6. ¡Aprendamos los pronombres!

Now it’s time to learn a bit more about others and perhaps people that they know. In order to know about whom you are speaking, you need to know subjects. Subjects tell us who or what in a sentence. It can be a person, place or thing—a noun. In our earlier conversation practices, Alejando, Talía and José were our subjects for the most part. The sentences in the conversation were declarative, interrogative and only one exclamatory: ¡Yo también estudio matemáticas! José expresses his excitement, because Alejandro and he study the same thing.

Let’s analyze the subjects of the conversation:

• Names such as Alejandro o Talía are called proper nouns. They are specific and clearly identifiable.
• General names such as students, people, books, pets are called common nouns. One knows what these refer to but it is not very specific.
• When one does not want to repeat the proper nouns or common nouns, one may use what is called a pronoun. A pronoun takes the place of a proper or common noun.

Once you have identified the proper or common noun, often you may refer to that as he, she, you or they. These are pronouns and are often used in daily language.

Observa el videos 1.2.9 as an introduction to the pronouns in Spanish. Take notes on the pronouns—you will define them in the section below.

As you watch, try to determine what it means to be a singular or plural subject or object? Can you classify the pronouns as singular or plural?

The only thing to re-think about this video is that since the Spanish language is derived from Spain, it is important to know the “Vosotros/ Vosotras” forms. We would like to emphasize that the pronoun “tú” in plural is “vosotros/vosotras”.

In Latin America, the “vosotros/as” form is not used. Instead, they use the plural formal form of “usted à ustedes” for both formal and informal ways of addressing several people at the same time. In the Spanish grammatical context, you must use the appropriate subject for the situation as it has consequences in the way that we conjugate the verbs. It is very important that you know that the plural pronoun of tú is vosotros/vosotras. In Latin America, they use the plural pronoun “ustedes” to address a group of friends or family members. Gain familiarity with the singular subjects and their plural counterparts (tú has a plural form in Spain. In Latin America it does not.) Usted has a plural formàUstedes which is used for formally addressing a group of people in Spain. In Latin America, “ustedes” can be used to address formally or informally a group of people.

Subject Pronouns

Note: In Spanish, the subject pronoun when used within the sentence, meaning it does not start the sentence, would be spelled in lowercase. The difference is that in English the subject pronoun “I” is always capitalized.

Below you will find vocabulary and phrases that you should learn. As you replay the video (1.2.9) or look at your notes, define the words in English and to whom these pronouns pertain (male(s) vs female(s).)

Practiquemos:

Let’s practice. Reflecting back on Alejandro, Talía and José:

1. What word would you select to replace José? ____________
2. What word would you select to replace Talía? ____________
3. What about Alejandro y Talía? ___________
4. What about Alejandro y José? ___________
5. Why are 3 and 4 similar? _________________________________________________
6. What word would you select if Talía brings her friend María and you are referring to the both of them? ___________
7. What word would you select if María comes with her Grandmother and you are referring only to her? ____________
8. What word would you select if María’s Grandmother brings her sister and you are referring to the both of them (Maria’s Grandmother and Maria’s aunt)? _____________________

Aprendamos:

Just like in English, we have subject pronouns in Spanish. The subject pronoun takes the place of a specific name. For example instead of saying Joe eats, Joe plays, Joe sleeps, you could say “He” eats, he plays, etc. The subject pronouns in Spanish should be learned. Pay attention to the number preceding the English meaning. Awareness of the terms first, second and third person will be helpful as you learn how these subjects correspond to the action words or verbs. The subject pronouns are:

In this version, you will see that some of the pronouns are combined on one line. This does not mean that the words have the same definition. You will find this organization useful as you work with verbs with these pronouns. NOTE: The pronoun it doesn’t exist in Spanish—all words are feminine, masculine or neuter. Do not rely on biological gender to indicate the word’s gender: The word “person” (persona) is always feminine yet we can be speaking about a person: man or a woman.

The subject pronouns are divided into three groups: first, second and third person pronouns. The word person in this case does not necessary mean a human being. It is a grammatical term that can refer to any noun. In the following chart are the subject pronouns in English and in Spanish grouped by persons. Notice the “person” has number: singular and plural.