| 1st | yo (I) | nosotros / nosotras (we) |
| 2nd informal | tú (you) | vosotros / vosotras (you all) — Spain only |
| 2nd formal | usted (you) — abbr. Ud. | ustedes (you all) — abbr. Uds. |
| 3rd | él (he) / ella (she) | ellos / ellas (they) |
Regla clave · Key rule
Usted and ustedes take the verb in the third person: ¿Cómo está usted? (like él está). ¿Ustedes hablan inglés? (like ellos hablan).
- tú is used with friends, family, children, classmates and, in Spain, with most people of your age.
- usted shows respect: older people, officials, customers, your teachers in formal contexts. Typical formal phrases: ¿Cómo está? ¿Y usted? ¿Puedo ayudarle? Mucho gusto en conocerlo.
- In Latin America and the Canary Islands, ustedes replaces vosotros for all plural "you", formal or not.
- In Argentina, Uruguay and parts of Central America, vos replaces tú, with its own verb forms (vos tenés, vos hablás). You will hear it in songs and films.
- Feminine plural nosotras, vosotras, ellas are used only when the whole group is female. One man in a group makes it masculine.
Dropping the pronoun
Because the verb ending already shows the person, Spanish normally drops the subject pronoun: Hablo árabe (not Yo hablo in a neutral sentence). Use the pronoun only for contrast or emphasis: Yo estudio y tú no haces nada. ¿Quién ha llamado? — Yo.
Truco · Tip
This is the same as Arabic: already means "I study" without. French and English always need the pronoun; Spanish and Arabic do not.