Los Pronombres pronouns
Subject Pronouns In this presentation we’re going to look at the form and use of subject pronouns in Spanish.
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.
Here are your subject pronouns in Spanish!!
Subject Pronouns (Singular) You (informal) You (formal) He She Yo Tú Usted (Ud.) Él Ella
Subject Pronouns (Plural) Nosotros Nosotras (Y’all) Ustedes (Uds.) Ellos Ellas We (males) We (females) (Vosotros-informal in Spain) You All (informal & formal) They (males) They (females)
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.
Hey, you! In most countries, use ustedes when speaking to two or more people, regardless of age or formality. Ustedes is usually written as Uds.
That’s confusing! Not really, here’s a summary! Singular informal→ tú formal→ Usted (Ud.) Plural formal & informal→ Ustedes (Uds.)
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)
Masculine or Feminine? 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.
Subject Pronouns You can combine a subject pronoun and a name to form a subject.
Subject Pronouns Alejandro y yo = nosotros Carlos y ella = ellos Pepe y tú = ustedes Lola y ella = ellas
Other Helpful Tips Don’t forget the accent marks!! Él (w/ accent) means ‘He’. El (w/o accent) means ‘The’.
More Helpful Tips Unlike ‘I’ in English, ‘yo’ is only capitalized when it begins a sentence: Mi amigo y yo somos...
One More Point! In English we always have to use a subject pronoun. Look at these sentences: Went to the store. Speaks German. Without the pronouns these sentences make no sense!
Spanish is Different! Spanish sentences frequently drop the subject pronoun when they are NOT needed to clarify who we are talking about: Somos norteamericanos. Soy alumna.
And finally… Did you notice ‘it’ is a subject pronoun in English? In Spanish, there is NO word for ‘it’ as a subject. You simply conjugate the verb in the él/ella/Ud. form!!!