Spanish pronouns

The Spanish language has a range of pronouns that in some ways work quite differently from English ones. In particular, subject pronouns are often omitted, and object pronouns usually precede the verb.

Personal pronouns

The table below shows a cumulative list of personal pronouns from Peninsular, Latin American and Ladino Spanish.

Ladino or Judaeo-Spanish, spoken by Sephardic Jews, is different from Latin American and Peninsular Spanish in that it retains rather archaic forms and usage of personal pronouns.

With regard to pronouns, Latin American Spanish differs from Peninsular Spanish mainly in the usage of vos in some areas and in the absence of vosotros, among other things. Note that Ladino and Latin American Spanish (like most other "colonial" speech) tend to be conservative in its structural changes compared with that of the country of origin.[1] The next section explains their usage.

Subject personal pronouns are usually omitted in both spoken and written language, as the grammatical person and number of the subject are explicit in the verb form. For this reason Spanish is considered a "pro-drop language". Nevertheless, subject pronouns can be used for emphasis or contrast, or to avoid ambiguity.

Table of personal pronouns

NumberPersonNominativeAccusativeDativeGenitivePrepositionalComitative
Singular1styomememío(s)/mía(s)míconmigo
2ndtútetetuyo(s)/tuya(s)ticontigo
vos (*)tetetuyo(s)/tuya(s)voscon vos
ustedlelesuyo(s)/suya(s)ustedcon usted
3rdél, ella, ellolo, la, sele, sesuyo(s)/suya(s)sí, él, ella, ellocon él/ella/ello
/consigo
Plural1stnosotros, nosotrasnosnosnuestro(s)/nuestra(s)nosotros, nosotrascon nosotros/nosotras
2ndvosotros, vosotras (**)ososvuestro(s)/vuestra(s)vosotros, vosotrascon vosotros/vosotras
ustedesleslessuyo(s)/suya(s)ustedescon ustedes
3rdellos, ellaslos, las, seles, sesuyo(s)/suya(s)sí, ellos, ellascon ellos/ellas

(*) Only in countries with voseo

(**) Only in Spain

Notes:

Nominative case (subject, stressed)
Accusative case (direct object, unstressed, but see below for direct objects preceded by preposition "a")
Dative case (indirect object, unstressed, but see below for indirect objects preceded by preposition "a")
Prepositional case (objects and complements preceded by prepositions, except for preposition "con", stressed)

Observe that for direct and indirect objects, when they are preceded by the preposition a the pronoun will be in the prepositional case instead of in the accusative or dative. Thus, "I saw her" becomes La vi a ella and "He gave it to me" becomes Me lo dio a mí (see also clitic doubling for the use of reduplicated pronouns).

Comitative case (prepositional complement preceded by the preposition "con" (with), stressed)

When the preposition is con, the first, second and third person singular take the following forms:

The other persons do not have distinct comitative case forms and simply take the prepositional case preceded by "con" (e.g., con nosotros, con vosotras, con ella, con ellos...). The plural first and second person forms, connosco and convosco, are archaic forms no longer in use but some vestiges may be found in Ladino variants.

Genitive case (possessive)

Adjectival forms (cf. English my, your), unstressed:

Pronominal forms (cf. English mine, yours), stressed:

The unstressed accusative and dative pronouns are attached as enclitics to the end of the infinitive, gerund and imperative (including the subjunctive forms used as imperative in positive commands): decirlo, besándose, hazlo, traelo, dígaselo, amémonos, repartíos, pónganse. In the combination -mos + nos the s is dropped, as is the d in the sequence -d + os. The acute accent is written according to the general accentuation rules. In modern Spanish, these clitic pronouns usually precede the rest of verb forms (me lo das, se lo pondrán, si se lo creyeran), including compound and passive ones (se lo ha comido, nos habían sido impuestas) and all forms of subjunctive in negative commands (no lo hagas, no lo traigas, no se lo diga, no nos amemos, no os repartáis, no se pongan). In some periphrastic constructions, the pronouns may go either before the main (or auxiliary) verb of after the dependent infinitive or gerund (te lo voy a decir or voy a decírtelo, se las estaban repartiendo or estaban repartiéndoselas, no me lo intentes ocultar or no intentes ocultármelo).

The clitic pronouns, whether enclitic or proclitic, normally cluster in the same order: dative clitics precede accusative clitics,[2][3] se is in the front always, then follow second persons, then first persons and third persons are always last;[4][5][6] furthermore, in a sequence of two third-pronominal object clitics, the dative one must always be se (e.g. Juan se lo mandó "Juan sent it to him").

