Let's talk about subject pronouns in English before we move on to Spanish. You will hear the term "person" used a lot when referring to pronouns. The "first person" is the person speaking (so "I" am the first person). Since "I" am just one person, I call the pronoun "I" the
first person singular subject pronoun. The
second person singular is the person to whom I am speaking (in other words - "you"). The
third person singular is the person or thing about whom I am speaking (in other words - "he," she," or "it"). The
first person plural ("we") involves at least two people and I am one of them. The
second person plural ("you" plural) involves two or more people to whom I am speaking. Down south the second person plural form "y'all" is pretty common. Finally, the
third person plural ("they") involves the people (or things) about whom I am speaking.
I like to use a 3 X 2 grid (as do a lot of text books) when listing pronouns:
singular plural
1st person I we
2nd person you you
3rd person he, she, it they
We will use a similar grid when dealing with Spanish subject pronouns. Here they are:
singular plural
first person yo nosotros / nosotras
second person tú (familiar) vosotros / vosotras (familiar, Spain only)
usted (formal) ustedes (formal and familiar, except in
Spain where it is considered formal)
third person él (he) ellos / ellas
ella (she)
The first thing you might notice is that there are two ways to say "we" (
nosotros / nosotras). It's a gender thing. If everyone in the group is female then you use
nosotras. If one male is in the group the pronoun becomes masculine (
nosotros). The same thing is true for
vosotros / vosotras and
ellos / ellas. Yeah, I know it's unfair. I was once in a class in Salamanca with 23 girls. Since I was present in the class, the professor had to use the masculine pronoun
vosotros whenever he addressed the group.
You might also have noticed there are four ways to say "you" in Spanish. The singular pronoun
tú is familiar. That is to say you would use it with family and friends. The formal singular pronoun
usted is used with people you just met (especially if they are older than you), your teachers, elders, or anyone for whom you feel you should show respect. When in doubt, it is safer to use
usted. A native speaker might be offended if you addressed him or her with
tú. Most people who work, play, or study together won't stay with
usted for very long. Most native speakers will let you know when it's time to
tutear (change to the
tú pronoun).
I should also mention that in some Central and South American countries they prefer to use the pronoun
vos instead of
tú. The verb conjugations for
vos will often resemble those used with
vosotros / vosotras, but bear in mind they are not the same thing.
Vosotros / as is a plural pronoun involving more than one person, whereas
vos is singular. I will be using
tú in this blog and not
vos. It is the pronoun I am familiar with, and it is universally understood.
Regarding the plural "you" pronouns, it really depends on where you are as to which ones you use. In Spain,
vosotros / as is the familiar "you" plural, whereas
ustedes is the formal pronoun. However,
vosotros / as is used only in Spain. Pretty much everywhere else in the world
ustedes is the only second person plural pronoun used. Since the majority of the Spanish-speaking world doesn't use
vosotros / as, many textbooks don't even teach it. Nevertheless, I will include it in this blog (after all, it does exist in Spain, the mother country of Spanish, so it does merit a little respect). Still, you should keep in mind that whenever you want to say "y'all" in Spanish, you can use
ustedes anywhere you go and you will be fine.
The pronouns
usted and
ustedes evolved from the expression
vuestra merced (your grace), an expression of respect used with nobles and royalty. Now the expression "your grace" is really a third person subject, not second person (just like say "your book" would be third person since we are talking
about the book and not
to it). So too is the expression
vuestra merced, which uses third person verb forms for the same reason. So as the expression evolved into the pronouns
usted and
ustedes, they kept using the third person verb forms. For this reason, they are typically grouped with the third person pronouns when shown in the grid:
singular plural
yo nosotros / nosotras
tú vosotros / vosotras
usted ustedes
él ellos
ella ellas
The verb conjugations for
usted, él, and
ella will always be the same (so too for
ustedes, ellos, and
ellas). Nevertheless, you need to remember that
usted and
ustedes are
second person pronouns ("you") even though the get grouped in with the third person forms.
Usted es alto. You
are tall.
El es alto. He
is tall.
Ella es alta. She
is tall.
One more thing, the word "it" as a
subject is not expressed. The pronoun
ello ("it") technically can be used as a subject, but in my 30 plus years of experience with Spanish I have never heard anyone use it that way. You're much more likely to hear
ello used as the object of a preposition, referring to a substantive whose gender cannot easily be determined. There are demonstrative pronouns (this, that, etc.) that can be used as a subject if you really feel the need, but in general the subject "it" is not expressed in Spanish.
¿El coche? Está en el garaje. The car? It is in the garage.
Students will look up the word "it" in the dictionary and find
lo and
la. They will then try to use them as subject pronouns:
WRONG ----->
Lo está en el garaje.
This is a no-no.
Lo and
la are object pronouns, not subject pronouns. We will talk about object pronouns at a later date. Don't try to use
lo / la as subjects. You'll just confuse the listener.
Well that's it for now on subject pronouns. I welcome any comments and questions you may have. More to come...
