SPA111: Subject Pronouns

SUBJECT PRONOUNS The subject of a sentence, the noun, is the person or thing which performs the action. The Subject pronoun replaces this person or thing, the noun. Before you can fully understand how to conjugate verbs you must understand subject pronouns. English 1st person singular I Spanish 1st person singular yo English 2nd person singular You Spanish 2nd person singular *tú English 3rd person singular He/She/it Spanish 3rd person singular él/ella/*usted (Ud.) English 1st person plural we Spanish 1st person plural nosotros/nosotras English 2nd person plural you all (y'all) Spanish 2nd person plural *vosotros/vosotras English 3rd person plural they Spanish 3rd person plural ellos/ellas/*ustedes (Uds.) * The Spanish distinguish between the informal and the formal "you." The informal is used for friends, family, and people close in age. The formal is used to show respect or to indicate the person is unknown to the speaker. SINGULAR, INFORMAL tú PLURAL, INFORMAL vosotros/vosotras SINGULAR, FORMAL usted (Ud.) PLURAL, FORMAL ustedes (Uds.) FORMAL Vosotros/vosotras are used only in Spain. In Latin America, ustedes is used to refer to both the familiar and the formal “plural you”. In Spanish the subject pronoun is often omitted from sentence because the verb form indicates the subject of the sentence. Voy a la playa. Voy = I am going, therefore the ‘yo’ is not needed Necesitamos mucho dinero. Necesitamos = We need, therefore the ‘nosotros’ is not needed. However, subject pronouns are used for emphasis, clarification, or contrast. Es inteligente. Who is ‘es’ ? Es = he is, she is, it is… Ella es inteligente. Necesitan una mesa grande. Who ‘necesitan’ ellos, ellas… Ellos necesitan una mesa grande.