Hot answers tagged pronombres
20
Sorry, I don't speak English
Es una duplicación del complemento directo.
En español culto, cuando el complemento directo o indirecto se antepone al verbo y no es un pronombre, entonces es obligatorio añadir el pronombre átono también antepuesto al verbo.
La tarta la llevo yo. (yo llevo la tarta).
La tarta no la llevo yo. (yo no llevo la tarta)
...
13
La primera distinción que haría es con "vós": es muy común en el español latinoamericano, pero no se usa en el peninsular (el de España). Por lo tanto, en España es mejor evitarlo completamente.
El uso de "tú" y "usted" es más complicado. Hablaré por el uso en España, que es el que conozco.
En teoría se usa "usted" con todas las personas adultas, pero en ...
13
In Spain we would say either of these:
Trátame de tú.
Tutéame.
Or, in a more indirect way:
No me trates de usted.
Any of them in a cheerful manner and usually accompanied by the perceptive "por favor" if needed.
12
Usted comes from Vuestra Merced (later Vuesarced), meaning "Your Grace". Since this was an indirect way of addressing someone, it was inflected in the third person. That is, strictly speaking, you are not addressing the person, but "Their Grace". As time went on, the person inflection was kept, even though its origins became opaque.
In a study entitled El ...
12
Usted is a descendent of medieval Spanish Vuestra Merced, meaning "your mercy". It was an expression used to address upper classes in feudal Spain and evolved to be the general form of respectful address in the language in the seventeenth century or later.
The letters "u" and "v" — like the letters "i" and "j" — were written the same in Latin. The choice of ...
12
Este tipo de pronombres que funcionan como complemento verbal no preposicional se denominan, en general, pronombres clíticos. Cuando anteceden al verbo (me encanta; lo dijo; se fue) se llaman proclíticos y cuando siguen al verbo (ayúdame, díselo, vete) se llaman enclíticos.
La colocación de los pronombres clíticos delante o detrás del verbo no es libre, ...
10
English
The difference is not very clear and borders on the idiomatic, but I'd say that cuál implies that there is a known set of options from which to choose, while qué is more general. So ¿Cuál libro prefieres? implies that there are a couple of books in front of you and you need to choose from those.
Español
La diferencia no está muy clara y ronda ...
10
Use the pronoun when it clarifies an ambiguity:
Leería el libro.
This is vague without further context. It could mean "I would read the book" or "He/she would read the book." So the addition of a pronoun (or other context) is necessary.
Or use a pronoun for emphasis.
Él leyó el libro. Yo leí la revista.
"He read the book. I read the ...
10
This confusion is easy to resolve once you understand that Spanish is an inflected language, so verbs are marked (that is, changed) to reflect things like tense, person, and number. (See Wikipedia: Spanish Grammar.)
Describing all of the diffrent types of inflections and verb changes is a lengthy process and beyond the scope of a single answer, so I'll try ...
9
Sí, se pueden usar. Yo soy una mujer, y cuando estoy con mis amigas, se puede decir:
Nosotras vamos al cine.
También se puede referir a nuestro grupo en la misma forma.
Alguien me ha dicho que vosotras vais al cine.
9
According to Wikipedia's article on voseo, the geographical distribution can be split into three categories:
Countries where voseo is predominant:
Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
Countries where both forms are used:
Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela
Countries where vos is ...
9
In this case le is a dative pronoun. You are correct in assuming it is redundant, as it actually is. :) Wikitionary has a very interesting entry on the subject that treats upon it in a usage note. It reads:
Note that when a sentence contains a noun that is an indirect object, a redundant indirect object le (or its plural form les) is also required.
...
7
You shouldn't use that "contracted" form since it is a mistake.
From the RAE:
En la lengua culta debe evitarse el uso de adverbios como cerca,
detrás, delante, debajo, dentro, encima, enfrente con adjetivos
posesivos; así pues, no debe decirse ×detrás mío,
×encima suya, etc., sino detrás de mí, encima de
él, etc.
In cultivated language ...
7
Qué and cuál are interrogatory pronouns, and are thus used when asking questions (see relevant question):
¿Qué ha ocurrido? → What has happened?
¿Cuál es tu número de teléfono? → What is your phone number?
Qué can also be an exclamative adjective (if it is used before a noun):
¿Qué hora es? → What time is it?
Qué can also be ...
6
When it precedes a noun, the rule is simple: use "qué". "Cuál" is traditionally considered incorrect (though apparently common nonetheless) in this case.
Otherwise, it's probably being followed by a form of "ser". In this case, you want "cuál" unless you are seeking a definition.
"¿Qué es el color?" — "What is color?" (i.e., what sort of thing is color?)
...
