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) | tú |
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)
Tú 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 mí (me).
- Let’s use the phrase ”I love you” in Spanish for example:
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 | 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 | 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 | 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 tú 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.
- “tú 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)
- “tú 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.
- Tú 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 tú! (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 mí (me) and Tú (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 mí (me) and Tú (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