Table of Contents
Possessive pronouns
Here is how to say “my, mine, your, yours etc.”. These pronouns can be declined by gender and plural. Masculine gender has the ending –O, feminine – A, and plural has –S.
Mi – my, mío – mine
Tu – your, tuyo – yours
Su – his/her/its, your(for ustedes), suyo – his/her/its, your (for ustedes)
Nuestro(a) – our/ours
Vuestro(a) – our/ours
Su –their, suyo – theirs
As it was said before, these pronouns can be declined by gender and plural. Here are some examples:
Mi – my(singular), mis – my(plural)
Mío – mine(m), mía(f), mios(m, pl), mias(m, pl)
Tu, tus, tuyo(s), tuya(s)
Su, sus, suyo(s), suya(s)
Nuestro(s), nuestra(s)
Vuestro(s), vuestra(s)
Examples
La camiseta es mía – the T-shirt is mine
Nuestro pueblo – our village
Vuestras amigas – your friends (females)
Los bicicletas son suyas – the bicycles are theirs
Mi mujer es bonita – my wife is beautiful
Su hija es joven – his daughter is young
Ese bolso es suyo – this bag is hers
The pronoun “Lo”
LO is a special pronoun that can be used in some different ways.
- First of all, as it was already considered before – as direct object pronoun “him/it”:
Yo lo hago – I do it
Nececitamos hacerlo – We need to do it
Él lo sabe – He knows it
¿Puedes comprenderlo? – Can you understand it?
- As a neuter definite article:
Lo bueno es que puedo hacerlo – The good thing is that I can do it
Lo mio es tuyo – What is mine is yours
Hacemos lo imposible – We do the impossible
- Lo que – that, what:
No todo lo que haces es correcto – Not everything that you do is correct
Pensaba que lo que él hace es bueno – I thought that what he does is good
Ellos memorizaron todo lo que estaba en la lección pero lo olvidaron pronto – They memorized everything that was in the lesson but they forgot soon
- Sobre lo de – no direct translation, but the sense is close to “with regard to”, “concerning”, “in the matter of”, “what about the”:
Sobre lo de mis estudios me parece bueno y no me es dificíl – What about my studies is good and I don’t have difficulties
Sobre lo de contrato, solo me queda firmarlo – Concerning the contract, I agree to sign it
Sobre lo de nuestro negocio, ahora todo está bien – What about our business, now everything is well
Idioms with Lo:
Por lo menos – at least
Por lo pronto – for now
Por lo general – generally
Por lo visto – apparently
Por lo tanto – therefore, thus, hence
A lo largo de – throughout
A lo mejor – at best
A lo lejos – in the distance
Examples
Lo que pasó entre ellos es muy triste – It is very sad what happened between them
Por lo menos yo no tengo que preocuparme – At least I don’t have to worry
Lo bueno es que tú tienes este conocimiento – The good thing is that you have this knowledge
Lo importante es que este nicho es muy rentable – What’s important is that this niche is very profitable
¿Dónde podemos encontrarlo? – Where can we find it?
Lo mejor es que ellos fueron advertido – The best thing is that they were warned
Todo lo que tú quieres de mí es muy estúpido – All that you want from me is very stupid
Lo increíble es que nos encontramos en un autobús por casualidad – The incredible thing is that we met each other in a bus accidentally
Por lo visto a Simona no le interesa nuestra oferta – Apparently Simona is not interested in our offer
Something, everywhere, nobody etc.
Person:
Alguien – somebody
Todos – everybody
Nadie – nobody
Thing:
Algo – something
Todo – everything
Nada – nothing
Time:
A veces – sometimes
Siempre – always
Jamas/Nunca – never
Place:
(En) alguna parte – somewhere
(En) todas partes – everywhere
(En) ninguna parte – nowhere
Double negation is possible in Spanish. If in English we should say “he didn’t say anything” instead of “he didn’t say nothing”, in Spanish we can say so:
Él no dijo nada – He said nothing
No lo hicimos nunca – We never did it
Nadie hizo nada – Nobody did anything
Examples
Jorge fumaba a veces – Jorge smoked sometimes
Yo y mis amigos viajamos a alguna parte cada año – I and my friends travel somewhere every year
No queremos nada ahora – We don’t want anything now
Notice, that in Spanish one can use two negations at the same time: “no queremos nada” instead of “queremos nada”.
