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Mi is usually used like this:

Esta es mi casa. --> This is my house.

However, sometimes I've seen it used as a regular pronoun like this:

Él tiene más libros que mi. --> He has more books than I.

Can mi also be used as a pronoun or should yo be used when referring to oneself as a pronoun in instances like this?

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  • Your second use is not-grammatical, but "El libro es para mí" is correct. I'm not entirely sure what you mean by "regular" pronoun--what makes one pronoun more or less regular than another?
    – Flimzy
    Sep 1, 2014 at 13:50

4 Answers 4

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That's wrong. It should say

"Él tiene más libros que yo".

You can use "mi" as pronombre posesivo, as your first example, but to use it as a pronombre personal it needs the accent.

"Mi amigo se alegra por mí".

First one is posesivo (my friend / el amigo mio). The second stands for the person who is talking (me / yo).

or

Cuando digo mi nombre me refiero a mí mismo.

Please, notice that mi is NOT . That may be part of the confusion with the usage of this word.

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  • You're right! I thought "mi" and "mí" were the same word but with different uses. It's all clear now. Thanks! Aug 29, 2014 at 22:39
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I don't really know where you have seen someone use 'mi' as a noun, but, as a native Spanish speaker, I can say that they're wrong using it that way. 'Mi' is the possessive pronoun. To expand on what Diego Alonso said, 'mí' is a personal pronoun. As a general tip, translate it to English and see if it makes sense.

He has more books than *my*.

It makes as much sense in English as it does in Spanish.

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    I think is lika a false cognade from someone who speaks english and confuses me with mi but not my.
    – Aradnix
    Sep 2, 2014 at 19:05
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Mi is an adjetivo posesivo (like tu, su, nuestro, etc.)

, notice the diacritic, is a pronombre personal preposicional. For example:

Esta carta es para mí. This letter has been sent to me.

However, yo is also a pronombre personal, but it is a pronombre personal no preposicional. For example:

Creo que yo puedo hacerlo. I think I can do it.

Your second example (Él tiene más libros que mi.) is a common mistake in some Spanish-native speakers (I have noticed it on Peruvian people). As Diego has answered, the correct sentence is Él tiene más libros que yo.

It would be valid if you add something like:

Él tiene más libros que mi hermano. He has more books than my brother.

However, in this case, mi is an adjetivo posesivo.

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  • I think that Él tiene más libros que mi is not a common mistake in Spanish speakers. Maybe in bilingual people from the US or from the Caribbean islands, but I don't think this could be common in native speakers.
    – Aradnix
    Sep 2, 2014 at 19:04
  • Thanks for pointing it out. I have heard it on people from the mountain side of Peru.
    – Kookoriko
    Sep 3, 2014 at 19:48
  • Kookoriko Could be that people speakers of another language, people who speaks a native american language as motehrtongue and Spanish as the second one and not alwyas correct, as happens in Mexico also.
    – Aradnix
    Sep 3, 2014 at 21:01
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Another thing you may be hearing is in phrases where an object comes after que:

Le gustará más a ella que a mí.

In this case, you do need because it's to me. No doubt this is probably what you heard, but because in English we've had a tendency to shift than to a prepositional status making me most common whether as subject or object in such constructions, your mind is probably trying to over generalize the use of to places where you need a subject pronoun.

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