Spanish prepositional object pronouns

Learning the grammar of pronouns in Spanish is not very complicated as they follow a structure similar to the pronouns in English. The tricky part, at least for English speakers, might be remembering which pronouns to use.

While English uses the same pronouns as objects of prepositions and for direct and indirect objects of verbs, Spanish has a different set of pronouns for each case, and those sets can overlap.

The subject pronouns and prepositional pronouns are identical with the exception of the first-person singular and informal second-person singular forms.

As you can probably guess, prepositional pronouns are those that come after prepositions. In a sentence as “Tengo un regalo para él (I have a present for him), “para” (for) is the preposition and “él” (him) is the prepositional pronoun.

-First person singular:

Preposition: para

Object pronoun: mí

Example: Este café es para mí (This coffe is for me)

-Second person singular (informal):

Preposition: en

Object pronoun: ti

Example: Me acuerdo de ti (I remember you)

-Second person singular (polite):

Preposition: de

Object pronoun: usted

Example: Esta chaqueta es de usted (This jacket is yours)

-Third person singular:

Preposition: hacia

Object pronoun: el, ella, ello

Example: Estoy mirando hacia él (I am looking towards him)

-First person plural:

Preposition: a

Object pronoun: nosotros, nosotras

Example: El coche se acerca a nosotros (The car is getting closer to us)

-Second person plural (informal):

Preposition: sobre

Object pronoun: vosotros, vosotras

Example: Están hablando sobre vosotros (They are talking about you people)

-Second person plural (formal):

Preposition: para

Object pronoun: ustedes

Example: tengo algo para ustedes (I have something for you –polite-)

-Third person plural (plural):

Prepostion: de

Object pronoun: ellos, ellas

Example. Este país pertenece a ellos (This country belongs to them)

“Sí” reflexive and “tú” “yo” after some preposition and adverbs

In the third person, sometimes you can find the pronoun “sí”. This is a special situation an it is used when the subject and the object pronouns refer to the same person. Also, it can be followed by “mismo”, “misma”. It can understood as: pronoun + self (myself, yourself, themselves…etc).

Él se cuida a sí mismo perfectamente (He take care of himself perfectly)

Ella se quiere a sí misma (She loves herself)

After some prepositions and adverbs you should say “yo” and “tú” instead of “mí” and “ti”. In the rest of the person remain the same. For instance:

-Mi amigo escomoyo (My friend is like me)

-Según tú, eso no es verdad (According to you that’s not true)

-Todos has hecho los deberes menos tú (Everyone has done the homework except you)

-Entre tú y yo podemos hacerlo (You and I together can make it)

The preposition “con”

The preposition “con” can work in a special manner when it is next the first and second person singular pronouns:

First person singular

Con + mí = conmigo

Example: Ven conmigo (come with me)

Second person singular

Con + ti = contigo

Example: No quiero ir contigo (I don’t want to go with you)

Also, we can find a special case in the reflexive form:

Reflexive use

Consigo (mismo / misma) = himself / herself / itself

Example: Tiene un problema consigo misma (She has a problem with herself)

Consigo (mismos / mismas)= themselves / yourselves

Example: Están enfadados consigo mismos (They are angry with themselves)

The rest of the grammatical persons remain the same.

We hope we helped with the Spanish pronouns. (Spanish info)