12 Demonstrative Pronouns

Stamped Rhodian amphora handle, with head of Helios. Hellenistic Period. Athenian Agora Excavations.

Demonstrative Pronouns (that, those)

Another type of pronoun is called “demonstrative” because it is used to point things or people out that are near or far from the speaker (the Latin word demonstrare means “to point out”). The first demonstrative that we will look at is the Greek equivalent of that/those, and it is used to point out someone or something far away from the speaker. It can also be used to indicate that the thing or person is well-known. When juxtaposed with the pronoun οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο (introduced below), it can also mean “the former” (as opposed to “the latter”). This pronoun has the stem ἐκειν-. It uses the same endings as the definite articles with one exception: The masculine nominative singular form ends in  –ς. Note the accent pattern: it is a PERSISTENT ACCENT on the PENULT, which for this pronoun is long (-ει-). As a result, the length of the ultima determines whether this penult receives a circumflex or an acute accent (S 333; GPH p. 49).

Singular:

Plural:

This pronoun can substitute for a noun, or be used as a demonstrative adjective to modify a noun. When used as an ADJECTIVE, it always appears in the PREDICATE POSITION (demonstrative – article – noun or article – noun – demonstrative, NEVER article – demonstrative – noun).

• οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισίν.
  • The rulers give hope to the children.
• ἐκεῖνοι διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα ἐκείνοις τοῖς παισίν.
  • Those (men) give hope to those children.

Demonstrative Pronouns (this, these)

The next pronoun is the Greek equivalent of this/these. It points out someone or something close to the speaker. To form this pronoun, the suffix –δε is added to the definite article. Note the accent pattern, which is similar to that of the definite article (S 333; GPH p. 50).

Singular:

Plural:

This pronoun can substitute for a noun, or be used as a demonstrative adjective to modify a noun. When used as an ADJECTIVE, it always appears in the PREDICATE POSITION (demonstrative – article – noun or article – noun – demonstrative, NEVER article – demonstrative – noun).

• οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισίν.
  • The rulers give hope to the children.
• οἵδε διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖσδε τοῖς παισίν.
  • These (men) give hope to these children.

Our final demonstrative pronoun is an important one, since it is the most common of them all: οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο (this/these). It points out someone or something close to the speaker, just like ὅδε, ἥδε, τόδε, but can also be used to indicate that someone or something is well-known. When juxtaposed with ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο, it can also mean “the latter” (as opposed to “the former”).

The endings of this pronoun are familiar; it is inflected just like αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό and ἐκεῖνος, ἐκείνη, ἐκεῖνο. The accent falls on the PENULT, and follows persistent accent rules.

The inflection of this pronoun, however, exhibits important changes to the stem, namely:

• An initial τ– is added to the stem of all forms EXCEPT for the NOMINATIVE MASCULINE and FEMININE, both SINGULAR and PLURAL, which instead use a ROUGH BREATHING. Note that this pattern is identical to that of the definite article.
• The stem (τ)ουτ– changes to (τ)αυτ– if the case ending includes either an η or an α. Note how this changes the inflection of the neuter plural!

Memorization of this pronoun’s inflection pattern is a must. It is extremely common, and if you do not recognize a particular inflected form, looking up the word in a lexicon presents a challenge: it appears alphabetically in vocabulary lists under the masculine nominative singular form οὗτος!

οὗτος αὕτη τοῦτο this/these (S 333; GPH p. 48)

Singular:

Plural:

Like other demonstrative pronouns, οὗτος, αὕτη, τοῦτο can serve as an ADJECTIVE, though always in PREDICATE POSITION (demonstrative – article – noun or article – noun – demonstrative, NEVER article – demonstrative – noun). There is no vocative case, but the nominative οὗτος can be used as a form of address, equivalent to “you there!” or “hey, you!”

For example:

• οἱ ἄρχοντες διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τοῖς παισίν.
  • The rulers give hope to the children.
• οὗτοι διδόασι τὴν ἐλπίδα τούτοις τοῖς παισίν.
  • These (men) give hope to these children.

οὗτος αὕτη τοῦτο vs. ὅδε ἥδε τόδε

Notice that the English definitions for οὗτος αὕτη τοῦτο and ὅδε ἥδε τόδε are the same: this/these. While they translate similarly in written English, there sometimes can be a subtle distinction between the two. In general (though there are plenty of exceptions):

• οὗτος αὕτη τοῦτο refers generally and unemphatically to what is already known
• ὅδε ἥδε τόδε refers to what is near (this here table), or about to follow

For example:

• τοῦτο ὄμνυμι.
  I am swearing this oath (what I just said).
• ὄμνυμι τόδε.
  I am swearing this oath (what I am about to say).

– τὸ τέλος –