The demonstrative adjectives are the same as the demonstrative pronouns but do not bear a written accent and they usually precede the noun.
| Yo escribo con esta pluma | "I'm writing with this pen." |
| Esta pluma y ésa | "This pen and that one." |
There is no neuter adjective in Spanish and the neuter demonstrative pronouns esto, eso, aquello, and lo bear no written accent. They are used to refer to a general idea or object without a determined gender.
| Eso es verdad | "That (what has been said) is true." |
| Esto me alarma | "This (situation, outlook) alarms me." |
When used before a noun or noun phrase (cf §2.14.1), el, la, etc, have about the meaning of English "the", and in this use are termed the definite article. The form el is used before a masculine singular noun or noun phrase: el hombre "the man", el gran diccionario "the great dictionary"; and also directly before a feminine noun beginning with the stressed sound a: el alma "the soul", el hambre "the hunger". Before other feminines, la is used: la persona "the person", la otra persona "the other person". In the plural, los is used before masculine and las before feminine nouns or noun phrases: los hombres "the men", los grandes diccionarios "the great dictionaries", las almas "the souls", las otras personas "the other persons".
1.23Interrogative pronouns are: ¿qué? "what?", ¿quién? "who?", ¿quiénes? (pl), ¿de quién? "whose?", ¿de quiénes? (pl), ¿cuál? "which one?", ¿cuáles? "which ones?", ¿cuánto? "how much?", ¿cuántos? "how many?".
All interrogative adjectives and pronouns bear a written accent mark to distinguish them from the corresponding relative.
qué is not inflected. ¿de quién? is always followed immediately by ser: ¿De quién es este libro? "Whose book is this?"
When translating from English into Spanish, the interrogative ¿de quién? should not be confused with the possessive relative cuyo "whose, of which": "This book, whose influence has been so beneficial." Ese libro, cuya influencia ha sido tan beneficiosa. But "Whose book is this?" ¿De quién es este libro?
1.24Relative pronouns are: que "that, which, who", quien, quienes "who, whom", el que "he who, the one who, the one which, that which", la que "she who, the one who, the one which, that which", lo que "that which, what", los que "those who, those which", las que "those who, those which", el cual, la cual "he who (she who), the one who, that which", los cuales, las cuales "they who, the ones who, those which", lo cual "that, which, what", cuanto "all that, as much as", cuantos "all that, as many as".
A simple relative (1, below) has an antecedent in the main clause and the compound relative (2, below) contains its own antecedent. This distinction concerns the use and not the form.
| (1) | El libro que está sobre la mesa es suyo. | "The book which is on the table is yours." |
| (2) | Quien trabaja mejor es María. | "The one who works best is Mary." |
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