Personal pronouns

Tú y yo

The time has come to start describing people in different persons – you, me, we, they, etc.

This lesson is about the Spanish personal pronouns only. Here we are not going to build sentences, but analyze and memorize new pronouns.

yo — I

tú — you (singular, informal)

él — he

ella — she

nosotros — we

vosotros — you (plural, informal)

ellos — they (masculine)

ellas — they (feminine)

usted — you (singular, formal)

ustedes — you (plural, formal)

¡Hey, tú!

¿Yo?

No, él

Spanish has more personal pronouns than English. Some of them can produce confusion, but there is a clear difference between all of them.

Gender of the personal pronouns

First of all, pay attention to the pronouns that have gender differences.

Él and ella have their plural equivalents which mean “they” – ellos, ellas.

Elena – ella

Elena y Susana – ellas

Pedro – él

Pedro y Carlos – ellos

If a group of people or objects is gender mixed, the correct pronoun will be ellos.

Elena y Pedro – ellos

el coche y la moto – ellos

Nosotros and vosotros also have gender variations.

nosotros (masculine or mixed)

nosotras (feminine)

vosotros (masculine and mixed)

vosotras (feminine)

If you are a woman and want to say “we”, referring to you and your friend Olivia, say nosotras. If Alex joins your company, say nosotros.

tú, vosotros, usted, ustedes

Now let’s try to distinguish four Spanish pronouns that mean “you”.

tú

Tú is a neutral “you” referring to one person.

In Spain “tú” is a common treatment of a friend, a family member and even a waiter or a teacher.

vosotros

Vosotros is like “tú + tú”. It’s used only in Spain and means neutral “you” in plural.

If you are talking to two friends of yours, say vosotros. If they are women, say vosotras.

usted

Usted is “you” for a formal, polite or respectful treatment of one person. In Spain it’s normally used when talking to clients, people of a higher social position and elder people.

In case of just strangers, Spanish people mostly prefer “tú”. In Latin America people tend to choose “usted” in this case.

ustedes

Ustedes is like “usted + usted”. If you are in Spain and have a formal conversation with two or more lawyers, ambassadors, clients or señores who need to be explicitly respected, use ustedes.

In Latin America, as they don’t have vosotros, ustedes is used both in formal and in informal situations. If you are chatting with two Mexicans, no matter what their status is or what social group they belong to, say ustedes.