Old forms

Formal vos

In the past, the pronoun vos was used as a respectful form of address, semantically equivalent to modern usted. This pronoun used the same conjugations as modern vosotros (see below) and also the oblique form os and the possessive vuestro/-a/-os/-as. However, unlike vosotros which always refers to more than one person, vos was usually singular in meaning. The modern voseo of several countries (see below) derives from this old form, but has become a generic form of address instead of a specifically respectful form. Vos and its related forms are still used in literature, cinema, etc. when trying to depict the language of past centuries.

Regional variations

Voseo

Main article: Voseo

The pronoun "vos" is used in some areas of Latin America, particularly in Central America, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile, the state of Zulia in Venezuela, and the Andean regions of Colombia, Bolivia, Perú, and Ecuador.

In some areas, like the River Plate region, vos has become the only generic form of address for singular second person, that is, it has the same meaning that tú has elsewhere (informal and intimate). In other areas, like Chile, it persists as a fairly stigmatized form along the more prestigious tú. In some other areas, it is employed among equals but not for very close people (couples or family) or to inferiors (children, animals etc.), where the pronoun tú would normally be used.

Ladino speakers use vos as well, except that they employ it as in Old Spanish (see above), that is, as a respectful form of address, equivalent to how usted is used elsewhere. In fact, Ladino speakers do not use usted at all because vos implies the same respect that it once had in Old Spanish. In Ladino, tú is used towards anyone in an informal manner.

The use of vusted and vuestra merced

The variant vusted/vustedes is mostly a regionalism of some South American countries. It is common to hear it in isolated areas of Colombia and Venezuela. Other speakers consider it archaic because it is an older form of a contraction of vuestra merced. In Colombia, it is not unusual to hear people use "su merced" interchangeably with usted. It can be used as a vocative as well, e.g. when speaking to an older person, as in "Su merced, ¿por qué no vienen vusted y sus nietos a mi casa esta tarde?"

Vuestra merced (literally 'your grace') is the origin of usted, usarcé and similar forms that govern third-person verb forms with a second-person function. They are mostly confined to period works now.

It is unlikely that similar-sounding Arabic ustādh ('professor') was involved in the formation of Spanish usted, given the weakness of the semantic link and the fact that usted is not documented before 1598 (see the online Corpus del Español) — over a century after the fall of Moorish Granada.

The use of vosotros

Today, the informal second-person plural pronoun vosotros is widely used by most residents in Spain, except in some southwestern regions and in most of the Canary Islands, where its use is rare. Among the former colonies of the Spanish Empire, the use of vosotros and its normal conjugations is also retained in the Philippines and Equatorial Guinea.[7] Vosotros is the only form used by the Sephardic Jews that speak Ladino.

Conversely, the use of vosotros is completely absent in Latin America, except sometimes in written legal language. Throughout Latin America, the second person plural pronoun ustedes is universally used when communicating in both formal and informal contexts.

Creoles

Forms based on vosotros and vos are used in many Spanish-based creole languages.

In Chavacano, spoken in the Philippines, vo is used alongside tu as a singular second-person pronoun in Zamboangueño, Caviteño, and Ternateño. In Zamboangueño, evos is also used. For the plural, Zamboangueño has vosotros while Caviteño has vusos. Papiamento, spoken in Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao, maintains boso (singular) and bosonan (plural). Since it was used with slaves, the forms that seemed disrespectful in the rest of America were common.

Menda

Menda is the equivalent of I in Caló, where it is concords in first person singular. In Spanish slang, el menda / la menda can be used as an emphatic I, concording with a third person verb, but its use is receding.

The use of le/les

The pronouns le (singular) and les (plural) are used to replace the indirect object of a sentence. In some dialects, le can be used for the plural, too. As an exception, when the direct object is also replaced by a pronoun (lo/los, la/las) the indirect object is replaced by the pronoun se, in both singular and plural.

Direct-object le/les

Generally, the unstressed third-person object pronouns in Spanish are lo, la, los, las. This is the current position of the Real Academia Española. This is a reasonable generalisation given that it is true in over ninety percent of cases in the Spanish-speaking world. However, it is helpful to take note of the various exceptions to this general rule whereby le/les rather than lo, la, los, las are used. Note however that this use is rather modern and often found only in part of Spain whereas the use of lo, la, los, las is considered more traditional.

