5.2. Demonstratives ✅
5.1.1. Demonstratives?
Demonstratives are words that indicate specific nouns and and their distance from the speaker (ex: this, that, these, those).
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Demonstrative adjectives are adjectives that indicate relative distance from the speaker. They precede the noun.
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Demonstrative pronouns replace a previously-mentioned noun.
For both demonstrative adjectives and demonstrative pronouns, they agree with the gender and quantity of the noun they refer to.
5.1.2. Demonstrative Adjectives
| MASCULINE SINGULAR | FEMININE SINGULAR | MASCULINE PLURAL | FEMININE PLURAL | TRANSLATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuesto / cueste / accuesto / accueste | cuesta / accuesta | cuestos / accuestos | cuestas / accuestas | this (singular) / these (plural) |
| cuello / cuelle / accuello / accuelle | cuella / accuella | cuellos / accuellos | cuellas / accuellas | that (singular) / those (plural) |
| cuesso / cuesse | cuessa / cuessa | cuessos | cuessas | that (singular) / those (plural) |
| Cueste libro | This book |
| Cuello libro | That book |
| Cuesta casa | This house |
| Cuestas casas | These houses |
Note the following:
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The demonstratives can only end in -e in the singular form.
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Alternative forms are available. For example, "accuesto" instead of "cuesto". Both are different forms that evolved from "*eccum iste" in Vulgar Latin.
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"Cuesso" is a synonym of "cuello". It corresponds to "eso" and "isso" in Ibero-Romance languages (Spanish and Portuguese). However, it is only used with this sense in those languages. Otherwise, "cuello" and "accuello" are more widespread. The cognate "esso" in Italian is uncommon and literary, having the meaning of "it" or "he", referring mainly to non-humans. In Sardinian, it is, in fact, used as the definite article "su". Furthermore, "cuesso" is an evolution that does not exist in the real world. The languages that use it as a demonstrative do not include "eccum" in their evolution like with cognates for "accuesto" in Romance languages. Although "cuesso" is another official option, "cuello" or "accuello" are more universal.
5.1.3. Demonstrative Pronouns
| MASCULINE SINGULAR | FEMININE SINGULAR | NEUTER SINGULAR | MASCULINE PLURAL | FEMININE PLURAL | TRANSLATION |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| cuesto / cueste / accuesto / accueste | cuesta / accuesta | cuesto / accuesto / cuò / accuò | cuestos / accuestos | cuestas / accuestas | this (singular) / these (plural) |
| cuello / cuelle / accuello / accuelle | cuella / accuella | cuello / accuello | cuellos / accuellos | cuellas / accuellas | that (singular) / those (plural) |
| cuesso / cuesse | cuessa / cuessa | cuesso | cuessos | cuessas | that (singular) / those (plural) |
| Cuesto me preoccupa. | This worries me. |
| Non me sorprènde cuello. | That does not surprise me. |
| Vòles cuesto aut cuello? | Do you want this or that? |
| Accuò vòle dícere que has rattsone. | This means that you are right. |
Notice that demonstrative pronouns are identical to demonstrative adjectives, with the exception of the inclusion of neuter pronouns, which for all intents and purpose, appear masculine. These neuter pronouns are only pronouns. They cannot be used as adjectives. More specifically, unlike a word like "cuello", "cuò" or "accuò" can only be used as a pronoun.