Spanish 3 – Unit 1, Lesson 1
Patterns
Study Sheet
Page 1 of 5
Figure It Out!
Tengo buenos parientes. Mis abuelos se llaman Juan y María. Ellos son muy amables. Mi tío
se llama Pablo. Él es muy inteligente. Mi sobrina se llama Lupe. Ella es muy bonita. Pero tú,
mi querido primo, eres mi pariente favorito porque eres muy divertido.
The previous paragraph about this person's favorite relatives contains four subject
pronouns. Can you find them?
Introduction
Let’s review what a pronoun is. Pronouns are words that are "pro" nouns, or in other
words, "for" nouns; that is, anywhere you can use a noun, you can use a pronoun "for" or in
place of the noun. Pronouns help keep language efficient. Instead of always having to use
the specific name for something or somebody, you can use a subject pronoun to replace
the name with he, she, they, it, you or we. Imagine if you were introducing your friends:
“Jennifer is really cool. Jennifer lives next door to me and likes downloading
music from the internet. Jennifer’s brother, Scott, is also cool, but Jennifer
thinks that Scott is a pain. Scott is a pretty good skateboarder. Scott saved
Scott’s money all year long to buy a new skateboard.”
Jennifer, Jennifer, Jennifer . . . Scott, Scott, Scott . . . What do you think of this version of
the same thing?
“Jennifer is really cool. She lives next door to me and likes downloading
music from the internet. Her brother, Scott, is also cool, but she thinks that
he is a pain. Scott is a pretty good skateboarder. He saved his money all year
long to buy a new skateboard.”
Much less awkward, huh. You’re probably already familiar with Spanish pronouns. Take a
look at the chart below for a quick refresher.
SUBJECT PRONOUNS IN LATIN AMERICAN
SPANISH
SINGULAR
PLURAL
I
yo
we
nosotros/
nosotras
you
tú
(informal)
you
usted
you all
ustedes
(formal)
(informal
and
formal)
he
él
they
ellos
she
ella
they
ellas
it
él, ella
they
ellos/ellas
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Spanish 3 – Unit 1, Lesson 1
Patterns
Study Sheet
Page 2 of 5
(By the way, in Spain there are two ways to say “you” when speaking to more than one
person. If you’re speaking to a group of friends or people your age (people you would
normally address individually using “tú”), you would say “vosotros” to mean “all of you.” If
you’re speaking to a group of people older than you or of higher social standing (people you
would normally address individually using “usted”), you would say “ustedes” to mean “all of
you.”)
Differences between Spanish and English Pronouns
You’ll be glad to be reminded that Spanish and English pronouns are used in similar ways
except for a couple of key differences.
1) Gender: In Spanish, words have “gender.” This really has nothing to do with
masculinity or femininity. It’s just one of those things that makes Spanish
exciting. Remember that el libro is masculine. (“El” is the dead giveaway.) And
I’m sure you remember that la universidad is feminine because of the “la.”
Anyway, when you use a pronoun, you have to make sure you replace the word
with a pronoun that matches in gender.
2) Plurals with gender: Spanish shows the gender in the plural form of subject
pronouns as well. In other words, it differentiates between masculine "we" –
“nosotros” and feminine "we" – “nosotras.” It also differentiates between
masculine and feminine "they." In English, if we say, “They played a great game
last night!” it’s unclear if we’re talking about a women’s team, a men’s team, or a
co-ed team. “They” is the only option. But in Spanish there are two ways to say
“they” – “ellos” or “ellas.” “Ellas played a great game last night” or “Ellos” played
a great game last night.” If the group is mixed gender, “ellos” is used.
3) Tú/Usted: In Spanish, there are two ways to say "you" in the singular  tú and
usted
Tú is the informal singular form of "you" and is generally used to address
any person that you would feel comfortable calling by his or her first name.
However, usage of tú and usted varies somewhat by region.
Usted is the formal singular form of "you" and is generally used to express
respect, especially towards someone older or of higher social standing, such
as a teacher or boss.
By the way, Usted can be abbreviated either Ud. (more common in
Latin America) or Vd. (more common in Spain).
FYI
Pronouns are usually categorized by person and number. Person refers to the relationship
of the subject pronoun to the speaker (i.e. 1st person [the speaker], 2nd person [the one
spoken to], or 3rd person [someone else]). Number refers to how many people are
included in the subject pronoun (i.e. singular or plural). The following table reviews the
subject pronouns.
