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

This, that, these, those

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

Here and there

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)

  1. ¿Cuando tú visitaste Perú, qué viste  ? – When you visited Peru, what did you see there?
  2. ¿Por qué lo pusiste  ? – Why did you put it here?
  3. ¿Quién estuvo  antes de mí? – Why has been here before me?
  4. ¿Se puede enviar la carta  , yo significo, a Inglaterra? – Can one send the letter there, I mean, to England?
  5. ¿Sabes que tenemos mucho cosas  ? – You know it, that we have much stuff here (closest distance)?
  6. No lo vi _______ porque estuve ocupado – I didn’t see it there because I was busy
  7. ¿A quién vas a encontrar ? – Whom are you going to meet here?
  8. El mensajero entregará el paquete  – The courier will deliver the parcel there
  9. Nadie sabe que puedo encontrar __________ en mi habitación – Nobody knows what I can find here in my room

Use appropriate demonstrative pronoun (this, that)

  1. ¿Qué es  en el tejado? – What is that on the roof?
  2. ¿Por qué me trajiste  cajas? – Why did you bring me these boxes?
  3. No quiero ir a  lugar – I don’t wanna go to that place
  4.              es tan bello! – This is so beautiful!
  5. __________ consejo fue muy mal – This advice was very bad
  6. Por favor, compra _________ cosas en la tienda – Please, buy these things in the store
  7. Las mujeres no aman ____________ perfume – Women don’t like this perfume
  8. Nadie sabe qué es ___________ – Nobody knows what is that
  9. ¿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