Pronouns

Pronouns in Spanish, or "Pronombres", are used to replace nouns in sentences, making language more efficient and avoiding redundancy. This brief guide will introduce the basics of using pronouns in Spanish, including personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns.

Overview

Pronouns in Spanish take different forms based on their function in the sentence: subject, object, or possessive. They must agree in gender and number with the nouns they replace.

Types of Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. They can be subjective (used as the subject of a verb), objective (used as the object of a verb or preposition), or reflexive.

Subjective: yo (I), tú (you), él/ella/usted (he/she/you formal), nosotros/as (we), vosotros/as (you all informal), ellos/ellas/ustedes (they/you all formal)
Objective: me (me), te (you), lo/la (him, her, it, you formal), nos (us), os (you all informal), los/las (them, you all formal)
Reflexive: me, te, se, nos, os, se (used when the subject and the object are the same)

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership and must match the gender and number of the noun they are replacing.

Singular: mío/a (mine), tuyo/a (yours), suyo/a (his, hers, yours formal, its), nuestro/a (ours), vuestro/a (yours plural informal)
Plural: míos/as, tuyos/as, suyos/as, nuestros/as, vuestros/as

Demonstrative Pronouns

These pronouns are used to point out specific items.

Near the Speaker: este/esta (this), estos/estas (these)
Near the Listener: ese/esa (that), esos/esas (those)
Far from Both: aquel/aquella (that over there), aquellos/aquellas (those over there)