Mastering Spanish Pronouns, Dialects, and Verb Usage

Posted on Jan 11, 2025 in English

Pronoun Usage in Spanish

Tonic Pronouns:

  • Yo (I)
  • Tú (you, singular, informal)
  • Él (he)
  • Ella (she)
  • Usted (you, singular, formal)
  • Nosotros/Nosotras (we)
  • Vosotros/Vosotras (you, plural, informal)
  • Ellos/Ellas (they)
  • Ustedes (you, plural, formal)

Atonic Pronouns:

  • Me (me)
  • Te (you)
  • Lo/La/Le/Se (him, her, it, you)
  • Nos (us)
  • Os (you)
  • Los/Las/Les/Se (them, you)

Examples of Pronoun Usage:

  • Te (Direct Object Pronoun, 2nd person): Ayer te vi en la calle. (Yesterday I saw you on the street.)
  • Che (Indirect Object Pronoun, 2nd person): Che, te traje un regalo. (Hey, I brought you a gift.)
  • Le (Indirect Object Pronoun, 3rd person singular): Le di un buen consejo. (I gave him/her good advice.)

Note:

  • Che can replace te.
  • Te can be replaced by lo, la, los, las.

General Standards of Pronoun Placement

  • Simple phrases: ¿Está en casa? (Is he/she at home?)
  • Main clause: Dime si vendrá. (Tell me if he/she will come.)
  • Subject clause: Dime si vendrá. (Tell me if he/she will come.)
  • Desiderative sentences: ¡Que el diablo te lleve! (May the devil take you!)
  • Emphatic intonation: Tú, tú lo hiciste. (You, you did it.)
  • Exclamations: ¡Cómo lo hizo! (How he/she did it!)
  • Interrogative sentences: ¿Quién los trajo? (Who brought them?)
  • Negative sentences: Vino, pero no la Mireia. (He/She came, but not Mireia.)
  • Sentences starting with nada, nadie, or ninguno: Proclitic pronoun placement.
  • Algo, alguien, cualquiera, bastante, tampoco, ambos, mismo, todo: Proclitic pronoun placement.
  • Alguno, uno, más, demasiado, mucho, muy, poquito, tan, tanto, cuanto, menos, harto: Enclitic pronoun placement.
  • Cada, sendos, varios: Enclitic pronoun placement.

Common Vulgarisms in Spanish

  • Prosthesis: amoto for moto, aradio for radio.
  • Epenthesis: Así lo hago for Así hago, vagamundo for vagabundo.
  • Anaptyxis: Ginebra for Ginebra.
  • Syncope: Pa for para, to for todo.
  • Aphaeresis: Nimigo for enemigo.
  • Apocope: Verde for verdad.
  • Paragoge: Mujeres for mujeres, cuchara for cuchara.
  • Metathesis: Probe for pobre.
  • Consonant cluster reduction: Coluna for columna.
  • Vowel changes in unstressed syllables: Morro for morro.
  • Rhotacism: Derde for desde.

Dialectal Variations in Spanish

Phonetic Variations:

  • Seseo and Gheada
  • Diphthong -ui- (truita)
  • Forms like cua or aigua (when saving)

Morphosyntactic Variations:

  • Plural forms with final -n (can-cans).
  • Forms in -án (hermano-hermana).
  • Demonstratives (este, ese…).
  • Forms of personal pronouns (él, tú).
  • Cheísmo, leísmo.
  • Verb endings (andando, andabas, andaba, andábamos).

Circumlocutions with Temporal Value

Future:

  • Ir + infinitive
  • Haber (de) + infinitive

Imminent Future:

  • Estar a punto (de) + infinitive
  • Estar para + infinitive
  • Querer + infinitive
  • Tener que + infinitive

Circumlocutions with Modal Value

Obligation:

  • Ser (menester) + infinitive
  • Ser (preciso) + que + infinitive
  • Haber de + infinitive
  • Tener que + infinitive
  • Deber (de) + infinitive

Hypothesis:

  • Haber (de) + infinitive
  • Deber (de) + infinitive

Possibility:

  • Poder + infinitive

Periphrasis with Aspectual Value

Imperfective:

  • Soler + infinitive
  • Estar + gerund
  • Llevar + gerund
  • Continuar + gerund
  • Seguir + gerund
  • Ir + gerund
  • Venir + gerund

Perfective:

  • Acabar de + infinitive
  • Dejar (de) + infinitive
  • Tener + participle

Inchoative:

  • Comenzar or empezar + a + infinitive
  • Ponerse (a) or meterse (a) + infinitive
  • Echar(se) a + infinitive

Terminative:

  • Llegar a + infinitive
  • Venir a + infinitive
  • Acabar por + infinitive

Iterative:

  • Volver a + infinitive
  • Tener + participle

Personal Infinitive Usage

When to Use the Personal Infinitive:

  • When the subjects of the two verbs are different, and the infinitive’s subject is clearly expressed (Es extraño no llegar sus padres a tiempo).
  • When the subjects of the two verbs are different, but the infinitive’s subject is not expressed and needs clarification to avoid ambiguity (Creo que el desarrollo lo tendréis que hacer vosotros).
  • When the infinitive is introduced by a preposition or prepositional phrase and has its own subject, even if it is the same as the main verb (Se arrepintió de no haber hecho el trabajo).

When Not to Use the Personal Infinitive:

  • If the infinitive has an impersonal value (Se esperaba este resultado).
  • When it is part of a verbal periphrasis or depends on a modal verb or a verb of motion under construction (Habéis de saber lo que es bueno).
  • When the infinitive follows a causative verb (hacer, mandar) or a verb of perception (oír, ver, sentir) on which it depends (Mandó quitar el móvil de la habitación).
  • If it is used with imperative value (¡Recoged la mesa!).
  • As the complement of a prepositional phrase modifying an adjective (Estamos aburridos de esperar tanto).
  • If the infinitive appears preceded by a verb and a preposition required by that verb (Se olvidaron de llamar por teléfono).