Spanish 1.4. Subject Personal Pronouns

In this lesson, we study the subject personal pronouns in Spanish.

Subject personal pronouns in Spanish serve the same function as their English counterparts. They point out who carries out the action described by the verb.

yoI1st person singular
you (informal)2nd person singular
ustedyou (formal)2nd person singular
él/ellahe/she/it3rd person singular
nosotros/nosotraswe1st person plural
vosotros/vosotrasyou (informal)2nd person plural
ustedesyou (formal)2nd person plural
ellos/ellasthey3rd person plural

Dropping the Subject Pronoun

More often than not, the subject personal pronoun is dropped because the verb endings can be sufficient to refer to the subject, as you will learn in Lesson 5 of this level.

Informal “” vs. Formal “Usted

There are two forms of singular “you” in Spanish. The first is the informal “” and is used with familiar people (e.g., child, relative, friend, peer, etc.). The second is the formal “usted” which is used with older people and with people we are not familiar with or to show respect.

In writing, you can abbreviate “usted” as “Ud.” and “ustedes” as “Uds.” where the abbreviation forms are always capitalized.

The accent on the “u” in “” is to distinguish it from the possessive pronoun “tu,” meaning “your, and does not affect the pronunciation. Similarly, the accent is used to distinguish “él,” meaning “he” or “it, from the definite article “el,” meaning “the.

In some Spanish-speaking countries like Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, El Salvador, and Nicaragua, the informal “” is replaced with vos” and has different verb conjugations that you will find in Level VI, Lesson 9.

Nosotros” & “Vosotros

The masculine pronouns “nosotros” and “vosotros” have the feminine forms “nosotras” and “vosotras,” respectively. The feminine forms are used for groups that consist exclusively of feminine-gender members. Even if one masculine-gender member of that group exists, we must use “nosotros” and “vosotros.” The same gender rules apply to “ellos” and “ellas,” both meaning “they.

In Latin America, “vosotros” is not used; instead, “ustedes” is used for both the formal and informal plural versions of “you. Throughout the book, we keep the “vosotros” conjugation for reference only. However, feel free to ignore it if you want to focus exclusively on Latin American Spanish, as this book is intended.

The Equivalent of “it” in Spanish

There is no direct equivalent to the English subject pronoun “it. Since all nouns in Spanish are either masculine or feminine, we use “él” or “ella” to refer to an object depending on whether it is masculine or feminine. There is also the neuter personal pronoun “ello,” often translated as “it, which refers to a statement or a situation. This is usually used in writing but seldom in spoken Spanish. For example, “Ello no significa mucho(It does not mean much). In spoken Spanish, you would use the masculine demonstrative pronoun “esto,” meaning “this, e.g., “Esto no significa mucho.” More details on demonstrative pronouns are discussed in Level II, Lesson 6.

Quiz: Subject Personal Pronouns in Spanish

Spanish: Subject Personal Pronouns

1 / 11

1. The subject personal pronoun (I)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

2 / 11

2. The subject personal pronoun (you - plural)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

3 / 11

3. There is no direct translation of the subject pronoun it in English. To refer to a statement or a situation in Spanish, such as:

"It does not mean much,"

we could say:

 

SP: ___ no significa mucho.

 

4 / 11

4. The subject personal pronoun (we - feminine)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

5 / 11

5. The subject personal pronoun (he)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

6 / 11

6. The subject personal pronoun (they - feminine)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

7 / 11

7. The subject personal pronoun (you - singular informal)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

8 / 11

8. The subject personal pronoun (they - masculine)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

9 / 11

9. The subject personal pronoun (she)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

10 / 11

10. The subject personal pronoun (we - masculine)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

11 / 11

11. The subject personal pronoun (you - singular formal)  in Spanish is:

 

SP: ___

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