Ésto vs. Éste

Hola,

In Lesson 13.1, the following sentence occurs:  Ustedes han sido amigos desde la niñez, y esto será un día especial para los dos. If I had had to guess, I would have used "éste" instead of "ésto" because we are referring to a particular day. (Aren't we?)

Is this an error or is there a rationale for using ésto instead of éste?

Thank you.

¡Hola Tomás71!

Thank you very much for your question, and I apologize for the late reply!

You are correct here: esto would be used with an abstract concept, but in this sentence the speaker is clearly referring back to un día; hence, it should be éste and not esto. Our apologies for the confusion this has caused! I will pass this on to the Spanish team.

On a slightly different subject, note that there isn't an accent on esto; since it can't be confused with a demonstrative adjective, like éste can, there isn't a need for it. You can find a slightly expanded section on neuter demonstrative pronouns like esto (as well as new explanations and examples on demonstrative adjectives and pronouns in general) in the Level 1 lesson on demonstratives, if you would be interested in checking those out.

Muchas gracias otra vez,

Liss