Subjects, Objects and Pronouns

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 decirte un secreto (They wanto to tell you a secret)