SER and SUBJECT PRONOUNS

Do you know whats meant by 1 st person, 2 nd person, 3 rd person? 1 st person is the person who is speaking – I 2 nd is the person to whom one is speaking – you 3 rd is the person about whom one is speaking -- he, she, it I, you, he, she, it are all singular pronouns. Each refers to one person. But we also have plural pronouns: 1 st person plural = I + another person = we 2 nd person plural = you + another person = yall 3 rd person plural = he/she/it + another person = they

singular plural 1 st person ___________ 2 nd person ___________ 3 rd person ___________ Question: How often are pronouns found in this order? Answer: Always, always, ALWAYS.

Following are the Spanish subject pronouns: yonosotros túvosotros él, ellaellos They correspond to the English subject pronouns: Iwe youyall he, shethey

Spanish has two additional pronouns: usted (Ud.) and ustedes (Uds.). Ud. means you. Uds. means yall. Ud. is used with people to whom you should show respect, people who are older than you are or in a position of authority. Its pretty safe to say that if you call the person Mr./Mrs./Ms./Miss/Dr./Prof. + last name rather than by his first name, you should use Ud. rather than tú. If you call the person by his first name, you should probably use tú with him. Uds. is used in Spain to show respect just like Ud. is. However, vosotros, the familiar form you use with friends (people you address by their first name), doesnt exist in Latin America, and they use Uds. no matter who theyre talking to.

In spite of the fact that Ud. means the same thing tú does (you), its treated like a third person pronoun: yonosotros túvosotros él, ella, Ud.ellos What that means is that anything that applies to the third person (like verb endings and OBJECT pronouns) also applies to Ud.

The same is true of Uds. Even though it means the same thing as vosotros (yall), it goes with the 3 rd person plural: yonosotros túvosotros él, ella, Ud.ellos, Uds.

One more note about subject pronouns: the -os in three of them can change to –as if every member of the group is female: yonosotros, nosotras túvosotros, vosotras él, ella, Ud.ellos, ellas, Uds.

SER Ser means to be. Its the most irregular verb there is in both English and Spanish. amareare isare soysomos eressois esson

Iweamare youyallareare he, shetheyisare yonosotrossoysomos túvosotroseressois él, ellaellosesson Just as I takes the verb thats in its position (am), yo takes the verb thats in its position (soy). In other words, yo soy is I am, tú eres is you are, etc.

However, you dont have to use the pronouns. Look at the Spanish forms of ser: soysomos eressois esson All of them are different. So soy all by itself means I am. Soy alto means I am tall. Eres all by itself means you are. Soy can never mean anything but I am, and eres can never mean anything but you are. You never have to use a subject pronoun in Spanish, because when you look at the verb, you know what the subject has to be. If you say yo soy, it doesnt mean I am; it means I am. In other words, it emphasizes the pronoun. However, you can say él es or ella es or Ud. es or ellos son or Uds. son to clarify the subject. That is, soy can mean only I am, so the only time you use yo is if you want to emphasize it, but es can mean he is, she is, or you are, so you can use the pronoun to show whether you mean he, she, or you.

In your homework, Ill give you a subject and a blank. Youll put in the correct form of ser: Ellos _______ Juan _______ (Note: Juan is the same as él.) Elena y yo ______ (Note: Elena y yo is the same as nosotros.) Ud. ___________ Tú ___________ son es somos es eres