Grammar: Pronouns

Grammar: Pronouns

Section 1: Pronouns

Pronombres personales: These are personal pronouns. They refer to ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, ‘we’, ‘you’ (plural), ‘they’. The Spanish equivalents are ‘yo’, ‘tú’, ‘él’, ‘ella’, ‘ello’, ‘nosotros’, ‘vosotros’, ‘ellos’/’ellas’.

Pronombres reflexivos: These are reflexive pronouns. They include ‘me’, ‘te’, ‘se’, ‘nos’, and ‘os’. They’re used with reflexive verbs, where the action is done by the subject to the subject itself.

Pronombres relativos: These are the relative pronouns like ‘que’, ‘quien’ ‘quiénes’, ‘el que’, ‘la que’, ‘los que’ and ‘las que’. They connect two clauses together.

Pronombres directos e indirectos: Direct and indirect object pronouns are used to replace the direct and indirect objects of a sentence. Examples are ‘lo’, ‘la’, ‘los’, ‘las’ (direct) and ‘le’, ‘les’ (indirect).

Pronombres posesivos: Possessive pronouns show ownership. They’re ‘mío’, ‘tuyo’, ‘suyo’, ‘nuestro’, ‘vuestro’, ‘suyo’. Remember that these must agree in gender and number with the thing owned.

Pronombres demostrativos: Demonstrative pronouns point out people or things. They are ‘este’, ‘ese’, ‘aquel’ and their plurals and feminine forms. They also must agree in gender and number with the noun they’re standing for.

Pronombres interrogativos: Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions, such as: ‘quién’ (who), ‘qué’ (what), ‘cuál’ (which), ‘cuánto’ (how much), ‘cuántos’/’cuántas’ (how many).

Pronoun usage in sentences: Pay attention to the pronoun usage while converting English sentences to Spanish. The positioning of these pronouns in Spanish sentences may differ from English.

Practice: Practice is crucial to understanding how these pronouns are used. Try to write and speak sentences using these pronouns to fully understand their usage.

Next topic: Verbs