# Understood pronouns in Spanish **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769 "2022-03-09T19:00:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/1 "2022-03-09T19:00:04Z")
When speaking in Spanish, are pronouns frequently dropped or just occasionally and does it matter which person is being used? For example: I often hear “¿Como estas?” or “¿Como esta usted?” but I don’t think that I’ve ever heard “¿Como estas tú?” Is it common to drop a familiar but not a formal pronoun or am I just not hearing the right conversations? I don’t mean to limit this to “How are you?” kind of questions even though that’s what my example uses. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/2 "2022-03-09T19:20:38Z")
In Spanish you (mostly) don’t use pronouns if you don’t need them, except when you want to make a point by saying the unnecessary pronoun, for whatever reason. Taking your example, the verb estar, present tense: Yo estoy Tú estás Él/Ella/Usted está Nosotros estamos Vosotros estáis Ellos/Ustedes están So ¿Cómo estás? is clear, and as using _tú_ is rather informal, you can and mostly do omit it. It is clearly second person, singular. ¿Cómo está? could refer to him, her or the person (Usted) you treat deferentially. So you say it, to be clear and to express the respect this person deserves. ¿Cómo están? is clearly them (tercera persona), plural. You don’t need to say it, but you can. ¿Cómo están ustedes? is perfectly correct and normal, but second person (plural you), it changes the phrase slightly, making it more inclusive and respectful. No big deal. ¿Cómo estás tú? can be used, it is slightly redundant, but I can imagine the following conversation, perhaps after a mishap ot an accident: ¿Cómo están todos? (See? _Them_, not _you_, ustedes) Bien gracias, ha sido un susto. ¿Y cómo estás _tú_? Bien, bien, no ha sido nada. So first you ask about all people concerned, then you insist on your interlocutor specifically. Now you need to improve your accent placement, if you allow me to comment that. (And don’t tell me what _I_ need to improve in English, please, it is hard enough as it is! 😉) ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/3 "2022-03-09T19:27:31Z")
Thanks for the detailed and informative answer. I wondered about the accent in “está” but it’s been 40 years since my high school Spanish class and I was too lazy to look it up. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/4 "2022-03-09T19:29:51Z")
And como/cómo. Como: _I eat_ or _like_, like in “this is _like_ that”. Cómo: _how_. Seems subtle, but it is perfectly logical if you understand the rules. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/5 "2022-03-09T19:34:19Z")
I understand why como doesn’t have one but not why cómo does. What’s the rule? I’m 99.999% certain that the pronunciation is the same. Is qué subject to the same rule? ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/6 "2022-03-09T19:39:57Z")
So you can distinguish them in writing: ¿Como? → Do I eat? (stupid question, I know, but that is what is written there.) ¿Cómo? → How? And it may be my imagination or me overpronouncing it as a pedant that I sometimes am, but there is a slight difference between both comos. The one with the accent is more pronounced. Ever so slightly. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/7 "2022-03-09T19:41:33Z")
Better example: ¿Cómo mañana? → Like tomorrow? How tomorrow? ¿Como mañana? → Will I eat tomorrow? ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/8 "2022-03-09T20:21:52Z")
This is called pro-dropping. Many Romance Languages like Spanish get it from Latin. There are some rules, though: [https://www.rae.es/dpd/pronombres%20personales%20tónicos](https://www.rae.es/dpd/pronombres%20personales%20t%C3%B3nicos) > El español es una lengua de sujeto no obligatorio (_Vino y nos dijo que no saliéramos a la calle_). Esto no significa, sin embargo, que la aparición o elisión del pronombre de sujeto sea aleatoria o indiferente. Por el contrario, es fácil reparar en que la aparición de sujetos pronominales explícitos es a veces anómala, mientras que, en otros casos, su presencia es posible o resulta imprescindible. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2022, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/9 "2022-03-09T22:13:26Z")
If my Spanish was that good, I wouldn’t be asking the question. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/10 "2022-03-10T02:17:06Z")
