French help regarding "pronom demonstratif"?

Question

What are the differences amongst the following:

Celui
Celle
Ceux
Celles

and

Celui-ci
Celle-ci
Ceux-ci
Celles-ci

and

Celui-la
Celle-la
Ceux-la
Celles-la

Answer 1

This is going to be a bit tortuous, but here goes! Firstly, the differences in the key words (celui, celle, ceux and celles) are masculine singular, fem. sing., masc. plu. and fem. plu.

Basically (and I'm not going to repeat all the genders/numbers) celui is 'the one' e.g. celui proche de la fontaine = the one near the fountain.

Celui-ci and the others ending in -ci means this one/these (ones) and celui-là means that one/those (ones.)

"Out of the two houses this one is prettier than that one" " . . .celle-ci est plus jolie que celle-là."

Hope that helps.