those

IPA/ðəʊz/
KK[ðˈoz]IPA/ðoʊz/

those — determiner

1. the plural form of 'that' — used to point to people, things, or ideas that are n

1.determinerA1
Definition

the plural form of 'that' — used to point to people, things, or ideas that are not near the speaker, or that the speaker and listener already know about

Example

Those apples on the table look very fresh and sweet.

determiner + noun + location phrase

Bao put those toys back in the box after playing with them.

Common collocations
  • those who
  • those of
  • those in
  • those that
Antonyms
  • these

    'these' points to things that are near the speaker, while 'those' points to things that are further away

Grammar Patterns

those + noun

those who ...

those + prepositional phrase

Usage Note

As a determiner, 'those' comes before a noun (those books). As a pronoun, it stands alone as the subject or object of a sentence (Those are mine; I want those).

Common Mistakes

Those pen is on the table.
Those pens are on the table.
'those' is plural and must be used with a plural noun and verb.
I like this shoes.' (pointing to shoes far away)
I like those shoes.
use 'those' for things that are far from you, not 'this' or 'these'.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: determiner/1

'Those', 'these', and 'that' are all used to point to things, but they differ in number and distance. 'Those' is the plural form of 'that' and refers to things or people at a distance, or things already mentioned (Those birds are flying south). 'These' is the plural of 'this' and refers to things close to the speaker (These birds are in our garden). 'That' is the singular counterpart of 'those' and points to one distant item (That bird is very loud). Use 'those' when you are talking about more than one thing that is not near you.

those ↗these ↗that ↗

Common collocations

Nouns

Phrases

  • those who
  • those that
  • those which

Prepositions

Etymology

Old EnglishMiddle EnglishEnglish

'Those' comes from Old English 'þās', which was the plural form of 'þæt' (that). Over time the spelling and pronunciation changed, but the core meaning — the plural way to point to something — has stayed the same for over a thousand years.