French 5: This and That

Demonstrative adjectives ("this", "that", "these", and "those") modify nouns so they refer to something or someone specific. They can be used in place of articles. Like other adjectives, they must agree with the nouns they modify.

Gender	Singular	Plural
Masculine	ce/cet	ces
Feminine	cette	ces

The indefinite demonstrative pronoun ça refers to an unnamed concept or thing. When it's used as an object, it usually translates to "this" or "that".

A simple rule of thumb to follow is that ce should be used with être, including in the double-verb constructions pouvoir être and devoir être.

Ceci ("this") and cela ("that") are the formal versions of the indefinite demonstrative pronoun ça ("this" or "that"). These are used when pointing something out, referring to something indefinite (like an idea), or referring back to something already mentioned.

However, cela and ceci can also be used with être for emphasis.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Type	Adj + Noun ⇒ Pronoun	English
Masc. Sing.	ce + noun ⇒ celui	the one / this one / that one
Masc. Plur.	ces + noun ⇒ ceux	the ones / these / those
Fem. Sing.	cette + noun ⇒ celle	the one / this one / that one
Fem. Plur.	ces + noun ⇒ celles	the ones / these / those

A relative pronoun and dependent clause can follow the demonstrative pronoun. For instance, you can use que when the relative pronoun is the direct object and use qui when it's the subject.

The preposition de can appear after the demonstrative pronoun to indicate possession.

Demonstratives like ce and celui are ambiguous and can mean either "this" or "that". To remove this ambiguity, you can add a suffix to the end of each pronoun. Add -ci for "this/these" and -là for "that/those".