The Demonstrative Pronouns

The words тот , та, то (that), те (those), этот, эта, это (this), эти (these), такой, такая, такое, такие (such) and столько (so) are Russian demonstrative pronouns. This group of pronouns most clearly demonstrates quality and quantity of objects, as compared to all other pronouns. 

For example:

Эта улица широкая. На ней столько красивых машин. Такие улицы встречаются в городах часто.

(This street is wide. It has so many beautiful cars. Such streets are common in cities.)

All demonstrative pronouns change by gender, number and cases. This means that they have masculine, feminine and neuter forms in the singular and one form in the plural (for each case). Let's consider the word этот for example.

Change of "этот" by gender, number and cases

An exception from the rule above is the pronoun столько, which changes only by cases, as shown in the table.

Declension of "столько"

The pronouns этот, эта, это, эти reply to the questions Какой? Какая? Какое? Какие?

Какое платье? Это платье.
Which dress? This dress.

The pronouns тот, та, то, те also reply to the questions Какой? Какая? Какое? Какие?, but they are used to refer to remote objects.

Тот дом стоит в конце улицы.
(That house stands in the end of the street.)

То здание скоро достроят.
(That building will be built soon.)

Та улица уже этой.
(That street is more narrow than this.)

The demonstrative pronoun это replies to the questions Кто это? Что это?

Кто это? Это новый сосед.
(Who is this? This is a new neighbor.)

Что это? Это школа.
(What is this? This is a school.)

 The pronouns такой, такая, такое, такие demonstrate the quality of an object. They are used in compound sentences.

Мы изучаем такие предметы, которые нам необходимы.
(We study such subjects, which are necessary to us.)

Я люблю таких писателей, как Толстой, Чехов, Тургенев и Достоевский.
(I love such writers as Tolstoy, Chekhov, Turgenyev and Dostoyevskiy.)

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