estos

Estos is the masculine plural form of the Spanish demonstrative adjective and pronoun meaning “these.” It is used to indicate people or things that are near the speaker in space or time, and it can function either as a modifier of a noun or as a pronoun when the noun is omitted.

As an adjective, estos agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies: estos libros (these books), estos días (these days). As a pronoun, it can stand for “these ones”: Estos son mis amigos (These are my friends). The feminine plural form is estas, and the singular forms are este (masculine), esta (feminine), with the neuter form esto used for general concepts or unspecified matters.

Orthography and usage notes: Historically, some writers used éste with an accent to distinguish the pronoun from the adjective, but modern guidelines generally omit diacritics, and both uses are widely accepted in contemporary Spanish. Accent marks may appear in older texts or in certain style guides, but they are not required in everyday writing.

Etymology and related forms: Estos derives from the Latin demonstrative root ist-, which signals proximity to the speaker or listener. Related forms include este, esta, esto, estas, and aquel/aquella for varying degrees of closeness and distance in discourse.

Usage context: Use estos when referring to multiple nearby items or people. For more distant references, alternatives such as ese/esa (that) or aquel/aquella (that over there) are appropriate.