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No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
Power-Glide.
Page 3 of 5
Spanish 3 – Unit 1, Lesson 1
Patterns
Study Sheet
SINGULAR
1st Person
2
nd
Person
3rd Person
yo - I
tú – you (informal)
usted – you (formal)
él - he
ella - she
él or ella - it
PLURAL
nosotros – we
nosotras – we
Ustedes – y’all (in
Latin America)
Vosotros – y’all
(only in Spain)
ustedes – y’all
ellos - they
ellas – they
ellos or ellas - they
Last but not least . . .
After all this talk about pronouns, you might be surprised to know that in Spanish, subject
pronouns are used less often than in English because the verb often provides enough
information all by itself. In English we don’t often have the luxury of leaving out pronouns.
For instance, how would you fill in this blank? _______ speak Spanish amazingly well. You
could have chosen almost any pronoun -- “I speak,” “You speak,” “We speak,” or “They
speak.” That’s why we have to say the pronoun every time in English. But try this one in
Spanish. ________ hablo muy bien. There’s only one correct answer – “Yo.” The “o” at the
end of “hablo” gives it away. How about this? ________ hablas muy bien. Yep. “Tú” is the
only thing that fits. So don’t be concerned if you sense a lack of pronouns in your Spanish
encounters.
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No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
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Page 4 of 5
Spanish 3 – Unit 1, Lesson 1
Patterns
Study Sheet
Practice Questions
To check your understanding of subject pronouns, do the following exercises.
A. Subject Pronoun Identification
The following paragraph is from the "Figure It Out!" section above. Underline the four
subject pronouns in the paragraph. Then, in the spaces following the paragraph, write each
subject pronoun along with the word it "stands for.")
Example: Rodolfo es loco. Él tiene 1000 ratones en su casa.
Subject Pronoun
Él
Refers to . . .
Rodolfo
Tengo buenos parientes. Mis abuelos se llaman Juan y María. Ellos son muy amables. Mi tío
se llama Pablo. Él es muy inteligente. Mi sobrina se llama Lupe. Ella es muy bonita. Pero tú,
mi querido primo, eres mi pariente favorito porque eres muy divertido.
Subject Pronoun
Refers to . . .
1.
2.
3.
4.
B. Subject Pronoun Forms
Write the Spanish subject pronoun on the blank beside its English equivalent.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10. ___________
I
he
they (feminine)
we (masculine)
she
you (formal singular)
they (masculine)
we (feminine)
you (informal singular)
you (formal plural)
C. Subject Pronoun Use
Write the correct subject pronoun that should be used with each person.
1.
2.
3.
4.
To
To
To
To
talk
talk
talk
talk
about yourself.
to your female friend.
about a group of guys that you are a part of and you are a guy.
about a group of girls who are your friends.
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No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
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Page 5 of 5
Spanish 3 – Unit 1, Lesson 1
Patterns
Study Sheet
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
_
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
To
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
talk
about a group of guys that are your friends.
about a group of girls and guys that you are a part of.
to a group of girls who are your friends in Latin America.
to your female teacher.
about male teacher.
to your male teacher.
about your female teacher.
to your male friend.
about your male friend.
about a group of girls that you are a part of and you are a girl.
to a group of guys that are your friends in Latin America.
about your female friend.
D. Subject Pronoun Replacement
Write the appropriate subject pronoun that can replace the subject in each sentence. (The
subject is underlined.)
Example: Señor Díaz mira la televisión.
Subject
Señor Díaz
1. ____________
2. ____________
3. ____________
4. ____________
5. ____________
6. ____________
7. ____________
8. ____________
9. ____________
10. ___________
Subject pronoun…
Él
New sentence
Él mira la televisión.
Tomás va a comer galletas.
José y yo vamos de vacaciones.
Susana es mi hermana.
Mis sobrinas se llaman Marta y María.
Tú y yo miramos la televisión.
Mi tía es muy bonita.
Los perros quieren comer.
¿Mi primo y tú son novios?
Tus abuleos son venezolanos.
¿Quién es tu amiga?
© 2006 Power-Glide. All rights reserved. This material is intended for the exclusive use of registered users only.
No portion of these materials may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without the express permission of
Power-Glide.