Pronouns and Determiners in Spanish Grammar

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns (los pronombres personales) stand in for nouns and indicate the participants in a conversation: the speaker (yo, me, mí …), the listener (tú, te, ti …) and the third party that is being spoken about (él, ella, la lo …).

Example:

Yo soy Jaime.I’m Jaime.

A mi gato le encanta mirarme mientras hago castillos con naipes.My cat loves watching me while I build card towers.

¿Cómo me voy a enfadar con él?How could I ever be angry with him?

→ Check out our section all about Spanish personal pronouns for detailed information and exercises on this topic.

→ Para saber más sobre los pronombres personales que se usan en Latinoamérica, consulta la sección Voseo.

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns (los pronombres reflexivos) are used with reflexive verbs (verbs ending in -se). Reflexive pronouns (me, te, se …) indicate that the subject and the object of the verb are one and the same.

Examples:

Mi gato y yo nos llevamos muy bien.My cat and I get along really well.

A veces se pone un poco pesado.Sometimes he gets a bit annoying.

→ Check out our page on reflexive verbs to learn more about the Spanish reflexive pronouns.

Possessives

Possessives (los posesivos) express ownership and belonging. Spanish possessives can be pronouns (el míomine, el tuyoyours, el suyohis/hers/theirs …) or determiners (mimy, tuyour, suhis/her/their …).

Examples:

Este es mi gato Chóped.This is my cat Chóped.

Mi gato piensa que todas mis cosas son suyas.My cat thinks that all of my things are his.

→ Head to our page all about possessive pronouns and determiners in Spanish grammar for the full article and exercises.

Demonstratives

Demonstratives (los demostrativos) allow us to identify a person or thing in relation to its distance from the speaker. Spanish demonstratives have the same form regardless of whether they are pronouns or determiners (estethis, esethat, aquelthat …).

Example:

Este es mi gato Chóped y esos son todos sus juguetes.This is my cat Chópend and those are all his toys.

→ Go to our page on Spanish demonstrative pronouns and determiners for the complete article and exercises.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns (los relativos) are linking words that connect a main clause to a relative clause. Common examples include quethat, quienwho, el cualwhich, etc. The term relative pronouns actually refers to pronouns, determiners and adverbs.

Example:

Este es mi gato Chóped, que tiene 4 años.This is my cat Chóped, who is four.

→ Check out our section on relative clauses to learn more.

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns (los interrogativos) are question words such as quéwhat, cómohow, quiénwho, etc that allow us to form open questions. Technically speaking, they can be pronouns, determiners or adverbs.

Example:

¿Cómo me voy a enfadar con él?How could I ever get angry with him?

→ Learn more about Spanish question words and how to use them over on our page on questions.

Exclamations

Spanish has a set of words that let us make exclamations and express strong emotions. These words are known as los exclamativos and they all take an accent: qué, cómo, cuánto, etc.

Example:

¡Qué bien se lo pasa!What a great time he’s having!

→ Learn more about making exclamations in Spanish.

Quantifiers

Quantifiers (los cuantificadores) allow us to specify an amount or degree of something, be it vague or specific. Common Spanish quantifiers include: dostwo, todoall, algunosome, muchomany, variosseveral, etc.

Example:

Mi gato y yo nos pasamos todo el día juntos.My cat and I spend all day together.

→ Check out our section on quantifiers in Spanish grammar to learn more.