Spanish - Pronouns

Subject Pronouns

English	Subject	Object Direct	Object Indirect
I	yo	me	me
you	tú	te	te
you	usted	lo / la	le
he	él	lo	le
she	ella	la	le
we	nosotros (-as)	nos	nos
you	vosotros (-as)	os	os
you	ustedes	los / las	les
they	ellos	los	les
they	ellas	las	les

• usted: you formal
• tú: you informal (familiar)
• ustedes: you-all formal
• vosotros: you-all familiar

vosotros form is used primarily in Spain. Throughout Latin America, ustedes is generally used in both formal and informal situations to refer to "you-all".

• In Spain,
  • vosotros is used when you are talking to group of friends, peers, pets, children, or close family members. In other words, it is used to address a group of people informally.
  • ustedes is used to address a group of people formally. For example, a group of people older than you or people you don’t know well.
• Most Latin American countries do not use vosotros, ustedes is used in both informal and formal situations.

Spanish often omits subject pronouns because the verb ending is usually enough to indicate the subject of the verb.

el / la

Put el or la before an adjective to avoid repetition.

¿Te gusta el vestido azul o el rojo?

Possessive Pronouns

The Spanish the equivalent of 'mine', 'yours'

before a noun	without / after a noun
mi(s)	mío(s) / mía(s)
tu(s)	tuyo(s) / tuya(s)
su(s)	suyo(s) / suya(s)
nuestro(s)	nuestro(s)
nuestra(s)	nuestra(s)

su

• su dinero (her money)
• su negocio (their business)
• ¡Su café, señor! (Your coffee, sir!)

Object Pronouns

• English: I know you and I buy it.
• Spanish: I you know and I it buy.

E.g.

Yo te conozco.

Use le to say to him, for her, etc; and les to say to/for them.

Compro lamesa para ella. Le compro la mesa.

When there are two verbs in a sentence, like "I want to buy it", you can put it before the first verb or after the second one, but not in between:

Los voy a comer.
Voy a comerlos.

Le quiero decir algo.
Queiro decirle algo.

Te los puedo traer hoy.
Puedo traértelos hoy.

le / les => se

When le or les come before lo, la, los, las, they turn into se.

Le compré un libro y se lo di.
(I bought her a book and I gave it to her.)

se / nos

se / nos = each other. Can also add el uno al otro:

Nos ayudamos.
(We help each other.)

Nos ayudamos el uno al otro.
(We help each other.)

Se conocen.
(They know each other.)

Se conocen el uno al otro.
(They know each other.)

lo, la, los, las

Used before the verb: Ya lo tengo. (I already have it.)

If there are two verbs, and the second one is an infinitive, you can place these small words either before the verb or attach them to the infinitive.

Necesito cebollas y las voy a comprar.
(I need oinions and I am going to buy them.)

Necesito cebollas y boy a comprarlas.

¿Me puedes dar esa mochila?
(Can you give me that backpack?)

¿Puedes darme esa mochila?

me, te, le, nos, les

Used before the verb: Yo le compro un regalo. (I buy him a present.)

• yo => me
• tú => te
• nosotros / nosotras => nos
• ellos, ellas, ustedes => se