Latin Grammar Mini-Series | Lesson 9 - Understanding Demonstrative Pronouns and what they really are?

Demonstrative pronouns, like English words “this” and “that,” point at something. They’re often used as adjectives, as in, “this book” or “that tree.” In English, demonstrative pronouns take a different form in the plural:

“this” becomes “these,” and 

“that” becomes “those” ─ making them one of the few English adjective forms which are different in the singular and plural. 

Though they are at heart adjectives, because they so often stand alone, it’s almost better to consider them pronouns. For those of us that need a refresher, a pronoun is a part of speech. It’s usually a small word which represents and stands in place of a noun, for instance, “We were looking for a new house to buy and we found it.” “It” represents and stands in place of the “new house.” Pronouns are some of the most useful forms in language. They allow us not to have to repeat a noun every time we want to mention it. 

Demonstratives can function as pronouns as well as adjectives. So, for instance, you can say: 

“Let’s move there. That’s a good idea.” 

In the second sentence the demonstrative form “that” functions as a pronoun, because it represents and stands in place of the idea of moving “there.” So demonstratives can serve as either adjectives when they modify a noun, or pronouns when they stand alone. Here’s one idea expressed both ways: “I like that thing,” where “that” is an adjective modifying “thing” ─ or you can just say, “I like that,” in which case “that” is a pronoun representing and standing in place of “that thing.”

If you haven’t seen this already for yourself, another way to look at this pronoun usage is that the demonstrative pronoun is serving as a substantive, as I’m sure you remember it being an adjective which functions as a noun. And do you remember where Latin substantives get their substance? That’s right, from their gender. English pronouns are the only place where there’s anything corresponding to that practice in our language. 

Our pronouns are, in fact, archaic forms retaining grammatical information which our nouns and adjectives have long lost, for instance:  gender: “he,” “she,” “it”;  number: “I” vs. “we,” “you” vs. “y’all,” “he, she, or it” vs. “they”; and even …  case: “he” is nominative, “his” is genitive, “him” is accusative; “she” is nominative, “her” is genitive and accusative; “it” is nominative and accusative, “its” genitive. There’s a fascinating detail here. Notice that “he” has an accusative form “him,” “she” has an accusative form “her,” but “it” does not have a distinctive accusative form. “It” serves as both the nominative and accusative, and that’s because neuter nominatives and accusatives are always the same. Just like Latin, English is an Indo-European language, so it inherited the same tendencies Latin did. And that’s why English doesn’t have a special neuter accusative form!

Singular Plural

hic, haec, hoc; hi, hae, haec;

huius, huius, huius; horum, harum, horum;

huic, huic, huic; his, his, his; 

hunc, hanc, hoc; hos, has, haec; 

hōc, hac, hōc. his, his, his.

Closely related to but meaning the opposite of hic is ille, illa, illud, meaning “that” or “those.” As a pronoun, it shares many features with hic.: 

Singular Plural

ille, illa, illud; illi, illae, illa; 

illius, illius, illius; illorum, illarum, illorum

illi, illi, illi; illis, illis, illis;  

illum, illam, illud; illos, illas, illa; 

illo, illā, illo illis, illis, illis.