Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns in Spanish are used almost the same way as their English equivalents. However, the main difference is that in Spanish they do not need to be expressed since the verb itself will identify the subject. This happens in English with the third person singular of the present tense (to think-> thinks), where the -s shows us that we're dealing with a he, she or it, although in English the pronoun is never omitted with the exception of the imperative ("Sit down!", not "You, sit down!"), unless we want to emphasize on the person being addressed with the command. In Spanish, a pronoun is only needed when refering to a third person (singular or plural) for proper identification purposes since it can be a "she", a "he" or even a formal second person singular. In the plural, the verb ending could be referring to a "they" (masculine or feminine) or to "ustedes", a form of the second person plural used by everyone in all the Hispanic countries, except in Spain, where "vosotros" is preferred.

 

 

The "Vos" Pronoun

There is also another second person singular ("vos") used in some Latin American countries (especially the ones in the South Cone [Argentina, Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay], although in some Central American countries it is also used [Costa Rica, for example]). The conjugation for the "vos" in the present indicative differs from the standard second person singular (tú) in that the stress for the pronunciation lies on the last syllable, and not in the penultimate syllable: tú sabes -> vos sabés (you know).

 

 

Singular	Plural
Yo (I)	Nosotros/nosotras (we: masculine/feminine)
Tú/vos/usted (you/you/formal 'you' singular)	Vosotros/vosotras/ustedes (you all: masculine/feminine)
El/ella	Ellos/ellas (they: masculine/feminine)

 Some examples:

Spanish	English
Yo quiero estudiar or Quiero estudiar	I want to study
Tú quieres comer or Quieres comer	You want to eat
*Ella quiere correr or Quiere correr	She wants to run
*Ellos quieren hablar or Quieren hablar	They want to talk

 Notice how in Spanish the verb ending identifies the subject, except when using a third person, in which case we have several possibilities. In those cases you will find that either the subject is identified through the use of the personal pronoun or name, or it has been identified in a previous sentence.

LOS PRONOMBRES
Pronombres de sujeto		Ejemplo	Traducción ejemplo
I	yo	I am ill.	Yo estoy enfermo.
You	tú, usted	You are hungry.	Tú estás hambriento.
He	él	He is handsome.	Él es guapo.
She	ella	She is pretty.	Ella es guapa
It	él, ella	It's cold today.	Hoy hace frío.
We	nosotros	We are tired.	Nosotros estamos cansados.
You	vosotros, ustedes	You are angry.	Vosotros estáis enfadados.
They	ellos, ellas	They are at the cinema.	Ellos están en el cine.
Pronombres de objeto (directo / indirecto)		Ejemplo	Traducción ejemplo
Me	me, mí	I want it for me.	Lo quiero para mí.
You	te, tu, tí, usted	I 'm helping you.	Te estoy ayudando.
Him	él, le, lo	Can you see him?	¿Le puedes ver?
Her	ella, le, la	She is pretty. I like her.	Ella es bonita. Me gusta ella.
It	lo, la, ello, le	Give it a kick.	Dale una patada.
Us	nosotros, nos	He is helping us.	Él nos está ayudando.
You	vosotros, les, ustedes, os	I saw you.	Os vi.
Them	ellos, les, los, las,	I 'm waiting for them.	Los estoy esperando.
Adjetivos posesivos		Ejemplo	Traducción ejemplo
My	mi, mis	This is my blouse.	Esta es mi blusa.
Your	tu, tus	This is your tie.	Esta es tu corbata.
His	su, sus (masculino)	This is his wardrobe.	Este es su vestuario.
Her	su, sus (femenino)	This is her dress.	Este es su vestido.
Its	su, sus	This is its collar.	Este es su collar.
Our	nuestro/a nuestros/as	These are our suitcases.	Estas son nuestras maletas.
Your	vuestro/a, vuestros/as	These are your seats.	Estos son vuestros asientos.
Their	su, sus (de ellos)	Here are their socks.	Aquí están sus calcetines.
Pronombres posesivos		Ejemplo	Traducción ejemplo
Mine	mo/s, mía/s	This coat is mine.	Este abrigo es mío.
Yours	tuyo/s, tuya/s	My name is Tony. What's yours?	Mi nombre es Toni. ¿Cuál es el tuyo?
His	suyo/s, suya/s (de l)	This computer is his.	Esta computadora es suya.
Hers	suyo/s, suya/s (de ella)	The blue bag is hers.	El bolso azul es suyo.
Ours	nuestro/s, nuestra/s	The suitcases are ours.	Las maletas son nuestras.
Yours	vuestro/a, vuestros/as,	The handicap is yours.	La desventaja es vuestra.
Theirs	suyo/a, suyos/as (de ellos )	This is theirs.	Esto es suyo.
Pronombres reflexivos		Ejemplo	Traducción ejemplo
Myself	yo mismo, me	I saw it for myself.	Yo mismo lo ví.
Yourself	tú mismo, te, se	Don't burn yourself !	¡No te quemes!
Himself	él mismo, se	He hurt himself.	Se hizo daño.
Herself	ella misma, se	She did it herself.	Lo hizo ella misma.
Itself	él mismo, se	The cat scratched itself.	El gato se arañó.
Ourselves	nosotros mismos, nos	We are enjoying ourselves.	Estamos disfrutando nosotros mismos.
Yourselves	vosotros mismos, ustedes mismos, se	Did you paint the house yourselves?	¿Pintásteis la casa vosotros mismos?
Themselves	ellos mismos, consigo mismos, se	They were speaking to themselves.	Ellos hablaban consigo mismos.
Each other	el uno del otro, se	They were speaking to each other.	Ellos hablaban entre sí.