In the conjugation of verbs the only things that matters (in terms of number is the noun. The demonstrative pronouns (este, esta, estos, estas) also depend on the number and gender of the noun. So the only thing that matters, in this case, is the number of animals and the fact that animals is a plural masculine noun. Esos animales beben agua = Thos animals drink water. "Esos" is plural masculine. "Beben" is the conjugation for "they" (masculine and feminine). Esas zebras beben agua = Those zebras drink water. "Esas" is plural feminine, because "zebra" is a feminine noun in Spanish. Ese animal bebe agua. = That animal drinks water. "Ese" is singular masculine, "Bebe" is the conjugation for "he" and "she". Esa zebra bebe agua. = That zebra drinks water. "Esa" is singular feminine. Other determiners that could be used are: Mi animal bebe agua = my animal drinks water. Mis animales beben agua = my animals drink water. Tus zebras beben agua = your zebras drink water. Tu zebra bebe agua = your zebra drinks water. I hope this helps.

It's because the word "animals" is plural, and you're not speaking to the animals. Also, since "animales" is a masculine word ("los"), conjugation is equivalent to conjugating with "ellos." You are not saying "those animals drink water" - that would be "esos animales beben agua." What you are saying is "the animals drink water"

Hi again! Just look at the noun. animales is masculin and plural, soy we must use 'los'. This would be as 'the animals are drinking water'. 'Ustedes', is literaly 'you' (in plural). 'Ellas' is 'They' (in feminin), and 'ellos' is also 'They' (but in masculin). You can perfectly say 'Ellos beben agua' (they're drinking water), cause it matches with 'Animales' in number and in gender. You don't say 'ellas' cause that's feminin. Neither 'ustedes', cause this would be only if you were talking to the animals. (Of course, there are people who talk to their pets, no? =o) REF.: I'm a Certified Spanish Teacher.

In spanish the article of plural nouns depend on the genre of these words. I'm a beginner student of english but if I'm not mistaken I think that in english exist only one article for plural nouns, this is "the". On the other hand, in spanish there are two articles for plural nouns, "los" for masculine nouns and "las" for feminine nouns. In your case, "animals" is considered as masculine so the correct form would be "los animales"