In Spanish and other languages, you often replace names or nouns in a sentence with pronouns, such as he, him, she,her, it, they or them, to avoid the monotony of repeating the names or nouns.
Introducing subjects and objects
- Subjects - Is the person or thing that is something or is doing something
Maya and I are here (Ask yourself: Who is here? the answer is the subject)
Abhi speaks Spanish (Ask yourself: Who speaks spanish? the answer is the subject)
Are they arriving today? (Ask yourself: What is arriving? the answer is the subject)
- Direct Objects - Directly receive the verb's action
Maya likes
Abhi. She likes
him. (Ask yourself:
Who is liked? the answer is the direct object)
The professor is giving a test. He is giving it. (Ask yourself: What is being given? the answer is the direct object)
- Indirect Objects - Indirectly affected by the verb's action. They indicate whom or for whom something is done.
give
to me!
E.g:
Maya gives the book to Abhi.
- Who gives? Maya (the subject)
- Who or what is given? the book (the direct object)
- To/for whom - to/for what is given? Abhi (the indirect object)
Introducing the subject pronouns
The Spanish subjects pronouns:
yo — I
tú — you (informal or familiar singular)
usted — you (formal singular)
él, ella — he, she
nosotros, nosotras — we (the first form refers to a group of males or males and females, while the second form refers to females only)
vosotros, vosotras — you (informal or familiar plural; the first form refers to a group of males or males and females, while the second form refers to females only)
ustedes — you (formal plural)
ellos, ellas — they (the first form refers to a group of males or males and females, while the second form refers to females only)
When deciding wich subject pronoun to use, refer to the following table:
| PERSON |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
| 1st |
yo |
nosotros/nosotras |
| 2nd |
tú |
vosotros/vosotras |
| 3rd |
él/ella/usted |
ellos/ellas/ustedes |
Usted (Ud) and ustedes (Uds) are actually second person subject pronouns (meaning you formal), but consider them third person pronouns in Spanish for the purpose of conjugating verbs.
E.g.
- los niños (the children) - ellos
- mis padres (my parents) - ellos
- Maya y Abhi (Maya and Abhi) - ellos
- Abhi y yo (Abhi and I) - nosotros
- you - (friend) - tú
- su padre (your dad) - él
- you (groupof friends, all girls) - vosotras
- Maya (Maya) - ella
- you (couple you just meet) - ustedes
Introducing the direct object pronouns
When the pronoun replaces the name of the direct object, use the following pronouns:
me (me)
te (you - familiar)
lo, la (him, her, it, you - formal)
nos (us)
os (you - all - familiar)
los, las (them, you-all-formal)
When deciding wich subject pronoun to use, refer to the following table:
| PERSON |
SINGULAR |
PLURAL |
| 1st |
me |
nos |
| 2nd |
te |
os |
| 3rd |
lo, la |
los, las |
In an affirmative statement with one verb, the direct object pronoun comes immediately before the conjugated verb.
E.g:
- Tengo = I have
Tengo la pluma. = I have the pen.
La tengo. = I have it.
- Nosotros compramos la casa (we buy the house)
Nosotros la compramos (we buy it)
- Ellos miran a tí (they look at you)
Ellos te miran
- Yo necesito el carro (I need the car)
Yo lo necesito.
- La profesora enseña a vosotros (The teacher teaches you)
La profesora os enseña.
- Abhi ve a nosotros (Abhi see us)
Abhi nos ve.
- Nosotros tenemos las tarjetas (We have the cards)
Nosotros las tenemos.
Introducing the indirect object pronouns
When a pronoun takes the place of the name of the indirect object, use the following pronouns:
me (me)
te (you - familiar)
le (him, her, you-formal)
nos (us)
os (you-all-familiar)
les (them, you-all-formal)
When deciding wich subject pronoun to use, refer to the following table:
| PERSON | SINGULAR | PLURAL |
| 1st | me | nos |
| 2nd | te | os |
| 3rd | le | les |
The placement of indirect object pronouns is the same as for direct object pronouns
- Él le escribe una carta (He is writing her a letter)
- No me envían una carta (They aren't sending me a letter)
- Mi mamá está preparándome la cena (My mother is preparing dinner for me)
- Ellos quieren decir
te un secreto (
They wanto to tell you a secret)
