Spanish Pronouns: Subject, Object and Possessive Forms

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Spanish pronouns are small words with several jobs. They can identify the subject, replace a direct or indirect object, stand after a preposition, show possession or refer back to the subject.

The useful question is not simply “What is the Spanish word for me?” It is “What job is me doing in this sentence?” Spanish often uses a different form for each job, and it can leave a subject pronoun unspoken when the context is clear.

This guide separates those jobs and gives you a short example for each one.

What Is a Spanish Pronoun?

A pronoun can stand for a person, thing or idea that the conversation has already identified. Its form depends on its grammatical role.

Compare these sentences:

• Diego es mi amigo. (“Diego is my friend.”)
• Él vive cerca de mí. (“He lives near me.”)
• Lo veo a menudo. (“I see him often.”)

In the first sentence, mi is a possessive determiner because it accompanies amigo. In the second, él is a subject pronoun and mí is a stressed pronoun after the preposition de. In the third, lo is a direct object pronoun. The accent marks on él and mí distinguish them from el (“the”) and mi (“my”).

Spanish Personal Subject Pronouns

The grammatical subject agrees with the verb in person and number. It is often the person doing an action, but that shortcut does not cover every sentence. In La puerta se abrió (“The door opened”), for example, la puerta is the subject even though it is not an agent.

These are the main subject forms:

• I: yo
• You, singular and informal: tú; vos in many parts of Latin America
• You, singular and usually formal: usted. The degree of formality varies by region and relationship.
• He or she: él, ella
• We: nosotros, nosotras
• You, plural and informal, used mainly in Spain: vosotros, vosotras
• You, plural: ustedes. This is the usual plural form across most of Latin America; in Spain it is normally formal.
• They: ellos, ellas

Usted and ustedes address the listener but take third-person verb forms. Spanish also has the neuter pronoun ello for an idea or situation, although beginners will meet it less often. Spanish does not normally use a subject pronoun equivalent to English “it” in weather expressions: Llueve means “It is raining.”

Connecting Subjects to Verbs and Dropping the Pronoun

A conjugated verb carries information about person and number. Here is the present tense of ir (“to go”):

• yo voy
• tú vas / vos vas
• él, ella, usted va
• nosotros, nosotras vamos
• vosotros, vosotras vais
• ellos, ellas, ustedes van

Several pronouns share a verb form, so the ending does not identify every possible subject by itself. Context often does the remaining work. Once the listener knows who you mean, both Yo voy a la tienda and Voy a la tienda can mean “I’m going to the shop.”

Use an explicit subject pronoun when you need contrast, emphasis or clarity: Yo voy, pero ella se queda (“I’m going, but she is staying”). The RAE-ASALE grammar glossary calls the unspoken form a sujeto tácito, or tacit subject. If conjugations are still new to you, work through our Spanish verb conjugation guide beside these pronouns.

Spanish Possessive Pronouns

Spanish distinguishes possessive forms that accompany a noun from forms that stand alone. The short forms before a noun are possessive determiners:

• my: mi, mis
• your: tu, tus
• his, her, its, your or their: su, sus
• our: nuestro, nuestra, nuestros, nuestras
• your, plural informal in Spain: vuestro, vuestra, vuestros, vuestras

Use mi libro for “my book” and mis manzanas for “my apples.” The longer forms are mío, tuyo, suyo, nuestro and vuestro, with endings that agree with the possessed noun: mío, mía, míos, mías, and so on.

• Este libro es mío. (“This book is mine.”)
• La mía está en la mesa. (“Mine is on the table.” The feminine noun is understood.)
• Es el mío. (“It’s mine.” Here the article helps identify one item from a set.)

A stand-alone possessive does not always need an article, as Este libro es mío shows. Also remember that su and suyo can refer to several owners. If context does not settle the meaning, use de él, de ella, de usted, de ellos or de ustedes. The endings match the thing possessed, not the owner; our guide to grammatical gender explains that agreement pattern.

