Personal pronouns in Spanish (personal pronouns) designate the participants of a speech. Furthermore, they can substitute the nouns of a prayer, whether common or proper.
Are they: yo, you, usted, you, hel, she, nosotros, nosotras, you, you, usted, hellos and they.
Examples:
- Maria needs to study. She will have an exam next week. (Maria needs to study. She will take an exam next week.)
- The children are tired. Ellos jugaron every afternoon. (The boys are tired. They played all afternoon.)
Note that, in the examples above, the personal pronoun she (she) substituted the proper noun María, and the personal pronoun hellos (they) replaced the common noun children (boys).
Types of Personal Pronouns in Spanish
You personal pronouns are subdivided into two types: subject pronouns (personal pronoun of the straight case) and object pronouns (personal pronoun of the oblique case).
Subject Pronouns
You pronouns subjects exercise the function of the subject of the sentence.
Are they:
| Subject Pronoun | Translation |
|---|---|
| yo | Me |
| You; usted1, you2 | You; you |
| he/she | he/she |
| nosostros/nosotras | We |
| Vosotros/vosotras3; usted1 | You; you |
| they/they | They |
1 and 3 the personal pronoun usted is used in formal communications. In Portuguese, it is equivalent to the use of the lord. the pronoun usted is used regardless of whether the context is formal or not, as plural of you it's from usted,in Latin America. In Spain, the use of you and you.
Although usted and usted whether they are second-person verb pronouns (singular and plural, respectively), the accompanying tense is inflected in the third person.
2 the pronoun you integrates a linguistic phenomenon called voodoo, which occurs mainly in some Latin American countries, such as Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras and Costa Rica.
O voodoo consists of the use of the pronoun you (informal treatment pronoun) instead of the pronoun you. Example: You can come whenever you want. > you can come whenever you want. (You can come whenever you want.; You can come whenever you want.)
As the example above indicates, the use of voodoo it requires the use of its own verb inflection.
see some examples of use of subject pronouns.
- yo llegué temprano. (I arrived early.)
- You have given me the wrong address. (You gave me the wrong address.)
- he has given me a book. (He presented me with a book.)
- Ella hugged me. (She hugged me.)
- You have to ask for permission from the director. (You have to ask the director's permission.)
- Miguel and Mercedes son hermanos gemelos. Born on December 17, 1990. (Miguel and Mercedes are twin brothers. They were born on December 17, 1990.)
In the examples above, the pronouns yo, you, hel, she,usted and hellos they practiced the action of the sentence, therefore, they played the role of subject.
Observation
In Spanish, it is common to omit personal pronouns with the function of subject from the phrase, since the inflected verbs already allow us to identify who exercised the action.
if instead of yo llegué temprano. (I arrived early.) Early life. (I arrived early.), we could immediately understand that the subject of the sentence is yo (I) because of the inflection of the verb.
Object Pronouns
You object pronouns perform the function of direct object, indirect object or reflexive pronoun.
See below that pronoun object corresponding to each pronoun subject.
Pronoun direct object
| Subject Pronoun | Pronoun direct object | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| yo | Me | Me |
| You/used | You | You |
| he/she | Lo/la | the |
| Nosotros/nosotras | US | US |
| Vosotros/vosotras; usted | You | the, if |
| they/they | Them | The |
Pronoun indirect object
| Subject Pronoun | Pronoun indirect object | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| yo | Me | Me |
| You/used | You | You |
| he/she | reads | You |
| Nosotros/nosotras | US | US |
| Vosotros/vosotras; usted | You | You; if |
| they/they | Les/if | Them |
Examples:
- Every day wakes up at five. (Every day wakes up at five.)
- No te vayas de México without probar el guacamole. (Don't leave Mexico without trying the guacamole.)
- Ella invited us to her fiesta de cumpleaños. (She invited us to her birthday party.)
- Lo conoceré mañana. (I will meet you tomorrow.)
- Me send a postal card. (They sent me a postcard.)
Video about personal pronouns in Spanish
In the video below you can find tips that will help you use the personal pronouns correctly.
Exercises on personal pronouns in Spanish
Rewrite the sentences below replacing the highlighted information with a personal pronoun.
The) Laura and tú are good students.
Correct answer: Vosotras son buenas alumnas. or Ustedes son buenas alumnas.
you, you and ustedes are personal second-person plural pronouns. vosotros is a masculine word, you is female and usted can be used to refer to both male and female.
as the phrase speaks of good students (good students), we must use the feminine gender pronoun you (you; you) or the pronoun usted.
b) warned the secretariat that you had taken care of.
Correct answers: Le warned that you were careful. or Le warned her that she had been careful.
the secretariat (the secretary) corresponds to the pronoun "she" (she).
In the sentence, the pronoun read has the function of indirect complement, since in Spanish the structure in which the verb warn is used is:
warn someone of something. (Warning someone about something.)
c) Ayer hablé with Juan and Alberto.
Correct answer: Ayer hablé con ellos.
Juan and Alberto correspond to the third person plural andllos(they).
d) you brother and yo We've known each other for ten years.
Correct answer: We have known each other for ten years.
you brother and yo (your brother and I) corresponds to the pronoun “us”, which in Spanish is said nosotros (male) or nosotras (feminine).
Interested in learning more about the Spanish language? Be sure to consult the following texts:
- Spanish demonstrative pronouns
- Definite and indefinite articles in Spanish
- Verbs in Spanish (Verbos en Español)
- Adjectives in Spanish (Los Adjectives)
- Nouns in Spanish (Los Sustantivos)
- adverbs in spanish
- Spanish prepositions
- Possessive Pronouns in Spanish
