PRONOMBRES PERSONALES (PERSONAL PRONOUNS)

In Spanish there are three singular subject pronouns.

• 1ª persona / First-person singular: yo

• 2ª persona / Second-person singular: tú (informal, young people), usted (formal, adults)

• 3ª persona / Third-person singular: él (masculine), ella (feminine)

Tú, usted and ustedes

• Tú – informal 

• Usted – formal 

• Ustedes - plural, formal o informal 

Both "tú" and "usted" means "you" in English but "usted" is used when talking to older people or people in a high rank to show respect.  Ustedes is the plural form, it'd be like "you all".

• Tu eres Camila. = You are Camila (Camila is my friend.)

• Usted es Camila. = You are Camila (Camila is my friend's mom and she's 60 years old.)

In the second case we use "usted" to address a woman who is older than us to show more respect. Notice how the verb also changes to "es".

Subject pronouns are NOT usually mentioned in Spanish.

• Yo soy peruana. = Soy peruana (I'm Peruvian.)

• Él es turista. = Es turista. (He is a tourist.)

AFIRMACIÓN Y NEGACIÓN (AFFIRMATION, NEGATION)

Afirmación / Affirmation

• Sí

• Sí + verbo / verb

• –¿Eres Ana?

• –Sí. / –Sí, soy Ana.

• (Sí = Sí, soy Ana)

Negación / Negation

Making a negative statement is easy, just put "no" before the verb.

• –¿Eres María?

• –No.

• –No soy María. 

EL VERBO SER, LLAMARSE Y CONOCER (TO BE, TO BE CALLED, TO KNOW)

The verb llamarse is used to refer to a person’s name.

• Me llamo María.

The verb conocer is used when we already know someone.

• Conozco a María.

This means that I already know María.

Open activity GRAMÁTICA: Verbo ser in a new window.

GÉNEROS /GENDERS

In Spanish, all nouns—including those denoting nonliving things—are either masculine or feminine.

Most nouns that end in -o are masculine, while most nouns that end in -a are feminine.

Nouns that denote males are masculine, and nouns that denote

females are feminine.

Open activity GRAMÁTICA: Género y número in a new window or complete the task below.

Open the activity GRAMÁTICA: Tú y usted in a new window or complete it below.

Listen to an English podcast on Gender and Pluralization below.