Spanish pronouns: subject pronouns, tú or usted, and object pronouns

The subject pronouns

1. Accents matter. tú (you) but tu (your); él (he) but el (the). Yo, ella, usted never take an accent.
2. Gender in the plural. nosotras, vosotras, ellas are for all-female groups. A mixed group, even one boy among twenty girls, takes the masculine: nosotros, ellos.
3. Usted and ustedes take third-person verbs. They come from vuestra merced, “your grace”: ¿Usted habla inglés? Abbreviations: Ud. or Vd., Uds. or Vds.
4. No subject pronoun for “it”. Es importante. (It’s important.) Llueve. (It’s raining.) “Él es importante” would mean “He is important”.

Tú, usted, vosotros, ustedes, vos

1. Vosotros is only used in Spain. In Latin America, and also in the Canary Islands and parts of western Andalusia, ustedes covers every plural “you”.
2. Usted is less frequent in Spain than in much of Latin America. In Spain it is kept for strangers, older people and formal situations. In Colombia or Costa Rica, for example, you may hear usted even between friends or within families.
3. Vos replaces tú in several countries. It is standard in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, and widespread in Central America. It has its own verb forms: vos hablás, vos tenés, vos sos.

For UK pupils: teach tú, usted, vosotros and ustedes actively if your course follows Spain; recognise vos when it appears in songs, films or with Argentinian speakers.

When to use subject pronouns

Spanish is a “pro-drop” language: the verb ending already says who is acting, so the pronoun is usually left out. Tengo trece años is more natural than “Yo tengo trece años”.

Use the pronoun:

• for contrast: Yo juego al fútbol, pero ella prefiere el baloncesto.
• for emphasis: ¡Lo hago yo! (I’ll do it!)
• to avoid ambiguity: habla could be he, she or you (formal); Ella habla francés settles it.
• alone, with no verb: ¿Quién quiere empezar? ¡Yo! ¿Y tú?

A pupil who puts yo before every verb sounds insistent or foreign. That is a useful thing to say to pupils once they are confident.

Object pronouns

1. Before the conjugated verb. Lo veo. (I see it or him.) Te quiero. Me gusta. Negation goes first: No lo sé.
2. Attached to infinitives, gerunds and positive commands. Voy a comprarlo (or Lo voy a comprar), Estoy haciéndolo, ¡Dímelo!, with a written accent to keep the stress.
3. Indirect before direct. Me lo das. Te la doy.
4. Le and les become se before lo, la, los, las. Se lo doy, not “le lo doy”.
5. Mí has an accent, ti does not. para mí, para ti; with con: conmigo, contigo.

Regional note: in much of Spain, le is used as the direct object for a male person: Le vi ayer for Lo vi ayer (I saw him yesterday). This “leísmo” is accepted by the Real Academia Española for a masculine person in the singular; lo is correct everywhere.

Pronouns and conjugation

Every Spanish verb table follows the order of the subject pronouns. Three things help pupils:

• él, ella and usted share one verb form; ellos, ellas and ustedes share another. Six endings cover all the pronouns.
• The vosotros form is the only one with an accent in the present of regular verbs: habláis, coméis, vivís.
• The nosotros form of -ar and -ir verbs is the same in the present and the preterite: hablamos, vivimos. Context decides.

Nosotras vamos al cine, ¿y vosotros?We (girls) are going to the cinema, and you (guys)?

¿Usted es la profesora de Ana?Are you Ana’s teacher? (formal)

Mi hermano me lo ha dado.My brother has given it to me.

Typical mistakes of English-speaking learners

• Yo everywhere: “Yo tengo, yo vivo, yo juego”. Drop it unless there is a reason.
• “Él es lunes” or “Ello es fácil”: no pronoun for “it”: Es lunes. Es fácil.
• Tu and tú, el and él confused in writing.
• Usted with a tú verb: “¿Usted hablas…?” It is ¿Usted habla…?
• “Yo gusto el fútbol”: Me gusta el fútbol; the thing liked is the subject.
• “Con mí”, “con tú”: conmigo, contigo.
• Pronoun after the verb: “Veo lo” for Lo veo.

In class: the pronoun wheel

Pronouns and conjugation are best practised together, quickly and often.

1. A verb appears, for example tener.
2. Point at yourself, at one pupil, at a boy, at a girl, at a group: the class gives the pronoun and the verb form, yo tengo, tú tienes, él tiene…
3. Then drop the pronouns: tengo, tienes, tiene. Pupils hear that the ending is enough.
4. Finish with a real sentence: Tengo dos hermanos. ¿Y tú?

That is exactly what a daily conjugation routine does: a verb is drawn, the class conjugates it person by person, in the present up to A2, then in the preterite at B1 and the subjunctive at B2.

Adapting to your class

• A1The subject pronouns with ser and tener: Yo soy…, Ella tiene…
• A2Drop the pronoun; add usted and ustedes; me gusta, te gusta.
• B1Direct and indirect object pronouns in the preterite: Se lo di ayer.
• B2Pronouns with the subjunctive and commands: Quiero que me lo expliques. ¡Dímelo!

At KS2, a pronoun song with gestures works well. At KS3, insist on dropping yo and on accents. At GCSE, object pronouns make answers shorter and far more natural.

Frequently asked questions