aquellos

Aquellos is the masculine plural demonstrative form of Spanish used as both determiner and pronoun to refer to things or people that are distant from the speaker. The feminine plural is aquellas; the singular forms are aquel (masc.) and aquella (fem.), and the neuter aquello is used for abstract or unspecified references.

As a determiner, it accompanies a noun: Aquellos libros son interesantes. As a pronoun, it stands in for a noun: Aquellos eran mis amigos. It denotes greater distance or remoteness than the near demonstratives este/esta/estos/estas and than ese/esa/esos/esas.

Usage notes: The distance sense can be spatial, temporal, or conceptual. In formal writing, aquel/aquellos may convey formality or remoteness; in everyday speech it can also carry nostalgia or emotional distance. The feminine form matches the noun’s gender and number, and the neuter aquello is used for abstract references or when the gender is unknown.

Origin and alternatives: aquellos derives from the older demonstrative aquel, which is related to Latin ille; over time the forms expanded to include the neuter aquello and the plural aquellos/aquellas. In contemporary orthography, accents on demonstratives (éste, ése, aquél) are optional and used primarily for disambiguation in some contexts, though most texts write the forms without accents.

See also: Spanish demonstratives, este, ese, aquel, aquello, and the distinction among demonstratives by proximity and distance.