This or That/ Esto or Eso

Esto means This. Eso means That. But there is more...

There are ending changes depending on the gender and number of whatever you are referring to.

Esto can be Esta, Este, Estos or Estas.

Eso can be Esa, Ese, Esos, or Esas.

Esto and Eso are the gender neutral versions of this and that

EXAMPLE

Esto es emocionante ( This is exciting. We do not know if it is male or female...just exciting. so use the gender neutral esto.)

Eso es inteligente ( That is intelligent. Again, use neutral, because we do not know what is intelligent.)

It is easy to get Esto and Eso mixed up so I find it best to think like this:

Esto means this which is closer to me than that. Esto  has a T in it. T stands for Touch. If  this is close to me I can touch it.

Eso means that- which rhymes with splat. And eso and all of it's variations (plural and gender) look like little splats. See for yourself...

Spanish Reflexive Verbs

In Spanish,  a  reflexive verb is a verb that you do to yourself. Reflexive verbs are easy to find because of three reasons...

Reason #1:  They have SE tacked on to the end of the verb (bañarse, ducharse, maquillarse)

Reason #2: A lot of the reflexive verbs are done in the bathroom ( bañarse means to bathe oneself. Ducharse means to shower owneself. Maquillarse means to put makeup on oneself.)

Reason# 3: A lot of the reflexive verbs are done in the bedroom ( dormirse means to go to sleep. leventarse means to get out of bed.)

When you conjugate a reflexive verb, the se part changes to its appropriate pronoun (me, te, se, nos, se)

Even though the se part is at the end of the verb, when you conjugate it, you put the  reflexive part in front of the conjugated verb. (me baño means I wash myself)

To keep reflexive verbs lined up, I think like this:

Reflexive Verb should make you think of an RV. Often times RVs have little trailers. So this is what I picture when I think of Reflexive Verbs

When you conjugate the reflexive verb just imagine stopping the RV,  unloading the trailer and putting  the pronouns in front of the RV. By the way, the driver is saying that he scratches  himself.