Spanish Pronouns

How they compare with English

•Subject pronouns are placed in front of the conjugated verb to clarify who or what is doing the action of the verb.

Lets Get Started!

• Compare these two sentences• Jorge es mexicano.• Él es mexicano.

•In the first sentence, we name the person who is Mexican.

•In the second sentence, we replace the person’s name with the word ‘él’.

And your point is…?!•A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun: e.g. Jorge = él.

•Examples of pronouns in English are : We, You, He, She, It, I & They.

•These particular examples are all subject pronouns or pronouns used only when replacing subjects of verbs.

Pronouns in General

English and Spanish both make use of subject pronouns. They can be organized as first, 2nd, and 3rd person. In English “I” and “we” are first person. “I” is first person, singular and “we” is first person plural. Let’s take a look at how pronouns are organized in English.

English Subject Pronouns

I

you you

he

she

it

we

they

1rst person

3rd person

2nd person

Singular Plural

Spanish Subject Pronouns

In general, Spanish subject pronouns have similar patterns with English pronouns. The major differences are: Spanish has four ways of saying “you”. They are not interchangeable and do not mean the same thing. Also, we do not use “it” as a pronoun often in Spanish. One other major difference involves the use of gender. Let’s take a look.

Spanish Subject Pronouns

yo

tú

él

ella

Ud.

nosotros

nosotras

(vosotros)

(vosotras)

ellos

ellas

Uds.

1rst person

2nd person

3rd person

Singular Plural

Did you notice something?

Vosotros and vosotras both have a parenthesis around them. This is because in the western hemisphere, they are usually not used. They both mean “you” and are used for informal situations. Also, you should have seen “Ud.” This also means you and is an abbreviation of usted. Use Ud. when you are addressing someone in a position of authority over you. Uds. is used in the western hemisphere instead of “vosotros/vosotras”. Uds. is an abbreviation of ustedes, also means “you”. Use Uds. when you are addressing more than one person.

Let’s compare

I = yo

you = tú

he = él

she = ella

you = Ud.

they = ellos*

they = ellas**

you = Uds.*mixed group or all guys **all girls

you = vosotros*

you = vosotras*

we = nosotros*

we = nosotras*1rst person

2nd person

3rd person

PluralSingular

Now it is time to learn.

• If you want to learn Spanish, you will need to learn the subject pronouns.

• You can often tell what the subject is by the verb. Therefore in Spanish, it is not always necessary to include the subject.

• Memorize these subject pronouns.

• Subject pronouns are not always needed because the conjugation of the verb implies who or what is doing the action of the verb.

•Él is used to refer to he when talking about someone else.

•Ella is used to refer to she when talking about someone else.

•Usted is used to refer to you formal when you are talking to a person older than yourself or not familiar with.

•Nosotros is used when you refer to we as two or more males or a mixed group.

•Nosotras is used when you refer to we as two or more females.

Ellos is used to refer to they as two or more males or mixed group.

Ellas is used to refer to they as two or more females.

Ustedes is used to refer to you plural when talking to more than one person older than you or not familiar to you.

You Who?• Tú, usted, and ustedes all mean “you.”• Use tú with family, friends,

people your age or younger, and anyone you call by his or her first name.

You Who?• Use usted with adults you

address with a title, such as señor, señora, profesor, etc. Usted is a more formal address and is usually written as Ud.

• In most countries, use ustedes when speaking to two or more people, regardless of age or formality. Ustedes is usually written as Uds.

Hey, you!

• Not really, here’s a summary!• Singular

informal→ túformal→ Usted (Ud.)

• Pluralformal & informal→ Ustedes

(Uds.)

That’s confusing!

Subject Pronouns

For the purposes of instructions, I will use the following abbreviations all year long to distinguish the different forms of ‘You’.

Be Prepared to Memorize!!!

Abbreviations

You = Tú

You (F) = Usted/(Ud.)

You (P) = Ustedes/ (Uds)

• If a group is made up of males only or of both males and females together, use the masculine forms: nosotros or ellos.

Masculine or Feminine?

• Only when a group is made up of ALL females do you use the feminine forms: nosotras or ellas.

Masculine or Feminine?

• You can combine a subject pronoun and a name to form a subject.

Subject Pronouns

Subject Pronouns

• Alejandro y yo = nosotros

• Carlos y ella = ellos

• Pepe y tú = ustedes

• Lola y ella = ellas

• Don’t forget the accent marks!!

• Él (w/ accent) means ‘He’.

• El (w/o accent) means

‘The’.

Other Helpful Tips

• Unlike ‘I’ in English, ‘yo’ is only capitalized when it begins a sentence:

Mi amigo y yo jugamos.

More Helpful Tips