Subject Pronouns

What is a subject pronoun? (English)

A subject pronoun replaces a noun that is performing the action in a sentence (the subject).

Instead of saying “Maria ate” every time, you say “She ate” — she is the subject pronoun replacing Maria.

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The English subject pronouns

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	I	we
2nd	you	you (or “you all”)
3rd	he / she / it	they

Examples (English)

Pronoun	Sentence	What it replaces
I	I finished the report.	the speaker
you	You left the door open.	the listener
he	He called this morning.	a male person
she	She runs the project.	a female person
it	It stopped working.	a thing or animal
we	We shipped the feature.	speaker + others
you (all)	You are all invited.	a group being addressed
they	They approved the plan.	people or things
they (singular)	They are my doctor.	one person, gender-neutral
it	It is raining.	dummy subject — no real referent

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How Spanish handles subject pronouns differently

Key differences

• Spanish has more pronouns — it distinguishes formality (tú vs usted) and has a dedicated informal plural (vosotros)
• In Spanish, subject pronouns are often omitted — the verb ending already encodes who is doing the action

In English, “eat” with no subject is incomplete. In Spanish, “Como” is a full sentence — the verb ending -o tells you it’s “I”.

The Spanish subject pronouns

Person	Singular	Plural
1st	yo	nosotros / nosotras
2nd informal	tú	vosotros / vosotras
2nd formal	usted	ustedes
3rd masculine	él	ellos
3rd feminine	ella	ellas

nosotros = mixed or all-male group · nosotras = all-female group (same for vosotros/vosotras, ellos/ellas)

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tú vs usted — formality

This distinction does not exist in modern English. It’s similar to thou vs you in old English.

Use	Pronoun	When
Informal	tú	friends, family, peers, children
Formal	usted	strangers, elders, professionals, shows respect

usted is abbreviated Ud. in writing. It conjugates like a 3rd person singular — same as él/ella.

Context	Use
texting a friend	tú
talking to your boss	usted
asking a child a question	tú
speaking to a doctor	usted
talking to your parent	tú (generally)
addressing a customer	usted
speaking with a stranger on the street	usted
talking to a classmate	tú
writing a formal email	usted
a job interview	usted

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Subject pronouns are often dropped

Spanish is a pro-drop language — you can drop the subject pronoun when context makes it clear.

With pronoun	Without pronoun	English
Yo como arroz.	Como arroz.	I eat rice.
Tú hablas rápido.	Hablas rápido.	You speak fast.
Ella trabaja aquí.	Trabaja aquí.	She works here.
Nosotros salimos tarde.	Salimos tarde.	We left late.
Ellos llegaron ayer.	Llegaron ayer.	They arrived yesterday.

Use the pronoun when: emphasizing who does the action (“Yo lo hice” = I did it, not you), or when there’s ambiguity (él vs ella have the same verb form).

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Side-by-side: English → Spanish

English	Spanish	Notes
I	yo	often omitted
you (informal)	tú	peer, friend, family
you (formal)	usted	stranger, elder, professional
he	él	note the accent mark (without it, el = the)
she	ella
it	(no direct equivalent)	Spanish uses él/ella for objects with gender
we (mixed/male)	nosotros
we (all female)	nosotras
you all (informal)	vosotros / vosotras
you all (formal)	ustedes
they (mixed/male)	ellos
they (all female)	ellas

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Common mistakes

• ❌ Always including the subject pronoun → ✅ drop it when context is clear — overusing it sounds unnatural
• ❌ Using tú with strangers or elders → ✅ use usted to be respectful
• ❌ Confusing el (the) with él (he) → ✅ the pronoun always has an accent mark
• ❌ Using it for objects → ✅ Spanish uses él/ella based on the noun’s gender: el libro → él, la mesa → ella

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Summary

• Spanish has more subject pronouns than English: tú vs usted, nosotros/as, vosotros/as, ellos/as
• Formal (usted) vs informal (tú) — critical social distinction with no English equivalent
• Subject pronouns are often dropped — the verb ending encodes the subject
• Spanish has no it — objects use él or ella based on grammatical gender

See also: Object Pronouns — direct and indirect pronoun forms.
See also: Reflexive Verbs — when subject and object are the same person.
See also: Possessives — the tú/vosotros/usted split mirrored in “your.”
See also: Pronoun Table — all pronouns in one lookup.