Our quick-start guide continues…
Subject Pronouns in Spanish. #2
5
Minutes
5 great things about Spanish grammar
Learning a language can be a long and frustrating process. However,…
Did you check out part one?
Welcome to the second part of Hablarama’s quick-start guide to Spanish subject pronouns. In the first part we saw that Spanish has more subject pronouns than in English. Damn! We also saw two important differences between English and Spanish when it comes to subject pronouns.
Let’s move on and see two more important differences between the two languages. We’ll also see more examples of phrases and questions.
Pay attention, this third point is a big one!
3. You don’t actually need the subject pronoun in Spanish!
One of the biggest differences between English and Spanish pronouns is that you aren’t obliged to use subject pronouns in Spanish.
So you could say:
- Yo tengo mucho dinero.
I have a lot of money.
But actually you don’t need to use ‘Yo’. You can just say:
- Tengo mucho dinero.
Likewise, for the second person singular we could say:
- Tú no tienes dinero.
You don’t have money.
But, it’s much more natural for a native speaker to say:
- No tienes dinero
In fact it’s unusual to hear the pronouns, especially when it comes to things:
- ¿Dónde está la iglesia?
- Está en el centro del pueblo.
Or…
- ¿Dónde están mis zapatos?
- Están debajo del sofá.
It’s just much more convenient to omit the pronoun!
How is this possible??
Because Spanish verbs have a separate form for each person, we don’t need to use a pronoun to identify the person. We know from the verb ending which person is being referred to.
4. Gender
Pronouns have gender in Spanish. Actually, they do in English too (she/him), but Spanish goes several steps further and has gender specific pronouns for ALL the plural forms except ustedes:
| Nosotros | We (masculine) |
| Nosotras | We (feminine) |
| Vosotros | You (informal plural, masculine) |
| Vosotras | You (informal plural, feminine) |
| Ellos | They (masculine) |
| Ellas | They (feminine) |
If we are in an all-male or mixed group* we say:
- Nosotros estamos en la plaza.
We are in the square.
In an all-female group we’ll say:
- Nosotras estamos en la plaza.
We are in the square.
*Sorry ladies, if there’s just one guy in your group then you still need to use the masculine form. Don’t shoot the messenger!
More grammar classes
Check out our Spanish grammar section for more classes on essential elements of the Spanish language.
