Understanding Subject Pronouns in Spanish | Comprehensive Explanation

subject pronouns in spanish

Improve the quality of your Spanish by learning Subject pronouns in Spanish!

Learning how to properly use Spanish words and subject pronouns is the first step that you can take to improve the quality of your Spanish sentence construction and conversational skills! Subject pronouns are the person or object doing the action, in other words; I, you, he, she, we, they, and who.

Spanish pronouns are a bit different in Spanish than in English, in this article, we will introduce these subject pronouns and discuss how to use them!

Subject Pronouns in Spanish

Knowing how to construct sentences is important, especially in different tenses, like present tense in Spanish for example, for now, let’s focus on pronouns in Spanish!

There are 12 different subject pronouns in Spanish, which have been summarized in a pronoun list:

English Subject Pronouns Spanish Subject Pronouns
I yo
you (singular familiar)
you (singular formal) usted
you (plural formal) ustedes
he, she él, ella
they ellos, ellas
we nosotros, nosotras
you (plural familiar) vosotros, vosotras

 

Let’s introduce this list of pronouns to you with some sentence examples, in the same order as the table:

  • I/Yo

Yo voy a ir al médico (I am going to the doctor)

  • You/Tú (Singular person, for informal situations only, family, friends, children etc)

y yo seremos un equipo. (You and I are a team)

  • You/Usted (Singular person, for formal situations only, boss, coworkers, elders etc)

Usted hace una buen líder. (You make a good leader)

  • You/Ustedes (Plural, formal)

¡Ustedes estan listo para el siguiente paso! (You are ready for the next step!)

  • He/she, él/ella.

Él se irá pronto (He will be leaving soon)

Ella se irá pronto (She will be leaving soon)

  • They, Ellos/Ella

Ellos/Ellas traerán el pastel. (They will bring the cake)

  • We, nosotros/nosotras

Nosotros/Nosotras vamos a llegar un poco tarde (We will arrive a bit late)

  • You vosotros/vosotras (Plural, informal)

¡Todos vosotros/vosotras son mis mejores amigos! (You are all my best friends!)

“I in Spanish”

In English, depending on the sentence, I turns into me. The same rules apply to Spanish: Yo (I) becomes (me).

Yo te amo (I love you) ¿Me amas? (Do you love me?)

  • Yo estoy de acuerdo (I agree), ¡Yo también! (Me too!)

Subject Pronouns in Spanish & Verbs

The subject pronouns in Spanish can change the ending of a verb, depending on which one you use. Let’s consider three verbs and how they can change these Spanish pronouns:

The verb Ir means “to go”, as in you or something needs to go somewhere. For example, ir changes to voy when you use the pronoun yo. The table below summarizes how the verb (in bold) changes:

English Subject Pronouns Spanish Subject Pronouns Verb “ir” (to go) Verb “ir” (to go)
I yo Yo voy a la escuela I am going to school
you (singular familiar) Tú vas a la escuela You are going to school
you (singular formal) usted Usted va a la escuela You (formal) are going to school
you (plural formal) ustedes Ustedes van a la escuela You all (formal) are going to school
he, she él, ella él/ella va a la escuela he/she is going to school
they ellos, ellas Ellos/ellas van a la escuela They are going to school
we nosotros, nosotras Nosotros vamos a la escuela We are going to school
you (plural familiar) vosotros, vosotras Vosotros váis a la escuela You are all going to the store

 

Next, let’s consider comer which means “to eat”. Comer changes to como when using the pronoun yo:

English Subject Pronouns Spanish Subject Pronouns Verb “ir” (to go) Verb “ir” (to go)
I yo Yo como pizza I eat pizza
you (singular familiar) Tú comes pizza You eat pizza
you (singular formal) usted Usted come pizza You (formal) eat pizza
you (plural formal) ustedes Ustedes comen pizza You all (formal) eat pizza.
he, she él, ella Él/ella come pizza He/She eats pizza
they ellos, ellas Ellos comen pizza They eat pizza
we nosotros, nosotras Nosotros comemos pizza We eat pizza
you (plural familiar) vosotros, vosotras Vosotros coméis pizza You all eat pizza

 

And finally let’s consider estar or “to be”:

English Subject Pronouns Spanish Subject Pronouns Verb “ir” (to go) Verb “ir” (to go)
I yo Yo estoy cansada I am tired
you (singular familiar) Tú estás cansada You are tired
you (singular formal) usted Usted está cansada You (formal) are tired
you (plural formal) ustedes Ustedes están cansada You all (formal) are going to school
he, she él, ella Él/ella está cansada He/She is tired
they ellos, ellas Ellos/ellas están cansada They are tired
we nosotros, nosotras Nosotros estamos cansada We are tired
you (plural familiar) vosotros, vosotras Vosotros estáis cansada You are all tired

 

Did you know that ser and estar both mean “to be” but are used in various different ways?

Dropping the Subject Pronoun in Spanish

Funnily enough, you can completely omit the subject pronouns yo and in Spanish, since the sentence can still be understood by the verb alone. You just need to understand nouns in Spanish!

