"La Troca del Moño Negro" por Los Originales de San Juan (with lyrics and translation)

Introduction to the Subject Pronouns

There are several subject pronouns in the Spanish language.  A subject pronoun is a part of speech that takes the place of a noun while acting as the subject of a sentence.  Subject pronouns (and all pronouns, for that matter) can be categorized in a chart based on whether they are 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd person singular or 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd person plural pronouns. 

The 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd person categorizations will make more sense in the next Unit, but you should memorize the configuration of this chart now, as this will be the cornerstone of verb conjugations in the lessons to come. 

	Singular	Plural
1st Person	yo (I)	nosotros, nosotras (we)
2nd Person	*tú (you (familiar))	vosotros, vosotras (you (familiar plural))
3rd Person	él (he, it (masc.)), ella (she, it (fem.)), *Ud. (you (formal))	ellos (they, masc.), ellas (they, fem.), Uds.  (you (formal plural))

Recall the differences from Chapter 1 between *tú and *Ud.  Both are actually 2^nd person references, but notice that the subject pronoun Ud. is located in the third person singular category.  So, when referring to someone formally as Ud., we are actually using the third person singular grammatical person. 

The 1^st and 2^nd persons plural also contain a feminine form (nosotras and vosotras, respectively).  They are used when referring to a group of females.  The 3^rd person singular as well as the 3^rd person plural also contains a feminine form.  When referring to a mixture of males and females, the masculine form is defaulted to. 

The subject pronouns vosotros and vosotras are seldom used in the Americas.  The formal 3^rd person plural subject pronoun Uds. is used instead, for referring to a group of people in the second person.  However, we can still practice using the vosotros/vosotras form:

¿Cómo estáis vosotros?  How are you all doing?

In Spain, the vosotros and vosotras subject pronouns (and their subsequent conjugations) are used in regular conversational Spanish, so it is recommended that you at least know that these pronouns exist in daily usage. 

Here are all of the subject pronouns you must know, in the bullet list below: 

·         yo (I)

·         tú (you, familiar)

·         Ud. (you formal)

·         él (he, masculine)

·         ella (she, feminine)

·         nosotros (we, masculine)

·         nosotras (we, feminine)

·         vosotros (you, plural, familiar, masculine)

·         vosotras (you, plural, familiar, feminine)

·         ellos (they, masculine)

·         ellas (they, feminine)

·         Uds. (you, plural)*

*Recall that Uds. is used as the regular plural tú form in México and other Central and South American countries. 

Check out the following sentences and phrases using different subject pronouns:

Tú necesitas aprender español.  You (familiar) need to learn Spanish.

Ella quiere ir de compras.  She wants to go shopping.

Ellas miran.  They look.

Ellos llaman.  They call.

Yo pago.  I pay. 

Nosotros vamos a celebrar la Navidad en Madrid.  We are going to celebrate Christmas in Madrid.

Nosotras celebramos.  We celebrate.

Yo voy a estudiar.  I am going to study.

Y vosotras, ¿cómo estáis?  And how are you all?

Uds. no van a sacar buenas notas si no estudian.  You (all) aren’t going to get good grades if you don’t study.

Él saca el cuaderno.  He takes out the notebook.

Eva escribe con el lápiz.  Eva writes with the pencil. 

Ud. practica.  You practice.

Cuernavaca y Oaxaca están en México.  Cuernavaca and Oaxaca are in Mexico.

Los hermanos estudian.  The brothers are studying.

Omitting Subject Pronouns

The subject pronouns are actually not needed a lot of the times.  If there is no confusion as to the subject of the sentence, then the pronoun can be omitted.  For example, I can simply say:

Voy a estudiar.  I am going to study.

Notice the subject pronoun “yo” was taken away.  We can do this because the conjugation of the verb (voy) is in the 1^st person singular category.  According to our chart above, “yo” is the 1^st person singular subject pronoun.  Since they match, we don’t need the subject pronoun.  In English, we always MUST use a subject pronoun. 

Here are some other sentences in Spanish with the subject pronoun removed:

Necesitas llamar.  You need to call.

Necesitas hielo.  You need ice.

Necesitamos ir.  We need to go.

¿Dónde estudiáis?  Where do you study?

Estudian en la biblioteca.  They are studying in the library.

Using Subject Pronouns to Avoid Ambiguity

We MUST use the subject pronoun in sentences when there is a possibility of confusion.  This occurs in the third persons singular as well as plural.  For example, if we were to say

Necesita mirar.

This can either mean,

He needs to watch.

She needs to watch.

It needs to watch.

or

You need to watch.  (Ud. – formal singular “you”)

So, to clarify to the listener, you the speaker must include a subject pronoun unless the subject of the sentence (which can also be a proper name) is otherwise understood:

Adán necesita estudiar.  Adam needs to study.

Ella necesita estudiar.  She needs to study.

¿Necesita ayuda Ud.?  Do you need help?

The Placement of Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns, when used, are usually placed before the verb that they modify.  However, they can be understood in an interrogatory fashion when they follow the verb.  This is done to emphasize the subject of the sentence, the way we do in English.  Note the following:

¿Necesitas tú la computadora?  Do YOU need the computer?

¿Cambias tú un cheque?  Are YOU cashing a check?

No comprendes tú.  YOU don’t understand.