Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as this and that, used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic, their meaning depending on a particular frame of reference, and cannot be understood without context. Demonstratives are often used in spatial deixis (where the speaker or sometimes the listener is to provide context), but also in intra-discourse reference (including abstract concepts) or anaphora, where the meaning is dependent on something other than the relative physical location of the speaker. An example is whether something is currently being said or was said earlier.
Demonstrative constructions include demonstrative adjectives or demonstrative determiners, which qualify nouns (as in Put that coat on) and demonstrative pronouns, which stand independently (as in Put that on). The demonstratives in English are this, that, these, those, and the archaic yon and yonder, along with this one or that one as substitutes for the pronoun use of this or that.
Distal and proximal demonstratives
Many languages, such as English and Chinese, make a two-way distinction between demonstratives. Typically, one set of demonstratives is proximal, indicating objects close to the speaker (English this), and the other series is distal, indicating objects further removed from the speaker (English that).
Other languages, like Nandi, Hawaiian, Latin, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, Armenian, Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, Georgian, Basque, Korean, Japanese, Ukrainian, Bengali, and Sri Lankan Tamil make a three-way distinction. Typically there is a distinction between proximal or first person (objects near to the speaker), medial or second person (objects near to the addressee), and distal or third person (objects far from both). So for example, in Portuguese: Esta maçã "this apple" Essa maçã "that apple (near you)" Aquela maçã "that apple (over there, away from both of us)"
Further oppositions are created with place adverbs. Essa maçã aqui "this apple (next to me or next to you-and-me)" Essa maçã aí "that apple (next to you)" Aquela maçã ali "that apple (close to you-and-me)" Aquela maçã lá "that apple (which is far from you-and-me or is in another distant place from you-and-me)"
in Italian (medial pronouns only survive in historical texts): Questa mela "this apple" Codesta mela "that apple (near you)" Quella mela "yon apple (over there, away from both of us)"
in Hawaiian: Kēia ʻukulele "this ukulele" kēnā ʻukulele "that ukulele (near you)" kēlā ʻukulele "yon ukulele (over there, away from both of us)"
in Armenian (based on the proximal "s", medial "d/t", and distal "n"):
and, in Georgian:
and, in Ukrainian (note that Ukrainian has not only number, but also three grammatical genders in singular): цей чоловік, ця жінка, це яблуко, ці яблука "this man", "this woman", "this apple", "these apples" той чоловік, та жінка, те яблуко, ті яблука "that man", "that woman", "that apple", "those apples" он той чоловік, он та жінка, он те яблуко, он ті яблука "yon man (over there, away from both of us)", "that woman (over there, away from both of us)", "yon apple (over there, away from both of us)", "yons apples (over there, away from both of us)"
and, in Japanese:
In Nandi (Kalenjin of Kenya, Uganda and Eastern Congo):
Chego chu, Chego choo, Chego chuun
"this milk", "that milk" (near the second person) and "that milk" (away from the first and second person, near a third person or even further away).
Ancient Greek has a three-way distinction between ὅδε (hóde "this here"), οὗτος (hoûtos "this"), and ἐκεῖνος (ekeînos "that").
Spanish, Tamil and Seri also make this distinction. French has a two-way distinction, with the use of postpositions "-ci" (proximal) and "-là" (distal) as in cet homme-ci and cet homme-là, as well as the pronouns ce and cela/ça. English has an archaic but occasionally used three-way distinction of this, that, and yonder.
Arabic has also a three-way distinction in its formal Classical and Modern Standard varieties. Very rich, with more than 70 variants, the demonstrative pronouns in Arabic principally change depending on the gender and the number. They mark a distinction in number for singular, dual, and plural. For example : (haːðaː arrajul) 'this man'. (ðaːka arrajul) 'that man'. (ðaːlika arrajul) 'that man' (over there).