Spanish Prepositional Pronouns

After most prepositions, use these stressed forms:

• me: mí
• you, informal: ti or regional vos
• him, her or it: él, ella, ello
• you, formal: usted
• us: nosotros, nosotras
• you, plural: vosotros, vosotras, ustedes
• them: ellos, ellas
• oneself or themselves: reflexive sí

For example: Esto es para mí (“This is for me”), Voy contigo (“I’m going with you”) and Lo guardó para sí (“He or she kept it for himself or herself”). With con, the special forms are conmigo, contigo and reflexive consigo. A few constructions use subject forms instead, including entre tú y yo (“between you and me”).

Spanish Direct Object Pronouns

A direct object is a complement selected by a transitive verb. A direct object pronoun replaces that noun phrase:

• Compré la pizza. (“I bought the pizza.”)
• La compré. (“I bought it.”)

The baseline forms are:

• me: me
• you: te
• him, her or it: lo, la
• us: nos
• you, plural informal in Spain: os
• them or you, plural: los, las

You will hear regional variation, including accepted uses of le for a male person in parts of the Spanish-speaking world. Learn the local pattern from the people and material you use, but keep lo, la, los, las as a clear baseline for direct objects.

Place an object pronoun before a finite verb: La compré. Attach it to an infinitive, gerund or affirmative command: comprarla, estoy comprándola, cómprala. A negative command puts it before the verb: No la compres. With a verb phrase, both La voy a comprar and Voy a comprarla are possible.

Spanish Reflexive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun refers back to its antecedent, usually the subject. In Ana se peina (“Ana combs her hair”), Ana performs the action and the reflexive se refers back to her. The forms are:

• me
• te
• se
• nos
• os
• se

Pair the pronoun with the subject: Me lavo (“I wash myself”), Te lavas (“You wash yourself”), Nos lavamos (“We wash ourselves”). With vos, use te; with usted and ustedes, use se.

Do not assume that every me, te, nos or se is reflexive. These forms also appear with pronominal verbs, reciprocal meanings and other clitic constructions. Check whether the pronoun really refers back to the subject. The RAE-ASALE reflexive-pronoun entry gives further examples.

Spanish Indirect Object Pronouns

An indirect object is a dative complement. It often names a recipient, experiencer or person affected by an event. The forms are:

• to or for me: me
• to or for you: te
• to or for him, her or you: le
• to or for us: nos
• to or for you, plural informal in Spain: os
• to or for them or you, plural: les

Compare Compré una pizza para mi amigo (“I bought a pizza for my friend”) with Le compré una pizza a mi amigo (“I bought my friend a pizza”). Under the analysis used by the RAE-ASALE grammar glossary, a recipient phrase with para is not automatically an indirect object. In the second sentence, le and a mi amigo refer to the same indirect object.

When a third-person indirect object pronoun comes before lo, la, los or las, change le or les to se: Le compré la pizza becomes Se la compré (“I bought it for him, her or you”). Add a él, a ella, a usted or another noun phrase when context does not identify the person.

Spanish Relative Pronouns

A relative word connects a clause to an expressed or understood antecedent:

• El coche que compré es rojo. (“The car that I bought is red.”)
• La amiga con quien fui vive aquí. (“The friend I went with lives here.”)
• Conozco a una autora cuyo libro ganó el premio. (“I know an author whose book won the prize.”)

Que is the most versatile relative pronoun. Quien and quienes refer to people and often follow a preposition or introduce a non-restrictive clause. You will also meet el que, la que, los que, las que and forms of el cual. The possessive relative cuyo agrees with the noun that follows it: cuyo libro, cuya casa, cuyos libros, cuyas casas.

Donde, cuando and como can introduce relative clauses too, although they are relative adverbs rather than pronouns. Relative que, quien, cual, cuando and donde are normally written without an accent; the interrogative or exclamative forms take one: qué, quién, cuál, cuándo, dónde. See the Spanish accent marks guide for that distinction.

How to Practise Spanish Pronouns

Work with short pairs rather than memorising every column at once:

1. Write a sentence with the full noun phrase: Compré la pizza.
2. Name its job: la pizza is the direct object.
3. Replace it: La compré.
4. Say the new sentence aloud and move the pronoun only when the verb form permits it.
5. Change one feature at a time: singular to plural, masculine to feminine, subject stated to subject tacit, or one regional address form to another.

That practice keeps form, function and meaning together. When a pronoun surprises you in real Spanish, copy the whole sentence and label its job before adding it to your notes.