6
As I understand, que is used commonly for definition, where cual refers to selecting or identifying.
¿Qué es el mate?
Es una infusion que se bebe en Uruguay, en Paraguay y en Argentina.
¿Cuál es la moneda de México? El peso mexicano.
¿Qué es una galaxia? Un immenso conjunto de estrellas, gas, y polvo.
¿Cuál es la galaxia más cercana a la ...
6
The correct order can be remembered by the acronym RID (as in, "I need to get RID of this confusion about pronouns!") for reflexive, indirect, direct.
All three pronouns can't appear together, but two can in the following combinations:
Reflexive-Indirect: Se me olvidó. ("I forgot." or literally "It forgot itself to me.")
Reflexive-Direct: Me lo pongo. ("I ...
6
I guess @Gonzalo has answered your question from the correct, formal and theorical point of view.
However, I wish to share my thoughts since I am a native speaker. @KevinK said:
the latter sentence ["¿Lo quieres hacer?"] also looks natural but the meaning is more of confirming the wanting vs. asking if they want to do it at all
About this, I use to ...
6
Ello would be the word for "It" when it is a personal pronoun. For example:
Ello es muy pesado. (it is very heavy)
the problem is that prononuns are usually omitted. So you'd hear:
Es muy pesado.
Sometimes we can't ommit it (usually because it's an expression or a verb with compulsory preposition), for example in sentences like:
Vamos a ...
6
You can say in a cheerful tone:
Puedes hablarme de tú. (You may speak to me informally)
It might be helpful to precede the sentence with an encouragement word, like this:
¡Vamos! Háblame de tú. (Come on! Talk to me informally)
Please note that this applies particularly to Latin-American Spanish ...
5
Yo soy de Madrid y tengo laísmo, leísmo y loísmo cuando hablo, pero si lo pienso (al escribir) suelo darme cuenta y lo corrijo. El laísmo, leísmo y loísmo está tan arraigado en Castilla que yo no me enteré que era laísta, leísta y loísta hasta que tuve 20 años.
Correcto:
Objeto directo masculino o neutro: siempre "lo"
Objeto directo femenino: siempre "la"
...
5
TÚ:
Se usa con amigos, con todos los parientes (puede haber excepciones) y en situaciones informales.
VOS: Solo se usa en ciertas partes de Latinoamérica, principalmente en Argentina, Uruguay, Guatemala y algunas otras partes de Centroamérica y Sudamérica (Chile, Colombia, partes de Bolivia). Todo el mundo sabe hablar de "tú", pero no todo el mundo sabe ...
4
It is extremely important, when talking about word usage in Spanish, to avoid the general thought that every country has an homogeneous way to do so.
For example, here in Chile we use tú as the normal way, but, in some cases you want to sound a bit rude, and then use vos, pronounced like voh:
Y vos, qué te crees que eres? (And who do you think you are?)
...
4
There is. I grew up in a city in Colombia called Cali. There we have the "Valluno" accent. We widely use vos and tu in almost the same proportion not exclusively as other "Voseo" countries. And it is used rather in the entire Valle del Cauca region.
There are other countries where it is used such as Bolivia and Chile. In the case of Bolivia it is used in ...
4
I think the book explanation is good. But for simplicity use it at the beginning of the paragraph (to clarify it's you) and no more.
For example
I think it's important because I want to be able to do it.
Yo creo que es importante porque quiero ser capaz de hacerlo.
Also, the verb itself told you if its explicit the need to use the "Yo". Using ...
4
The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas (DPD) calls ello the neutral form of the the tonic third-person singular pronoun and mentions that The syntactical properties of ello have diminished and some normal uses in previous eras have disappeared. Nevertheless, the DPD lists the following current usage cases:
Ello as the terminus of a preposition:
Ana trató ...
4
This is a kind of passive called "Pasiva refleja". "Pasiva refleja" is the passive voice most used in Spanish. RAE explains it here. The way of forming it
Se + < transitive verb > + < nominal element >
The verb will be always conjugated in 3rd person. If the nominal element is singular it will be 3rd person singular, but if that nominal element ...
4
RAE:
Forma de 2.ª persona singular [tú] o plural [vosotros].
So what I gather is that vos is the short version of vosotros when referring to the second person of plural only; however, Vosotros (vos y otros) is strictly for the second person of plural. RAE again:
pron. person. Formas de nominativo de 2.ª persona plural en masculino y femenino.
...
4
You would certainly have to resolve the ambiguity between yo and ella, because the conjugation is the same. But you can omit the pronoun for tú:
Mientras ella estaba feliz, estabas cansado y yo estaba triste.
But it would sound weird, unless the previous sentences were speaking about tú.
It sounds better with the pronoun for tú, because later you ...
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