Spanish pronouns in some ways work quite differently from theirEnglish counterparts. Subject pronouns are often omitted, and object pronouns come inclitic and non-clitic forms. When used as clitics, object pronouns can appear asproclitics that come before the verb or asenclitics attached to the end of the verb in different linguistic environments. There is also regional variation in the use of pronouns, particularly the use of the informal second-person singularvos and the informal second-person pluralvosotros.
Personal pronouns in Spanish have distinct forms according to whether they stand for a subject (nominative), a direct object (accusative), an indirect object (dative), or areflexive object. Several pronouns further have special forms used afterprepositions. Spanish is apro-drop language with respect to subject pronouns. LikeFrench and other languages with theT–V distinction, Spanish has a distinction in its second person pronouns that has no equivalent in modern English. Object pronouns come in two forms: clitic and non-clitic, or stressed. With clitics, object pronouns are generallyproclitic, butenclitic forms are mandatory in certain environments. Thepersonal 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, Peru, and Ecuador.
The table below shows a list of personal pronouns from Peninsular, Latin American andLadino Spanish. Ladino or Judaeo-Spanish, spoken bySephardic Jews, is different from Latin American and Peninsular Spanish in that it retains rather archaic forms and usage of personal pronouns.
| Number | Person | Nominative | Prepositional | Comitative | Accusative | Dative | Genitive |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | 1st | yo | mí | conmigo | me | mío(s)/mía(s) | |
| 2nd | tú, vos1 | ti, vos1 | contigo, con vos1 | te | tuyo(s)/tuya(s) | ||
| 3rd | él/ella/ello, usted | él/ella/ello, usted, sí | con él/ella/ello, con usted, consigo | lo/la, se | le, se | suyo(s)/suya(s) | |
| Plural | 1st | nosotros/nosotras | con nosotros/nosotras | nos | nuestro(s)/nuestra(s) | ||
| 2nd | vosotros/vosotras2 | con vosotros/vosotras2 | os2 | vuestro(s)/vuestra(s)2 | |||
| 3rd | ellos/ellas, ustedes | ellos/ellas, ustedes, sí | con ellos/ellas, con ustedes, consigo | los/las, se | les, se | suyo(s)/suya(s) | |
1 Only in countries withvoseo (Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, Eastern Bolivia, Paraguay, and across Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, southern parts of Chiapas in Mexico)
2 Primarily in Spain; other countries useustedes as the plural regardless of level of formality. A disused equivalent ofvuestro(s)/vuestra(s) isvoso(s)/vosa(s).[1]
Note:Usted andustedes are grammatically third person even though they are functionally second person (they express you / you all). SeeSpanish personal pronouns for more information and the regional variation of pronoun use.
According to a decision by theReal Academia in the 1960s, the accents should be used only when it is necessary to avoid ambiguity with the demonstrativedeterminers. However, the normal educated standard is still as above. Foreign learners may safely adhere to either standard. There is also no accent on the neuter formsesto,eso andaquello, which do not have determiner equivalents.
The mainrelative pronoun in Spanish isque, from LatinQVID. Others includeel cual,quien, anddonde.
Que covers "that", "which", "who", "whom" and the null pronoun in their functions of subject and direct-object relative pronouns:
Note from the last example that unlike with other relative pronouns, personala does not have to be used withque when used as a personal direct object.