Theoretical basis for the use of direct-object le/les

There are various diachronic and synchronic reasons for the use of le/les for direct objects. To understand why there is vacillation and hesitation in usage, it is helpful to understand these often-conflicting linguistic forces.

a) Masculine e

There is a strong tendency in Spanish, inherited from Latin, for pronouns and determiners to have a set of three different endings for the three genders. These are: -e or ∅ for masculine pronouns, -a for feminine pronouns and -o for neuter pronouns.

Thus, éste, ésta, esto; ése, ésa, eso; aquél, aquélla, aquello; el, la, lo; él, ella, ello.

In this context, it would make sense to say le vi "I saw him" for any masculine noun, la vi "I saw her/it" for any feminine noun, and lo vi "I saw it" when no noun is being referred to. The use of "le" as the direct object pronoun is only used in Spain and it can only mean "him" Le vi. Use "lo" for things. ¿Tienes tu libro? Sí, lo tengo. This gives us a set like the above: le, la, lo.

b) Indirectness for humans — general

Spanish has a tendency, discussed at Spanish prepositions, to treat as indirect objects those direct objects which happen to refer to people. In this context, it would make sense to say le/les vi "I saw him/her/them" when referring to people and lo/la/los/las vi "I saw it/them" when referring to things.

b1) Indirectness for humans — respect for the interlocutor

The general tendency to use indirect objects for people is intensified when the speaker wishes to convey respect. The third person in Spanish can be used as the second person to mean "you". In this context, it would make sense to use lo/la/los/las vi "I saw him/her/it/them" when one is speaking about a third party or an object, but le/les vi "I saw you" when the pronoun is intended to represent usted/ustedes.

b2) Indirectness for humans — contrast with inanimate things

The general tendency to use indirect objects for people is intensified when the subject of the sentence is not human, thus creating a contrast in the mind of the speaker between the human and the thing. In this context, it would make sense to say la halagó "he flattered her" when the subject is "he" referring to a person, but le halagó "it flattered her" when the subject is "it", a thing.

b3) Indirectness for humans — humanity otherwise emphasised

The general tendency to use indirect objects for people is intensified when the humanity of the person who is the object of the sentence is emphasised by the way the verb is used. In this context, it would make sense for a subtle distinction to be made between lo llevamos al hospital "we took/carried him to the hospital" when the patient is unconscious and le llevamos al hospital "we took/led him to the hospital" when the patient is able to walk.

b4) Indirectness for humans — with impersonal se

The general tendency to use indirect objects for people is intensified when impersonal se is used instead of a real subject. This is to avoid the misinterpretation of the se as being an indirect object pronoun. In this context, it would make sense to say se le lee mucho "people read him/her a lot" if "se" means "people" and "le" means "him/her", and reserve se lo/la lee mucho "he/she reads it a lot for him/her" for sentences in which the "se" is not impersonal.

Direct-object le/les in practice

All of the theoretical reasons for using le/les detailed above actually influence the way Spanish speakers use these pronouns, and this has been demonstrated by various surveys and investigations.

Extreme preference for le/les is a dialectalism known as leísmo; however, not all use of direct-object le/les is dialectal. Some instances of it are universal across the educated Spanish-speaking world.

Let us first look at dialectal extremes. There is leísmo (covered under point a above) motivated by the tendency towards masculine e in uneducated Madrid speech. This actually used to be quite standard, and the Real Academia only stopped endorsing it in the 1850s. We therefore find in old texts:

Such speakers would say le afirman in reference to a word like el hecho, la afirman in reference to a word like la verdad, and lo afirman only in reference to a general neuter "it".

The second extreme leísmo is the one motivated by the second point mentioned: the tendency to use indirect objects for people. This is noticeable in Northwestern Spain, especially Navarre and the Basque Country, where regional speech uses le vi for "I saw him/her" and lo/la vi for "I saw it". The same phenomenon is sporadically heard elsewhere, e.g. in Valencia and Paraguay.

Now let us look at less extremely dialectal cases. For the majority of educated speakers in Spain and parts of Latin America, neither of the two tendencies (a or b) is enough on its own to justify the use of le/les; but together they are. Thus, speakers who would reject sentences like le vi for "I saw it" and le vi for "I saw her" would nevertheless accept and use le vi for "I saw him". Indeed, this use of le to mean "him" is so common in standard Castilian speech that some would call the use of lo vi to mean "I saw him" an example of loísmo/laísmo, i.e. the dialectalism whereby lo is overused. The Real Academia's current line is that le for "him" is officially "tolerated".

A case on which the Academy is silent is the tendency described in point b1. It is perfectly common in educated speech in many parts of the world to distinguish between no quería molestarlo "I did not mean to bother him" and no quería molestarle "I did not mean to bother you". Those Spaniards who would not just say le anyway for the reasons explained in the last paragraph are likely to use le in this case. Butt & Benjamin (1994) says that their Argentine informants made this distinction, whereas their loísta Colombian informants preferred molestarlo always.

