Subject pronouns

Subject pronouns
Subject pronouns are simply the “who” of a sentence. By this I mean it is the person who
is doing the action. In English, common subject pronouns are I, you, he or she, we, and
they. Let’s take a quick look at Spanish subject pronouns.
Subject pronouns in Spanish
1.
Singular forms
yo (I)
tú (you)
él / ella / usted (he/she/you, formal)
Plural forms
nosotros / nosotras (we)
vosotros / vosotras (you all)
ellos / ellas / ustedes (they/ you all, formal)
2. When do you use subject pronouns? Compared to English, subject pronouns in Spanish
are rarely used. Notice how we do not say them in the following examples.
Vivo con mi mejor amigo.
I live with my best friend.
Estudiamos español en la universidad.
We study Spanish at the university.
3. A general rule for subject pronouns is that they are used mainly for emphasis or
clarification since verb endings in Spanish indicate who the subject of a sentence is.
-¿Quién es el profesor?
-Who is the teacher?
-Él es el profesor.
-He is the teacher.
-¿Quién quiere comer ahora?
-Who wants to eat now?
-Nosotros queremos comer ahora.
-We want to eat now.
4. The subject pronouns usted and ustedes are an exception to this rule. We often do say
them out of respect.
¿Estudia usted español?
Do you study Spanish?
¿Tienen hambre ustedes?
Subject pronouns
©2008 Cengage Learning
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Are you hungry?
Usted escribe muy bien.
You write very well.
5. In English, the impersonal subject pronoun “it” does not have an equivalent form in
Spanish. When “it” is the subject of a sentence, the third person singular form of the verb
is used without the pronoun.
Es imposible hablar español sin practicar.
It is impossible to speak Spanish without practicing.
-¿Qué es?
-What is it?
-Es una palabra extranjera.
-It is a foreign word.
6. The vosotros form is primarily used in Spain. You won’t hear it very often in Latin
America. In its place, people use the ustedes form even if the situation is not formal.
Estudiáis y vivís en una ciudad bonita (España)
Ustedes estudian y viven en una ciudad bonita (Latinoamérica)
You study and live in a pretty city.
Subject pronouns
©2008 Cengage Learning
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