Pronouns Flashcards
What are the subject pronouns and when they are needed?
Singular:
I - yo
You - tú
He/it - él
she/it - ella
you(formal) - usted (Vd)
Plural:
we- nosotros
You - vosotros
they (masculine or a mix of masculine and feminine) - ellos
they (feminine) - ellas
you (formal) - ustedes (Vds)
Rarely used except:
- when they are needed for clarity
Ella ya es estudiante pero él ha dejado de estudiar
She is still a student but he has finished studying
- for emphasis
Yo estoy de acuerdo, pero ¿que opinas tú?
I agree, but what do you think
What are direct object pronouns and when do you use them?
Singular:
I - me
you - te
he/it - lo(le)
she/it - La
you (formal) - lo(le), La
Plural:
we - nos
you - os
they(masc + masc + fem) - los (les)
they (fem) - las
you (formal) - los (les), las
- in Spanish the words for him/ her or it are lo (masculine) and la (feminine)
- in some areas of Spain, le is used instead of lo for male people only
- La is always used for female people and feminine nouns
- remember to use the same pronouns for usted and ustedes as you would use for the third person
What is the position of direct object pronouns?
usually come in front of the verb
Ya lo oigo - I can hear him/ it
Le llamaré esta tarde, señor - I’ll call you this afternoon, sir
However when they are used with a gerund or an infinitive they can be tacked on to the end:
Las estamos escuchando or Estamos escuchándolas -We are listening to them
No puedo hacerlo en seguida - I can’t do it immediately
No quiero escucharte - I don’t want to listen to you
In positive commands they have to be tackled on to the end, usually means an accent is needed on the verb to keep the stress in the right place.
Mírame - watch me
Escúchala - listen to it
But in negative compounds they stay in their usual position, in front of the verb
No lo escuches - don’t listen to it
When there is more than one verb the object pronoun can go before the first verb or be tacked on to the second one
La están mirando or están mirándola - they are watching it/ her
What are indirect object pronouns?
First and second person indirect object pronouns (to me, to you, to us are me, te, nos and os, the same as the direct object pronouns.
The third person indirect object pronouns (to him, to her, to them, to you (usted)) are le (for both masculine and feminine singular) and les (for all plurals).
The rules for position of indirect object pronouns are the same as for direct object pronouns.
¿Me pasas este CD?
Will you pass (to) me that CD?
Te daré diez euros.
I’ll give (to) you ten euros.
Le devolverán su álbum pronto.
They’ll soon return his album to him.
Le digo que usted no puede entrar sin entrada, señor.
I tell (to) you, you can’t go in without a ticket, sir.
Por favor, mándenos un correo eléctronico.
Please send (to) us an e-mail.
Señoras, voy a ofrecerles un CD como premio.
Ladies, I am going to offer (to) you a CD as a prize.
Salió sin decirles gracias.
He left without saying thank you to them.
Word order of pronouns and when do you need indirect and direct?
If two or more object pronouns occur together, the indirect object pronoun always comes before the direct object pronoun, whereas in English the order can vary.
Te los mandaré mañana.
I’ll send you them tomorrow.
Os las damos en seguida.
We’ll give you them straight away.
Me lo explicó ayer.
She explained it to me yesterday.
If le or les is followed by another 3rd person object pronoun (e.g. lo, las), the le or les changes to se. This is purely to avoid the clumsy sound of too many words beginning with /-coming one after another. Where this happens, you need to use the context to work out who ‘se represents.
¿Se lo mandaste?
Did you send it to him/her/them?
Voy a devolvérselas en seguida, señora.
I’ll give them back to you straight away, madam.
¡Daselos en seguida!
Give them to him/her/them immediately!
What are disjunctive (or emphatic) pronouns?
The disjunctive pronouns are:
singular
plural
mí
nosotros
ti
vosotros
él
ellos
ella
ellas
usted (Vd.)
ustedes (Vds.)
They are identical to the subject pronouns, except for mí and ti (mí has an accent simply to distinguish it from the possessive adjective mi).
These pronouns are used after prepositions (e.g. por, para, de, en, a):
Para ti, ¿cuáles serían las ventajas de vivir aquí?
For you, what would be the advantages of living here?
A mi me gusta más navegar por Internet que leer.
I prefer surfing the Internet to reading.
No quiero hablar de ella.
I don’t want to talk about her.
Conmigo, contigo, consigo
After con special forms of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd person singular are tacked on to make conmigo, contigo, consigo.
¿Quieres venir al cibercafé conmigo?
Do you want to come to the Internet café with me?
Llevó el paraguas consigo porque iba a llover.
He took the umbrella with him because it was going to rain.
¿Contigo? ¿Estás loco?
With you? Are you kidding?
Not all prepositions require disjunctive pronouns. The prepositions entre, según, excepto, menos and salvo are followed by subject pronouns:
