Subject pronouns in Spanish.


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Subject Pronouns (Personal Pronouns) in Spanish

by Mariángeles Di Paola

Buenos Aires, November, 2011


Normally, we don´t need to use subject pronouns in Spanish (I, you, he, she, we, you, they). That´s why the verb changes and the way we change the verb shows to whom we are refering to. We use subject pronouns when we want to emphasize who is doing something. On the other hand, the verb usually doesn´t change in English so we need to show to whom we are refering to.

Here you are the list of subject pronouns in Spanish and their English translation. Note that subject prononuns are one of the kinds of personal pronouns.

Subject Pronouns
Person - Singular In English
1st yo I
2nd tú, vos* You
3rd él, ella, usted** He, she, you "formal"
 
Person - Plural
1st nosotros, nosotras we
2nd vosotros, vosotras, ustedes*** you
3rd ellos, ellas they


* “Vos” is now heard throughout Argentina in place of “tú” in informal social contexts (the so-called “informal treatment”).
** The formal treatment is represented by the use of “usted” and its associated verb forms. It is a second person rather than a third but verbs that correspond to "usted" are all in the third person. That´s why "usted" is placed under third person.
*** "Ustedes" is the plural of "tú" or "usted" in Latin America. In Spain, "vosotros" is the plural of "tú".


Example in which subject pronouns are absent
-¿Cuántos años tienes? (How old are you?)
-Tengo 35 años. (I am 35 years-old)

Note that in this dialogue is not necessary to use subject prononuns since the reference to the subject is contained in the verb ending itself (you -tú- in the question, and I -yo- in the answer).


Here you are the conjugation of the verb used above.
Verb "tener" (irregular Spanish verb). Present tense.
(yo)* tengo
(tú) tienes - (vos) tenés
(él, ella, usted) tiene
(nosotros, nosotras) tenemos
(vosotros, vosotras) tenéis - (ustedes) tienen
(ellos, ellas) tienen

In English: verb to have. Present tense: I have, you have, he/she has, we have, you have, they have.

*We put subject pronouns between brackets to show it is not necessary to use them.


Examples using subject prononuns
Yo compraré carne y tú el pan.* (I will buy meat, and you the bread)
-Y tú, ¿cómo te llamas?* (What about you?, what´s your name?)

*Note that subject prounouns are used to mark contrast between two different subjects.
**You can make this question to someone when there is a group of people and it is necessary to clarify to whom you are talking.





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