Spanish Subject Pronouns – Learn and Practice

Welcome 😊 to our grammar lesson on Spanish subject pronouns (“Pronombres personales de sujeto”).

Subject pronouns (yo, tú, él…) represent the person who performs the action of the verb. They are equivalent to the English “I, you, he…”.

By the end of this lesson, you will be able to identify these pronouns and use them correctly in sentences.

You will also find a Quiz and an Exercise to practice.

Subject pronouns – Forms

Here’s the list of subject pronouns in Spanish. We have also included the conjugation of the verb “hablar” in Present Tense:

English	Spanish	"hablar" (Present Tense) to speak
I	yo	hablo
you	tú	hablas
he she formal you	él ella usted	habla
we guys we girls	nosotros nosotras	hablamos
you guys you girls	vosotros vosotras	habláis
they (masc.) they (fem.) formal plural you	ellos ellas ustedes	hablan

Feminine plural forms – when there are only females

In the table above, we see 3 pronouns that are feminine plural: nosotras, vosotras and ellas.

We use these forms only when 100% of the people in a group are females. As soon as there is one male in the group, we use the masculine form.

For example, if we are 20 women, we say nosotras.
But if we are 20 women and 1 man, we say nosotros.

There is a debate nowadays on whether this is sexist and should be changed. But for the moment, it’s still the rule.

Conjugating verbs for “usted” and “ustedes”

usted (formal “you”) and ustedes (formal plural “you”) conjugate verbs in the following way:

• usted conjugates verbs like él and ella.
• ustedes conjugates verbs like ellos and ellas.

Examples:

Él come.
He eats
Ella come.
She eats
Usted come.
You (formal) eat.

Ellos comen.
They (masculine) eat.
Ellas comen.
They (feminine) eat.
Ustedes comen.
You ladies/gentlemen (formal) eat.

Example sentences

Let’s now read some example sentences including subject pronouns. We have used the verb “bailar” (to dance) in every sentence:

Yo bailo flamenco.
I dance flamenco.

Tú bailas muy bien.
You dance very well.

Él baila salsa.
He dances salsa.

Ella baila salsa también.
She dances salsa too.

Usted baila todos los días.
You (formal) dance every day.

Nosotros bailamos mal.
We dance badly.

Nosotras bailamos en la escuela.
We dance in the school. (“nosotras” implies that it is only women)

¿Vosotros bailáis?
Do you guys dance?

Vosotras bailáis con mucha energía.
You girls dance with a lot of energy. (“vosotras” implies that it is only women)

Ellos bailan fatal.
They dance horribly.

Ellas bailan fenomenal.
They dance extremely well (“ellas” implies that it is only women).

Ustedes bailan lento.
You ladies/gentlemen (formal) dance slowly.

Subject pronouns are not always necessary

In Spanish, we have the option not to include the subject pronoun in the sentence. The verb is enough.

For example, these two sentences mean “I speak Spanish”:

Yo hablo español.
Hablo español.

And these two sentences mean “We eat pasta”:

Nosotros comemos pasta.
Comemos pasta.

We mention the subject pronoun when we want to emphasize the person. For example:

“Hablo” means “I speak”.
“Yo hablo” means something like “Me, I speak…”, emphasizing the person in that way.

Practice

Quiz

Take this short Quiz about subject pronouns:

Exercise

Fill the gaps using subject pronouns. Click on the gray spaces to see the solutions:

1) Yo soy María. 
I am María.

2) Nosotros hablamos español.
We (men and women) speak Spanish.

3) Él tiene dos coches.
He has two cars.

4) Señora García, usted tiene un hijo muy listo.
Mrs. García, you (formal) have a very smart son.

5) Ellas son buenas amigas.
They (only women) are good friends.

6) Señores, ¿ ustedes trabajan?
Gentlemen, do you (formal) work?