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