It says that when _él, ella, ellos, ellas_ function as subjects, they can only refer to persons, not things. E.g., _He leído tus últimos informes. Enhorabuena: son claros y ofrecen numerosos datos_ (no “ellos”) Subject pronouns can be made explicit for contrastive purposes or when the subject is the focus of the sentence. E.g., _ **Yo** creo que en eso estuvo mal_. Also to undo ambiguities [e.g, _Mal podía **ella** preconizar una huelga de hambre teniendo el estómago lleno_], and often to make explicit the sex of the referent. [e.g., _Un futuro esperanzado requiere cultivar el acuerdo, la reciprocidad, también entre **nosotras** y **ellos** _] “Usted” very frequently is used to reinforce politeness or undo ambiguity with a third person: _Debe usted partir a París en seguida_ ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/11 "2022-03-10T17:15:17Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > I understand why como doesn’t have one but not why cómo does. What’s the rule? I’m 99.999% certain that the pronunciation is the same. Is qué subject to the same rule? Yes. _Como_ and similar words _que_, _donde_, _cuando_, _cuanto_, etc. are written with accents when referring to identity… or something like that. The rules are intricate and not easily memorized, but the concept is simple enough to get your head round it. Usually happens in questions, but also sometimes in other kinds of sentences. Some examples: _¿ **Dónde** estás?_=Where are you? Typical case of accenting a “question word.” Similarly, the three example questions in your first post in this thread should start with _cómo_. _Me pregunto **dónde** vive_.=I wonder where she lives. Without the accent, it would mean “I wonder in the place where she lives,” as in someone wondering about something while they are in her house. Yeah, it’s not a good example. Not likely to come up in real life, and, even if it does, nobody is going to be thrown by the missing accent. A better example would show that the accent is sometimes necessary to avoid ambiguity. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/12 "2022-03-10T18:16:21Z")
Como como como, ¿cómo voy a comer como no sea como como? I eat the way I eat, how could I eat any other way? Now mess with the accents and you won’t get fed at all, no matter which way you eat. > [@alovem](#): > > written with accents when referring to identity… or something like that. Eeeer… no. But never mind. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![alovem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b38774/32.png) [@alovem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alovem)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/13 "2022-03-10T18:32:29Z")
What? You can’t even provide a coherent example. 🤨 ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2022, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/14 "2022-03-10T18:36:37Z")
That is a perfectly cromulent Spanish sentence. Do you want me to explain it step by step? Even [internet translators](https://www.deepl.com/translator#es/en/Como%20como%20como%2C%20%C2%BFc%C3%B3mo%20voy%20a%20comer%20como%20no%20sea%20como%20como%3F) get it mostly right. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/15 "2022-03-11T05:49:15Z")
This is largely true in Hebrew too. Verbs are heavily inflected, including baked-in information about the person (1st, 2nd, or 3rd), number (singular or plural) and gender of the subject. Where the subject is not specifically named (that is, where the subject would just be a pronoun), that pronoun is usually redundant and usually omitted. Exception: Present tense verbs. The above applies to all the other tenses and constructions of verbs, but verbs in the present tense are much simplified: They only have information about gender and number but not person. So pronouns are not redundant there. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2022, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/16 "2022-03-11T10:23:17Z")
It is misleading to think of Hebrew verbs as having a “present tense” like an Indo-European language. There are only a perfect tense and an imperfect tense. You are thinking of the participle, which expresses simple duration (as opposed to repeated or progressive actions which are expressed using the imperfect tense). It is not true that the participle always has to have a pronoun when the subject is not explicitly named: e.g. Habakkuk 2:15 But I am just nit-picking, as you are correct that Hebrew is at least to some extent a null-subject language. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2022, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/understood-pronouns-in-spanish/960769/17 "2022-03-12T05:31:25Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > It is misleading to think of Hebrew verbs as having a “present tense” like an Indo-European language. There are only a perfect tense and an imperfect tense. Well, to be sure, I was keeping it simple. Hebrew verbs have many different _binyan_, or structures, which are organized very differently from verbs in languages like Spanish.