The Academy is also silent on the tendency described in b2; however, it is universal across the Spanish-speaking world. In a questionnaire given to 28 Spaniards in the Madrid region, 90% preferred la halagó for "he flattered her" and 87% preferred le halagó for "it flattered her". García (1975) reports a similar but less extreme tendency in Buenos Aires: only 14% of García's sample said él le convenció for "he convinced him" (the rest said él lo convenció). With an inanimate subject, a slight majority (54%) said este color no le convence.

García reports Buenos Aires natives differentiating between lo llevaron al hospital and le llevaron al hospital depending on how active the patient is, although anecdotal evidence suggests that Argentines are more loísta than this, and would prefer lo in both cases.

Point b3 is also backed up by the fact that many Latin Americans distinguish between le quiero "I love him" and lo quiero "I want him" (or indeed "I want it").

Prepositions with multiple personal pronouns

In some cases, if the object of a preposition is more than one pronoun, the preposition has to be repeated or a plural pronoun must be used.

With para

Demonstrative pronouns

N.B.: According to a decision of the Real Academia from the 1960s, the accents on these forms are only to be used when necessary to avoid ambiguity with the demonstrative determiners. However, the normal educated standard is still as above. Foreign learners may safely adhere to either standard.

Note also that there is never an accent on the neuter forms esto, eso and aquello (which do not have determiner equivalents).

Relative pronouns

The main relative pronoun in Spanish is que, from the Latin QVID. Others include el cual, quien and donde.

Que

Que covers "that", "which", "who", "whom" and the null pronoun in their functions of subject and direct-object relative pronouns.

El que

When the relative pronoun is the object of a preposition, the definite article is added to que, and this agrees for number and gender, giving us el que, la que, los que, las que and the neuter lo que. Note that in English there are two options: the preposition can go to the end of the sentence, or it can go right before the relative pronoun "which" or "whom".

In some people's style of speaking, this definite article may be omitted after a, con and de, particularly when the antecedent is abstract or neuter:

After en, the article tends to be omitted if precise spatial location is not intended.

Lo que

Lo que has a slightly different meaning from el que, and is usually used as the connotation of "that which" or "what".

Splitting "lo que" and adding an adjective in between changes the meaning slightly.

El cual

The pronoun el cual can replace [el] que. It is generally more emphatic and formal than [el] que. Note that it always includes the article. It derives from the Latin QVALIS.

It has the following forms: el cual, la cual, los cuales, las cuales and the neuter lo cual.

For subjects and direct objects

It can be used as a formal, emphatic replacement for que in non-defining clauses, for either subjects or direct objects. The fact that it agrees for gender and number can make it clearer to what it refers. The fact that it cannot be used for defining clauses also makes it clear that a defining clause is not intended.

When used for direct objects, the personal a is required if the antecedent is human.

As the object of a preposition

It can be used as a formal, emphatic replacement for el que, usually in non-defining clauses, as the object of a preposition (including a representing the indirect object). This happens in three main situations.

First, it can be purely a matter of high style. This is used sparingly in Spanish, and so foreigners should avoid over-using it.

In more everyday style, this might be phrased as:

Second, el cual is often preferred after propositions of more than one syllable (para, contra, entre, mediante...) and after prepositional phrases (a pesar de, debajo de, a causa de, frente a, en virtud de, gracias a, por consecuencia de...).

Third, el cual is preferred when it is separated from its antecedent by intervening words. The more words that intervene, the more the use of el cual is practically obligatory.

Quien

"Quien" redirects here. For the song by Ricardo Arjona, see Quién.

The pronoun quien comes from the Latin QVEM, "whom", i.e. the accusative of QVIS, "who".

It too can replace [el] que in certain circumstances. Like the English pronouns "who" and "whom", it can only be used to refer to people.

It is invariable for gender, and was originally invariable for number. However, by analogy with other words, the form quienes was invented. Quien as a plural form survives as an archaism that is now considered non-standard.

For subjects

It can represent a subject. In this case, it is rather formal and is largely restricted to non-defining clauses.

Unlike el cual, it does not indicate gender, but it does indicate number, and also specifies that a person is referred to.

As the object of a preposition

Quien is particularly common as the object of a proposition when the clause is non-defining, but is also possible in defining clauses.

