The demonstratives this, that, these, those ,show where an object or person is in relation to the speaker. This (singular) and these (plural) refer to an object or person near the speaker. That (singular) and those (plural) refer to an object or person further away. It can be a physical closeness or distance as in: Who owns that house? (distant) Is this John's house? (near) Or it can be a psychological distance as in: That's nothing to do with me.. (distant) This is a nice surprise! (near)

Fairly simple. If it's close to you (physically, or even ideally), use "this". If it's far away, use "that".

French is my second language....beginner's level...... Can you tell? :)

Le meme usage que: this = ce, cet, cette, celui ci (this one here [clsoe to the speaker]) that = ce...la, cet la, cette la (this one there [at a distance from the speaker])

Kachan - the following 2 links may help you to understand the proper usage of this and that: http://esl.about.com/od/grammarforbeginners/a/This-That-These-Those.htm http://www.eslgold.com/grammar/this_that.html