aquel

See also: aquél

Aragonese

Etymology

From Vulgar Latin *eccum ille (“that one”). Akin to Spanish aquel and Portuguese aquele.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈkel/
• Syllabification: a‧quel
• Rhymes: -el

Determiner

aquel

1. that

Fala

Alternative forms

• aquil

Etymology

From Old Galician-Portuguese aquel, from Vulgar Latin *eccum ille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈkel/
• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: a‧quel

Determiner

aquel m sg (feminine aquela, masculine plural aquelis, feminine plural aquelas)

1. that (far from the speaker and listener)

Pronoun

aquel m sg (feminine aquela, masculine plural aquelis, feminine plural aquelas)

1. that one (far from the speaker and listener)

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web)‎, 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 54

Galician

Alternative forms

• aquele (dialectal, reintegrationist)
• aquil (central)

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese aquel, from Vulgar Latin *eccum ille, a compound of Latin eccum and ille. Cognate with Portuguese aquele and Spanish aquel, among others.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈkel/ [ɑˈkeɫ]
• Rhymes: -el
• Hyphenation: a‧quel

Determiner

aquel (feminine aquela)

1. that (far from the speaker and listener)

   Quen é aquel home? ― Who is that man?

Pronoun

aquel m (plural aqueles, feminine aquela, feminine plural aquelas, neuter aquilo) (definite demonstrative pronoun)

1. that over there, yon (far from the speaker and the listener)

   Quen é aquel? ― Who is that [man or boy over there]?

   Quen é aquela? ― Who is that [woman or girl over there]?

   Que é aquilo? ― What is that [thing/animal/plant over there]?

Usage notes

The demonstrative contracts with the prepositions de (“of”) and en (“in”):

• daquel, daquela, daqueles, daquelas, daquilo
• naquel, naquela, naqueles, naquelas, naquilo

See also

• Appendix:Galician pronouns

Noun

aquel m (plural aqueles, feminine aquela, feminine plural aquelas)

1. (informal) je ne sais quoi, an imprecise positive quality

   Esa muller tenche un aquel que me pon parvo. ― That woman has a je ne sais quoi that makes me crazy.

2. (informal) cause, circumstance

   Co aquel de que non se falan non se fixo o que había que facer. ― With the excuse that they don't speak each other what must be done wasn't done.

3. (informal) thingy; used instead of any other noun, either because the speaker don't want to mention it, or because they cann't find the appropriate word

   Synonyms: conto, couso

   Pásame o aquel de furar. ― Hand me that thingy of piercing.

Derived terms

• aquelar
• co aquel

Related terms

• aqueste
• aquestar

References

• Seoane, Ernesto Xosé González; Granja, María Álvarez de la; Agrelo, Ana Isabel Boullón (2006–2022), “aquel”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval [Dictionary of dictionaries of Medieval Galician] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Barreiro, Xavier Varela; Guinovart, Xavier Gómez (2006–2018), “aquel”, in Corpus Xelmírez: corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval [Corpus Xelmírez: linguistic corpus of Medieval Galicia] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, editor (2006–2013), “aquel”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega [Dictionary of Dictionaries of the Galician language] (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Antón Luís Santamarina Fernández, Ernesto Xosé González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, editors (2003–2018), “aquel”, in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega
• Rosario Álvarez Blanco, editor (2014–2024), “aquel”, in Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega, →ISSN

Occitan

Alternative forms

• aqueth (Gascony)

Etymology

From Old Occitan [Term?], from Vulgar Latin *eccum ille, a compound of Latin eccum and ille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.kɛl/

• Audio (Languedoc):

  (file)

Adjective

aquel (f aquela, m pl aqueles, f pl aquelas)

1. this, this one

Spanish

Etymology

Inherited from Vulgar Latin *eccum ille, a compound of Latin eccum and ille.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /aˈkel/ [aˈkel]

• Audio (Latin America):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -el
• Syllabification: a‧quel

Determiner

aquel (feminine aquella, masculine plural aquellos, feminine plural aquellas)

1. that (over there; implying some distance)

Derived terms

• en aquel entonces
• por aquel entonces

Pronoun

aquel

1. (demonstrative) alternative spelling of aquél

Usage notes

• The unaccented form can function as a pronoun if it can be unambiguously deduced as such from context.

See also

Spanish personal pronouns

				Nominative	Disjunctive	Dative	Accusative	Comitative
First-person	Singular			yo	mí	me		conmigo
	Plural	Masculine1		nosotros		nos		—
		Feminine		nosotras
Second-person	Singular	Tuteo		tú	ti	te		contigo
		Voseo		vos	—
		Formal2	Masculine1	usted		le, se3	lo
			Feminine				la
	Plural	Familiar4	Masculine1	vosotros		os
			Feminine	vosotras
		Formal/general2	Masculine1	ustedes		les, se3	los
			Feminine				las
Third-person	Singular	Masculine1		él		le, se3	lo
		Feminine		ella			la
		Neuter		ello5			lo
	Plural	Masculine1		ellos		les, se3	los
		Feminine		ellas			las
	Reflexive			—	sí	se		consigo

1. Like other masculine words, masculine pronouns can be used when the gender of the subject is unknown or when the subject is plural and of mixed gender.
2. Treated as if it were third person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity.
3. If le or les precedes lo, la, los, or las in a clause, it is replaced with se (e.g. se lo dije instead of *le lo dije).
4. Used primarily in Spain.
5. Only used in certain circumstances and rarely as a subject pronoun.

Further reading

• “aquel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025