Demonstrative Pronouns

Tagalog's demonstrative pronouns are as follows.

	Direct	Indirect	Oblique	Locative	Existential
Nearest to speaker (this, here) *	ire, are	nire	dine	nandine	ere
Near speaker and addressee (this, here)	Ito	Nito	dito/rito	nandito/narito	heto
Nearest addressee (that, there)	iyan	niyan	diyan/riyan	nandiyan/nariyan	ayan
Remote (yon, yonder)	iyon	niyon	doon/roon	nandoon/naroon	ayon

Ire, are, nire, dine, nandine and ere are rarely used in some part of the Philippines. This is commonly heard with people in the southern part of Luzon especially in Batangas. 

Just like noun and personal pronoun, demonstrative pronouns follow the cases.

Tinapay ang kinain ko kanina. I ate bread a while ago.

Ito ang kinain ko kanina. I ate this a while ago.

Direct Case

Mansanas ang paborito kong prutas. Apple is my favourite fruit.

Ito ang paborito kong prutas. This is my favourite fruit. (Near to both speaker and listener or nearer to the speaker than the listener)

Iyan ang paboritio kong prutas. That is my favourite fruit. (Nearer to the listener than the speaker )

Iyon ang paborito kong prutas. That is my favourite fruit.  (both far from the speaker and the listener.)

Indirect Case

Sinuntok ni William ang pader. William punched the wall.

Sinuntok nito ang pader. He punched the wall. {nito function as a pronoun, renaming what is mentioned in a previous statement. Example, Si William ay sobrang nagalit sa nalaman nya. Sinuntok nito ang pader dahil sa galit. William get so angry about what he knew. He punched the wall because of anger. It also refers to a person close to the speaker. } 

Sinuntok niyan ang pader.  That person punched the wall. (Nearer to the listener than the speaker)

Sinuntok niyon ang pader.  That person (there) punched the wall. (both far from the speaker and the listener.)

Oblique Case

As an oblique case, it shows the location of the action or where the verb takes place.

Kumain sila dito./Dito sila kumain. They ate here.

Kumain sila diyan./Diyan sila kumain. They ate there.

Kumain sila doon./Doon sila kumain. They ate there. (far from both the speaker and the listener)

There are two types of sentence that can be constructed; the second one emphasizes the location where they ate by putting dito, diyan, and doon at the beginning of the sentence. Sentence formation with ‘Ay’ is optional. With this kind of construction, the sentence will be formal, and put more emphasis on the oblique case pronoun. Remember to put ‘ay’ between the doer of the action and the verb.

Dito sila ay kumain. Here they have eaten. / Here they ate.

Locative Case

This is always used in the beginning of the sentence, or as a single word.

Nandito ako, umiibig sayo. Here I am, loving you.

Nandiyan ang ahas sa loob ng butas. The snake is there inside the hole.

Nasaan ang ballpen ko? Andito. Where is my ballpen? Here.

Existential Case

It is similar and interchangeable to the direct case. However, this is used to show abstract ideas, to show that something that exist from a cause or to put emphasis.

Ayan ang napapala ng padalos-dalos. That is what happens to people who act recklessly (undue eagerness to act).

Heto ako. Here I am. (I do exist)

Ayon nga ang gusto. That’s what I like.