Él estudiaba todas las noches – he studied every night
El viajero quiere ir a todos partes – The traveler wants to go everywhere
Nunca intenté fumar – I never tried to smoke
Nadie jamas envió el reporte – Nobody ever sent a report
These pronoun are known as “demonstratives”.
Este (m), esta (f) – This
Estos (m, pl), estas (f, pl) – These
Ese (m), esa (f, pl) – That
Esos (m, pl), esas (f, pl) – Those
Aquel (m), aquella (f) – that (over there)
Aquellos (m, pl), aquellas (f, pl) – those (over there)
Also, there are neuter demonstratives that don’t change gender and number, they refer to an unknown thing or emotion:
Esto – this
Eso – that
Aquello – that (over there)
Examples
Aquella montaña está lejos de acá – That mountain (over there) is far from here
Este libro es muy interesante – This book is very interesting
Esto es bueno – This is good
¿Qué es eso? – What is that?
Estas playas son hermosas – These beaches are beautiful
¿Dónde está este castillo? – Where is this castle?
Aquellas islas están cerca de la costa – Those islands are close from the coast
Aquí – here, the closest distance from the speaker, for example “here, on my table”, “here, in this cupboard”
Acá – here, more generalized meaning, for example or “here, in Madrid” or “here, in Argentina”
Ahí – there, minimal distance for example “there, on the shelve”
Allí – there, medium distance that you cannot point out, for example “over there, in that hill”
Allá – there, farther distance, that you cannot point out, for example “there, in the central park”
Examples
Lo pondré aquí – I will put it here
No sé qué es eso allí – I don’t know what it is there
Nosotros estuvimos allá – We have been there
Acá tenemos elecciones presidenciales cada cuatro años – We have the president elections every 4 years here.
¿Cuándo usted fue para allá? – When you went there?
La tetera está ahí, en la cocina – The teapot is there, in the kitchen
Unos viajeros estaban allá, como él me dijo – Some travelers were there, as he told me
¿Dondé está el restaurante acá? – Where is the restaurant here?
Pero esa calle está allí – But that street is there
¿Por cierto, puedes buscarlo allá? – By the way, can you search it there? (medium distance)
¿Qué occurrió allá en la playa ayer? – What happened there in the square yesterday?
¿Qué buscas ahí? – What are you searching there?
¿Oyes la música allí? – do you hear the music there?
¿Qué vosotros comisteís allá? – Which food did you eat there?
Exercises
Use appropriate locative pronoun (here, there)
- ¿Cuando tú visitaste Perú, qué viste ? – When you visited Peru, what did you see there?
- ¿Por qué lo pusiste ? – Why did you put it here?
- ¿Quién estuvo antes de mí? – Why has been here before me?
- ¿Se puede enviar la carta , yo significo, a Inglaterra? – Can one send the letter there, I mean, to England?
- ¿Sabes que tenemos mucho cosas ? – You know it, that we have much stuff here (closest distance)?
- No lo vi _______ porque estuve ocupado – I didn’t see it there because I was busy
- ¿A quién vas a encontrar ? – Whom are you going to meet here?
- El mensajero entregará el paquete – The courier will deliver the parcel there
- Nadie sabe que puedo encontrar __________ en mi habitación – Nobody knows what I can find here in my room
Use appropriate demonstrative pronoun (this, that)
- ¿Qué es en el tejado? – What is that on the roof?
- ¿Por qué me trajiste cajas? – Why did you bring me these boxes?
- No quiero ir a lugar – I don’t wanna go to that place
- es tan bello! – This is so beautiful!
- __________ consejo fue muy mal – This advice was very bad
- Por favor, compra _________ cosas en la tienda – Please, buy these things in the store
- Las mujeres no aman ____________ perfume – Women don’t like this perfume
- Nadie sabe qué es ___________ – Nobody knows what is that
- ¿Llegó Usted a un acuerdo con ___________ gerente? – Did you reach an agreement with this manager?
Answers
1: allá, 2: aquí, 3: acá, 4: allá, 5: aquí, 6: allá, 7: aquí, 8: allá, 9: aquí 10: aquello, 11: estas, 12: ese, 13: esto, 14: este, 15: estas, 16: este 17: eso, 18: este
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