No. 54 in Spanish
ese
"Ese" means "that" (masculine singular demonstrative pronoun or adjective).
In a sentence
Ese libro en la mesa es mío.
That book on the table is mine.
In this sentence, 'ese' is a demonstrative adjective used to indicate a specific noun that is at relatively close distance to the speaker or mentioned in context, which is 'libro' (book).
Ese es el mejor ejemplo que he visto.
That is the best example I have seen.
Here, 'ese' functions as a demonstrative pronoun that replaces a noun while still indicating specificity, in this case, referring to 'ejemplo' (example).
Nunca me imaginé que volvieras con ese.
I never imagined you would return with that one.
In this usage, 'ese' acts as a pronoun in a colloquial and contextually vague sense, referring to an undefined subject, often a person, and its interpretation depends on the situation.
Hear it in real podcasts
The recording above is a synthetic voice. Hear how people say “ese” in actual Spanish podcasts.
Find “ese” in podcastsLearn it from shows you like
LangTurbo plays Spanish podcasts with a transcript and the English under every line. Tap a word like this one and it tells you what it means right there.
Get the appSpanish books and courses on Amazon (an affiliate link: a purchase through it supports this site).