Donde, a donde, como and cuando

The etymology of these words is as follows. Latin VNDE, meaning "whence" or "where from" gave onde, which lost the "from" meaning over the centuries and came to mean just "where". This meant that, to say "whence" or "where from", the preposition de had to be added. This gave d'onde. Again, the meaning was eroded over time until it came to mean just "where". Prepositions were therefore added once again. Therefore, nowadays, we have donde for "where" and a donde for "where to", amongst others. Note that all this means that, etymologically speaking, de donde is the rather redundant "from from where", and a donde is the rather contradictory "to from where". The tendency goes forward with the vulgar form ande (from adonde) often used for "where". In the Ladino dialect of Spanish, the pronoun onde is still used, where donde still means "whence" or "where from". In Latin America, isolated communities and rural areas still retain this as well.

Como is from QVOMODO, "how", the ablative of QVI MODVS, "what way".

Cuando is from QVANDO, "when".

Location and movement

Donde can be used instead of other relative pronouns when location is referred to. Adonde is a variant that can be used when motion to the location is intended.

Manner

Como can be used instead of other relative pronouns when manner is referred to.

Note that for some reason mismo tends to require que:

Time

Cuando tends to replace the use of other relative pronouns when time is referred, usually in non-defining clauses.

Non-defining
Defining

Note that just que, or at the most en que, is normal with defining clauses referring to time. En el que and cuando are rarer.

Cuyo

"Cuyo" is the formal Spanish equivalent for the English pronoun "whose." However, "cuyo" is inflected for gender and number (cuyos (m. pl.), cuya (f. sing.), or cuyas (f. pl.)) according to the word it precedes. Observe the following example:

We can see in the above example that the gender and number of "cuyo" have changed to "cuyas" in order to match the condition of the following word, "calificaciones" (f. pl.)

In Old Spanish there were interrogative forms, cúyo, cúyas, and cúyos, no longer used.

In practice, cuyo is reserved to formal language. A periphrasis like Alejandro es un estudiante que tiene unas calificaciones siempre buenas is more common.

Cuyo is from CVIVS, the genitive (possessive) form of QVI.

Note on relative and interrogative pronouns

Note that relative pronouns often have corresponding interrogative pronouns.

For example-

"¿Qué es esto?" - "What is this?"

"Ese es el libro que me diste." - "That is the book that you gave me."

In the second line, que was helping to answer for what Qué was asking, a definition of "this".

Below is a list of interrogative pronouns and phrases with the relative pronouns that go with them.

Reflexive pronouns and impersonal se

The reflexive pronoun is used with pronominal verbs, also known as reflexive verbs. These verbs require the use of the reflexive pronoun, appropriate to the subject. The forms are as follows:

Singular Plural
Yo me Nosotros / Nosotras nos
Tú / Vos te Vosotros / Vosotras os
Él / Ella / Usted se Ellos / Ellas / Ustedes se

Some transitive verbs can take on a reflexive meaning, such as lavar (to wash) and lavarse (to wash oneself). Other verbs have reflexive forms which do not take on a reflexive meaning, such as ir (to go) and irse (to go away). Some verbs only have reflexive forms, such as jactarse (to boast).

Notes

  1. ↑ Universidad de Chicago : Diccionario Inglés - Español / Español - Inglés, Cuarta Edición (1987), POCKET BOOKS, una división de Simon & Schuster Inc., 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020. ISBN 0671743481, página 27, "La Lengua Española en America"
  2. ↑ Franco, Jon. Agreement as a Continuum. 2000. In Beukema, Frits H. and Marcel den Dikken. (eds.) Clitic phenomena in European languages. P.164
  3. ↑ Desouvrey, Louis-H. 2005. Romance clitic clusters. The case connection. Heggie, Lorie and Fernando Ordóñez. Clitic and affix combinations: theoretical perspectives. P.56
  4. ↑ Pineda, Luis and Ivan Meza. The Spanish pronominal clitic system. P.3
  5. ↑ Harris, James. 1995 The Morphology of Spanish Clitics. P.168. In Campos, Héctor. (ed.) Evolution and revolution in linguistic theory.
  6. ↑ There are even more rules and restrictions on the possible clitic combinations. See e.g. Alba de la Fuente, Anahí. 2010 More on the clitic combination puzzle, in Colina, Olarrea and Carvalho (eds). Romance Linguistics 2009: Selected Papers from the 39th Linguistic Symposium.
  7. ↑ In José Rizal's Noli me tangere, Salomé uses vosotros to refer to Elías and his passengers that day. In its sequel, El filibusterismo, in the chapter entitled Risas, llantos, Sandoval addresses his fellow students using vosotros.

References

External links