | allá = way over there (far away) | use: aquel, aquella, aquellos, or aquellas | |
Table 4 organizes all the demonstrative adjectives by gender and number. Consistently the singular feminine forms and both plural forms of all the demonstrative adjectives have “normal” endings (- a, - os, - as). It is the singular masculine forms that are a bit strange: este, ese, aquel.
| TABLE 4 | Demonstrative Adjectives | | Singular | Masculine | Feminine | Plural | Masculine | Feminine | | this | este | esta | these | estos | estas | | that | ese | esa | those | esos | esas | | that (way over there) | aquel | aquella | those (way over there) | aquellos | aquellas | |
Noticing this is important because demonstrative pronouns have a form that looks like what you would expect for the singular masculine form of these adjectives. Also notice that none of the demonstrative adjectives has an accent mark. Later when you see a similar word with an accent, you will know that it's not a demonstrative adjective, because no demonstrative adjective has an accent.
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