Direct Object Pronouns

I.  Here are the forms for the direct object pronoun in Spanish. (Please note that for third person singular and plural direct object pronouns, the choice of "lo" or "la" will depend on whether the direct object being referred to is a masculine or feminine noun.)

	singular	plural
first person	me	nos
second person	te	os
third person	lo/la	los/las

 

II.  Direct object pronouns in Spanish are placed directly before the conjugated verb, even if the sentence is a question. If the verb is in its infinitive form or is in the form of a command, this is not the case.

Lo busco. ¿Los tienes?

I am looking for it. Do you have them?

Subject Pronouns

Pronouns are used to replace nouns and are usually used to avoid repetition. The subject pronouns are used for personal nouns such as I, you, them, etc.

There are some special notes that need to be mentioned when discussing subject pronouns in Spanish:

1. Spanish differentiates between formal and familiar "you", whereas English does not. Therefore you need to know when to use the formal or the familiar. In general, tú (or vos, see note #2 below) is used with friends/peers, children, and pets. Usted would be used with strangers, persons of authority, and elders.

2. The pronoun "vos" is used in certain Latin American countries instead of "tú". The singular familiar pronoun for "you" that is taught in the United States is almost always "tú".

3. The pronoun "vosotros" is used in Spain only, not in Latin America. In Latin America, the plural familiar form for "you" will be "ustedes". Therefore, they use "ustedes" for both the formal and familiar plural.

4. Spanish is a pro-drop language, meaning that the subject pronouns "yo", "tú", "nosotros", & "vosotros" are not required in a sentence as they are easily understood by the verb endings. 

5. Note that while in English 'it' is used a lot in Spanish it is not. Spanish sticks with the actual name of the noun, no replacement


English: The car needs repairs = it needs repairs
vs
Spanish: El carro necesita reparaciones = el carro necesita reparaciones


Still, Spanish does have an 'it' translation which is 'eso' or 'esa' but as you will see from most Spanish grammar books it will not be listed.

	singular	plural
first person	yo	nosotros
second person	tú; vos*	vosotros
third person	él, ella, usted	ellos, ellas, ustedes

yo tú, vos él ella usted nosotros vosotros ellos ellas ustedes

I you (familiar singular) he she you (formal singular)we you (familiar plural) they (masculine, or any group including a male) they (feminine) you (plural)

Make sure to send me questions or comments,

Luis

Common Adverbs

Here is a listing of commonly used Spanish adverbs.

a menudo ahora antes apenas aquí bastante bien de nuevo de repente demasiado mal muy nunca siempre tal vez tarde temprano todavía ya

often now before hardly here enough well again suddenly too much badly very never always perhaps late early still already

Formation of Adverbs

Adverbs are words that can modify a verb, adjective, or even another adverb. They are used to express concepts such as time, manner, cause, or place. In Spanish, adverbs are placed after the verb they modify.

I.  Most adverbs in Spanish are formed by simply adding "mente" to the feminine singular form of an adjective. (Remember that some adjectives have the same form for both the masculine and feminine.)

Adverbs are usually placed after the verb they modify in Spanish.

slowly absolutely evidently

lentamente (the adjective lenta + mente) absolutamente (the adjective absoluta + mente) evidentemente (the adjective evidente + mente)

II.  Some adverbs have their own formed and must be memorized. A listing of some common adverbs that fall into this category can be found here.

Interrogative Adjectives

Interrogatives adjectives are used in questions and ask the following questions:what?, which?, how much?, & how many?

1. "Qué" has only one form. It stays the same regardless of gender or number.
2. "Cuál" has only two forms. It does not have a different form for the feminine.
3. "Cuánto" is the only one that has 4 different forms.

masculine singular	feminine singular		masculine plural	feminine plural
¿qué?	¿qué?	WHAT?/WHICH?	¿qué?	¿qué?
¿cuál?	¿cuál?	WHICH?	¿cuáles?	¿cuáles?
¿cuánto?	¿cuánta?	HOW MUCH? HOW MANY?	¿cuántos?	¿cuántas?

 

Examples of usage:

¿Qué libros quiere él? ¿Cuál camisa prefieres? ¿Cuántos años tiene Antonio?

What books does he want? Which shirt do you prefer? How old is Antonio?

Possessive Adjectives

Possessive adjectives are used to modify nouns to show to whom a noun belongs. In Spanish, the possessive adjective will agree in number and gender with the noun it modifies, not with the owner.

Note that the forms are the same for third person singular and plural. If it is not c clear from the context of the sentence who the owner is, then you can use "de" plus the pronoun to make it clear.

For example:   el libro de Antonio instead of su libro

Here are singular forms:

	singular	plural
first person	mi	nuestro/a
second person	tu	vuestro/a
third person	su	su

mi libro tu libro su libro nuestro libro nuestra casa su libro

my book your (familiar) book his book; her book; your (formal) book our book our house their book

Here are the plural forms:

	singular	plural
first person	mis	nuestros/as
second person	tus	vuestros/as
third person	sus	sus

mis libros tus libros sus libros nuestros libros nuestras casas sus libros

my books your (familiar) books his books; her books; your (formal) books our books our houses their books