For example:

  • yo voy a la escuela” (I go to sleep) can be “voy a la escuela” (go to sleep), the yo (I) is omitted.
  • vas a jugar futbol” (You are going to play football) can be “vas a jugar futbol” (going to play football)
  • yo no estaré allí” (I will not be there), “no estaré allí” (Will not be there)
  • deberías ser cuidadoso” (You should be careful), “deberías ser cuidadoso” (Should be careful)

When to use Subject Pronouns in Spanish

There are two situations where you would use subject pronouns in Spanish:

1. Emphasize on the Subject

The subject pronoun in Spanish is important when you need to explain who the person is. Take the sentence “They are nice people”, the person we are speaking to knows we are talking about they/them as opposed to “nice people”. Who are you talking about?

For example:

  • Ella tiene el libro (She has the book). Who has the book? She does.
  • estás siendo tonta (You are being silly) Who is being silly? Not me, but you!
  • Yo estoy enferma (I am sick) I am currently sick, so stay away or it will become:
  • Nosotras estamos enfermas (We are sick).

2. Making Comparisons

The subject pronoun is also important when you are comparing two individuals. Like, “She is taller than me”, I would need to mention she and me, otherwise, it would be a bit confusing.

For example:

  • ¡Yo soy más lista que ! (I am smarter than you). It won’t make sense if I say “Am smarter!” Who are you smarter than? Who?!
  • Mi perro es más lindo que la de ellas. (My dog is cuter than theirs!)
  • El es más fuerte que Mike. (He is stronger than Mike) In this case, you can either use pronouns with names or just say John es más fuerte que Mike. (John is stronger than Mike).
  • El es mas ruidoso que tu (He is louder than you)

 

Spanish Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns in Spanish is used to answer Spanish question words. Mainly for the question of “Who?” For example, “Whose is it?” and “Who did this?.” They give ownership to something.

There are two genders for each pronoun: Feminine words in Spanish end with the suffix -a and masculine end with the suffix -o. These can either be singular or plural. So; Pronouns can be singular masculine, singular feminine, plural masculine, or plural feminine.

To summarize:

  • Mine: El mío, los míos, la mía, las mías
  • Yours: El tuyo, los tuyos, la tuya, las tuyas
  • His, hers or its: El tuyo, los tuyos, la tuya, las tuyas
  • Ours: El nuestro, los nuestros, la nuestra, las nuestras
  • Theirs: El suyo, los suyos, la suya, las suyas

For example:

  • ¿De quién es este libro? (Whose book is this?) Es el mío (It is mine)
  • ¿De quién son estos libros? (Whose books are these?) Son los míos (They are mine)

Spanish Prepositional Pronouns

Two pronouns in Spanish can change when following a preposition (Words like for, on, of, after, inside, between, etc.)

Yo (I) becomes (me) and (You) becomes ti (you).

For example:

  • El gato está sentado sobre mí. (The cat is sitting on me)
  • ¿Piensas en mí? (Are you thinking of me?)
  • Yo compré esto para ti (I bought this for you)
  • El control remoto está debajo de ti (The remote is under you)

Let’s summarize what we know:

  • There are 12 different pronouns in Spanish: yo, tú, usted, él,ella, nosotros,nosotras, vosotros,vosotras, ustedes, and ellos,ellas.
  • Yo (I) becomes (me) and (You) becomes ti (you) after a preposition.
  • Subject pronouns in Spanish can change the ending of a verb.
  • You can sometimes drop the subject pronoun when using Yo or Tú.
  • You must use pronouns when specifying the subject and when making comparisons.
  • Spanish Possessive Pronouns can give ownership to something.

5 Questions to Practice Subject Pronouns in Spanish

Quiz time! See how far you are in understanding subject pronouns in Spanish!

Question 1

Which Spanish subject pronoun means “You” in a singular person/formal setting?

Question 2

Which Spanish subject pronoun would you use when talking to a group of friends (informal)?

Question 3

Which Spanish subject pronoun means “He”?

Question 4

Which Spanish subject pronoun would you use when addressing a group in a formal meeting?

Question 5

Which Spanish subject pronoun means “They”?

Are You a Pro at Spanish Subject Pronouns?

Pronouns are everywhere— in every sentence and every Spanish conversation. So learning how to use subject pronouns in Spanish is an important part of the journey to fluency!

Of course, learning a language on your own can take extremely long and you won’t be sure whether you are speaking it correctly. Getting an online language tutor at AmazingTalker is just the remedy you need! Customizable lessons are readily available online, so you can learn in the comfort of your home and lessons can be planned according to your schedule. Learning has never been this easy, or comfy!

Quiz Answers:

Question 1

Which Spanish subject pronoun means “You” in a formal setting?

Usted

Question 2

Which Spanish subject pronoun would you use when talking to a group of friends (informal)?

vosotros, vosotras

Question 3

Which Spanish subject pronoun means “He”?

el

Question 4

Which Spanish subject pronoun would you use when addressing a group in a formal meeting?

ustedes

Question 5

Which Spanish subject pronoun means “They”?

ellos, ellas

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