Éste/Ésta y este/esta

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre Éste/Ésta y este/esta? Por ejemplo, looking at a picture with several niños, you would say, “Éste es mi hermano.” but in this sentence you would say “Mi casa no está en este barrio.” You would say “Ésta es mi familia” looking at a picture of a family and in the question you would say ¿Cómo está usted esta mañana?” One of my libros de español teaches that Éste mean “this one” and este means “this.” Is this correct?

Hola Frank. I think the examples you've given are correct. What makes the issue a little complicated is that *este* and *esta* can function both as adjectives (modifying a noun) and as pronouns (replacing a noun). As adjectives, they don't use accent marks. Thus, *este barrio* and *esta mañana*. As pronouns, the first e is accented: *Dame éste* = give me this one (*éste* refers to a masculine noun). *Dame ésta *= give me this one (*ésta *refers to a feminine noun). And, of course, if you say "¿como está?" the word está it totally different from the adjectives and adverbs mentioned above. "*Está*" is simply the third person singular in the present tense of the verb *Estar*. You can find out more in section 4.5 of the *Rocket Spanish Beginner's Book*. I highly recommend this resource. Also helpful may be the Beginner's Page of spanish.about.com: __http://spanish.about.com/cs/forbeginners/a/beg_lessons.htm__ . Click on Demonstrative Adjectives and on Demonstrative Pronouns. I hope this helps.