Whenque is used as the object of a preposition, the definite article is added to it, and the resulting form (el que) inflects for number and gender, resulting in the formsel que,la que,los que,las que and the neuterlo que. Unlike in English, the preposition must go right before the relative pronoun "which" or "whom":
In some people's style of speaking, the definite article may be omitted aftera,con andde in such usage, particularly when the antecedent is abstract or neuter:
Afteren, the definite article tends to be omitted if precise spatial location is not intended:
When used without a precise antecedent,lo que has a slightly different meaning from that ofel que, and is usually used as the connotation of "that which" or "what":
The pronounel cual can replace[el] que. It is generally more emphatic and formal than[el] que, and it always includes the definite article. It is derived from the LatinQVALIS, and it has the following forms:el cual,la cual,los cuales,las cuales, and the neuterlo cual. It can be used as a formal, emphatic replacement forque in non-defining clauses, for both subjects and direct objects, and it can also be used as a formal, emphatic replacement forel que as the object of some prepositions. Moreover, it is often preferred toel que entirely in certain contexts. In non-defining clauses, the fact that it agrees for gender and number can make it clearer to what it refers. The fact that it cannot be used as the subject or direct object in defining clauses also makes it clear that a defining clause is not intended:
When used as a personal direct object, personala must be used:
In such situations as well as with the object of monosyllabic prepositions, the use ofel cual is generally purely a matter of high style. This is used sparingly in Spanish, and foreigners should thus avoid over-using it:
In more everyday style, this might be phrased as:
After multisyllabic prepositions and prepositional phrases (a pesar de,debajo de,a causa de, etc.), however,el cual is often preferred entirely:
El cual is further generally preferred entirely when, as the object of a preposition, it is separated from its antecedent by intervening words. The more words that intervene, the more the use ofel cual is practically obligatory:
The bare formcual is used as the relative adjective ("in which sense", "with which people", etc.), which only inflects for number:
The pronounquien comes from the LatinQVEM, "whom", the accusative ofQVIS, "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 formquienes was invented.Quien as a plural form survives as an archaism that is now considered non-standard.
It can represent a subject. In this case, it is rather formal and is largely restricted to non-defining clauses.
Unlikeel cual, it does not inflect for gender, but it does inflect for number, and it also specifies that it does refer to a person:
Quien is particularly common as the object of a preposition when the clause is non-defining, but is also possible in defining clauses:
Donde is ultimately from a combination of the obsolete adverbonde ("whence" or "from where") and the prepositionde.Onde is from LatinUNDE, which also meant "whence" or "from where", and over the centuries it lost the "from" meaning and came to mean just "where". This meant that, to say "whence" or "where from", the prepositionde had to be added, and this gaved'onde. The meaning ofd'onde once again eroded over time until it came to mean just "where", and prepositions therefore had to be added once more. This gave rise to the modern usage ofdonde for "where" anda donde for "to where", among others. Note that all this means that, etymologically speaking,de donde is the rather redundant "from from from where", anda donde is the rather contradictory "to from from where". This tendency goes even further with the vulgar formande (fromadonde), which is often used to mean "where" as well. In the Ladino dialect of Spanish, the pronounonde is still used, wheredonde still means "whence" or "where from", and in Latin America, isolated communities and rural areas retain this as well.
Como is fromQUOMODO, "how", theablative ofQUI MODUS, "what way".
Cuando is fromQUANDO, "when".
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:
Como can be used instead of other relative pronouns when manner is referred to:
Note thatmismo tends to requireque:
Cuando tends to replace the use of other relative pronouns when time is referred to, usually in non-defining clauses.
Note that justque, or at the mosten que, is normal with defining clauses referring to time.En el que andcuando are rarer.
"Cuyo" is the formal Spanish equivalent for the English pronoun "whose". However, "cuyo" inflects for gender and number (cuyosm. pl.,cuyaf. sg., orcuyasf. pl.) according to the word it precedes. For example:
"cuyo" in this example has changed to "cuyas" in order to match the condition of the following word, "calificaciones"f. pl.
In Old Spanish there were interrogative forms,cúyo,cúya,cúyos, andcúyas, which are no longer used.[2]¿De quién...? is used instead.
In practice,cuyo is reserved to formal language. A periphrasis likeAlejandro es un estudiante que tiene unas calificaciones siempre buenas is more common.Alejandro es un estudiante que sus calificaciones son siempre buenas (example ofquesuismo) can also be found even if disapproved byprescriptivists.[3]
Cuyo is fromCVIVS, the genitive (possessive) form ofQVI.
Relative pronouns often have corresponding interrogative pronouns. For example:
In the second line,que helps to answer whatqué was asking for, a definition of "this".
Below is a list of interrogative pronouns and phrases with the relative pronouns that go with them:
