Spanish Pronouns
There are different kinds of Spanish pronouns:
| Personal |
| Possessive |
| Demonstrative |
| Relative |
| Indefinite |
Personal Pronouns
On this page we'll study personal pronouns. Personal pronouns are used to designate persons, animals or things. The following table shows the different forms that personal pronouns can take depending on their function within the sentence:
| Function | singular | plural | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
| nominative[subject] | yo | túusted | élellaellolo | nosotros | ustedesvosotros | ellosellaslo |
| accusative | me | te | lo, la | nos | losos | los, las |
| dative | me | te | le, se | nos | lesosse | les, se |
| prepositional[except with "con"] | de mí | de ti | de élde ellade ellode sí | de nosotros | de ustedesde vosotros | de ellosde ellasde sí |
| prepositionalwith "con" | conmigo | contigo | con élconsigo | con nosotros | con ustedescon vosotros | con elloscon ellasconsigo |
Spanish Pronouns that serve as the Subject of a Sentence
In each of the following sentences, the action is being carried out by the person designated by the highlighted Spanish pronoun:
|
Yo estudio. Tú trabajas. Él vive en España. Ella viaja. Nosotros aprendemos español. Vosotros bailáis. Vosotras nadáis. Ustedes comen ensalada. Ellos beben café. Ellas vuelan a Mallorca. |
I study. You work. He lives in Spain. She travels. We learn Spanish. You dance. You swim. You eat salad. They drink coffee. They fly to Mallorca. |
Exercise I
Replace the subject by a personal pronoun, as in the example:
|
1. Los bebés gatean. |
1. _Ellos gatean. |
|
2. Paula recibe mucha correspondencia. |
______ recibe mucha correspondencia. |
|
3. Carlos practica yoga. |
______ practica yoga. |
|
4. Yuriria baila flamenco. |
______ baila flamenco. |
|
5. Francisco y Armando leen mucho. |
______ leen mucho. |
|
6. Andrea y Mari cantan bonito. |
______ cantan bonito. |
|
7. Tito trabaja mucho. |
______ trabaja mucho. |
|
8. Paulina compra pan y huevos. |
______ compra pan y huevos. |
|
9. Juan Pablo y Luis suben las escaleras. |
_____ suben las escaleras. |
|
10. Rosa y Rocío caminan a la escuela. |
______ caminan a la escuela. |
Exercise II
Fill in the missing personal pronouns. Whenever there is more than one possibility, choose one of them.
1. _Yo__ trabajo en las mañanas.
2. _____ necesitas ayuda.
3. _____ vivimos en Granada.
4. _____ toman vino.
5. _____ abro todas las ventanas.
6. _____ organiza eventos.
7. _________ paseamos en las montañas.
8. _________ vuelan a Europa.
9. ______ tocas el piano.
10. _____ hablo inglés y español.
Spanish Pronouns: Accusative
| singular | plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
| accusative | me | te | lo, la | nos | losos | los, las |
In each of the following sentences, the action of the verb falls directly on the highlighted object, which can be replaced by a personal pronoun, as seen on the examples.
|
Yo abro la puerta. Yo la abro. Tú escribes la carta. Tú la escribes. Él lee el libro. El lo lee. Ella sube las escaleras. Ella las sube. Nosotros tomamos el té. Nosotros lo tomamos. Ustedes escuchan la música. Ustedes la escuchan. Yo uso los lentes. Yo los uso. Tú fumas el cigarro. Tú lo fumas. Nosotros miramos el cuadro. Nosotros lo miramos. Ella recibe el regalo. Ella lo recibe. |
I open the door. I open it. You write the letter. You write it. He reads the book. He reads it. She escalates the stairs. She escalates them. We drink the tea. We drink it. You listen to the music. You listen to it. I use the glasses. I use them. You smoke the cigarette. You smoke it. We look at the picture. We look at it. She receives the gift. She receives it. |
Exercise III
Replace the object by a personal pronoun, as in the examples above.
|
1. Yo piso el pasto. 2. Tú utilizas la calculadora. 3. Él toma los lápices. 4. Ella organiza la boda. 5. Nosotros mojamos la ropa. 6. Ustedes estudian el idioma. 7. Ellos escriben el resumen. 8. Yo toco la trompeta. 9. Tú doblas las invitaciones. 10. Él escucha las noticias. |
Yo ____ piso. Tú _____ utilizas. Él ______ toma. Ella ______ organiza. Nosotros _____ mojamos. Ustedes ______ estudian. Ellos ______ escriben. Yo ______ toco. Tú ______doblas. Él ______ escucha. |
Spanish Pronouns: Dative
| singular | plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
| dative | me | te | le, se* | nos | lesosse* | les, se* |
*The pronoun "se" is used when the person who carries out the action is also the person benefited or otherwise affected by it.
In the following examples, the highlighted Spanish pronouns designate the person or persons who are benefited or otherwise affected by the verbs' actions:
|
Rocío me escribió una carta. Tu esposo te cantó una canción. Te tocó una melodía. ¿Le mandaste el libro? ¿Nos compras un helado? Ella te juntó información. Leeme el poema. ¡Lánzame la pelota! Les debemos 5 euros. ¿Le abres la puerta? Pancho se rompe la cabeza estudiando gramática.* |
Rocio wrote me a letter. Your husband sang you a song. He played a melody for you. Did you send him/her the book? Will you buy us an ice cream? She gathered information for you. Read me the poem. Throw me the ball! We owe them 5 euros. Will you open the door for him/her? Pancho breaks his head studying grammar. |
Exercise IV
Insert the missing personal pronouns. In the translation, we highlighted for you who is being benefited by the verb's action.
|
1. Mi mamá ____ lee un cuento. |
My mother reads me a story. |
|
2. Mis papás ____ organizaron una fiesta de cumpleaños a los gemelos. |
My parents organized a birthday party for the twins. |
|
3. ¿____ abres la puerta? |
Will you open the door for me? |
|
4. ¡Susi y Mari, amárren___ las agujetas!* (see above) |
Susi and Mari, tie your shoestrings. |
|
5. ____ compramos una casa de tres pisos. |
We bought ourselves a three-storey house. |
Prepositional
| singular | plural | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | |
| prepositional(except with "con") | de mí | de ti | de élde ellade ellode sí | de nosotros | de ustedesde vosotros | de ellosde ellasde sí |
| prepositionalwith "con" | conmigo | contigo | con élconsigo | con nosotros | con ustedescon vosotros | con elloscon ellasconsigo |
In each of the following sentences, the highlighted "preposition+pronoun" further describes the action denoted by the verb. Most prepositions can be combined with prepositional personal pronouns in this way:
A, ante, bajo, contra, de, desde, en, hacia, hasta, para, por, sin, sobre and tras
|
Mi hija corrió hacia mí. Él se burla de tí. Yo pienso en él. No puede vivir sin ella. Él camina hacia nosotros. Él habla de ustedes. Yo trabajo para ellos. |
My daughter ran towards me. He makes fun of you. I think of him. He can't live without her. He walks towards us. He talks about you. I work for them. |
Exceptions:
The prepositions entre and según are used with the nominative form of the personal pronouns:
|
Entre tú y yo... Según él... |
Between you and me... According to him... |
And finally, remember that personal pronouns take a special form when used together with the preposition "con":
|
Ellos viajan conmigo. Yo desayuno contigo. Ella habla consigo misma. Él trabaja con ella. Él vive con nosotros. Ellos hablan consigo mismos. Nosotros comemos con ustedes. |
They travel with me. I breakfast with you. She talks with herself. He works with her. He lives with us. They talk with themselves. We eat with you. |
Exercise V
Fill in the missing Spanish pronouns:
|
1. Compraron dulces para _____. |
They bought sweets for them. |
|
2. ¡Nada hacia ____! |
Swim towards me! |
|
3. Habló contra _____. |
He spoke against you. |
|
4. Yo voté por _____. |
I voted for him. |
|
5. Juan estudia ____________. |
Juan studies with me. |
|
6. Blanca trabaja ____ ____________. |
Blanca works with us. |
|
7. Mi hermana habla _____________ misma. |
My sister talks to herself. |
Check your answers
I. 2. Ella, 3. Él, 4. Ella, 5. Ellos, 6. Ellas, 7. Él, 8. Ella, 9. Ellos, 10. Ellas
II. 2. Tú, 3. Nosotros/Nosotras, 4. Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes 5. Yo, 6. Él/Ella, 7. Nosotros/Nosotras, 8. Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes, 9. Tú, 10. Yo
III. 1. lo, 2. la, 3. los, 4. la, 5. la, 6. lo, 7. lo, 8. la, 9. las, 10. las
IV. 1. me, 2. les, 3. Me, 4. se, 5. Nos
V. 1. ellos, 2. mí, 3. ti, 4. él, 5. conmigo, 6. con nosotros, 7. consigo
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