Pronombres

Back in Saludos, we talked about how to talk about where people live. Let's review that briefly. Do you remember how to say:

I live in... Yo vivo en
You (a close friend) live in... Tú vives en
You (your Spanish teacher) live in.... Usted vive en

Do you remember all of that? Do you know what the words "I" and "you" are called in English? Those are subject pronouns. They can be the subject of a sentence. Can you think of what the other subject pronouns are in English? See if you can think of the subject pronoun to replace these nouns:

yourself I
Érica she
Juan he
Juan and yourself we
Juan and Pablo they
Érica and Ana they

The subject pronouns in Spanish are (the ones in red are the ones you should have already known):

yo (I)	nosotros (we)
tú (you)	vosotros - you (plural) – This is used in Spain when talking directly to family and friends.
usted (you)	ustedes - you (plural)
ella (she)	ellas - they – This is used when talking about a group of females.
él (he)	ellos - they – This is used when talking about a group of males or mixed group of males and females.

Note: There are two ways in each column to say "you". One is the familiar form and the other is the formal form. The distinction between "tú" and "usted" is made in all of the Spanish-speaking world. In the plural, however, "vosotros" is used only in Spain to say "you guys" in the familiar. In Latin America, "ustedes" is used to say "you guys" regardless of familiarity or formality.

Also, you'll notice that "ellos" changes to "ellas" if you are referring to a group of women. The same happens with nosotros and vosotros: they become "nosotras" and "vosotras.

Keeping these pronouns in mind, which one of them would you use in the following situations:

To talk to your dad tú
To talk to your grandmother’s friend usted
To talk about your little brother él
To talk about your Spanish teacher ella/él (depending on whether male/female)
To talk about your two best male friends ellos
To talk about your two best female friends ellas
To talk about yourself and a friend nosotros
To talk to two girl friends vosotras or ustedes

We will continue to work with subject pronouns so if you are having trouble, be sure to let your teacher know.