38 Drop and move the pronouns

Dropping the pronoun

Subject pronouns refer to the doer of an action. In English, subject pronouns go at the beginning of the sentence, and you are required to say them: in “He drove backwards”, you are required to say the subject pronoun “He”. Words such as “I”, “He”, “She”, “We” and “They” are subject pronouns.

In Spanish you can drop the pronoun because the verb marks the doer. For example, to ask questions, the ending S means “you” and the upward intonation marks the question: ¿Cocinas? with an upward intonation means “Do-you-cook?”.

This abstract doer of an action is called a grammatical person: first person singular=yo (the speaker), second person singular=tú (the hearer), third person singular=ella or él (someone or something else), first person plural=nosotros (the speaker and someone else), and third person plural (some other people or things). In Spanish the third person plural in the verb also refers to a plural audience: ustedes.

En la canción “La gasolina”, el artista dice “Ella prende las turbinas” (=She ignites the turbines). Prende is the infinitive “prender”, and the subject pronoun is “ella”. Then the rest of the verbs listed are in third person singular without repeating the word “ella”.

Ella prende las turbinas
She lights up the turbines

No discrimina
(She) doesn’t discriminate
No se pierde ni un party de marquesina
(She) doesn’t miss a party of marquee
Se acicala hasta pa(ra) la esquina
(She) dresses up even (to go) around the corner
Luce (=lucir) tan bien que hasta la sombra le combina
(She) looks so well that even the shadow (to) her combinates
Asesina, me domina
(She) kills, (she) (to) me dominates
Janguea en carros, motoras y limosinas
(She) hangs out in cars, motorcycles, and limousines
Llena su tanque de adrenalina
(She) fills her tank of adrenaline
Cuando escucha reggaeton en la cocina
When (she) hears reggaetón in the kitchen

Clarifying wrong information:

Sometimes the speaker wants to correct some assumption made by someone else, or make an emphasis on who does the action, then the following expressions may be used:

• La que=the one (woman) that. “Eres la que me domina”=You are the one who dominates me.
• El que=the one (man) that
• Los que=the ones (men) that
• Las que=the ones (women) that
• Lo que=the (thing) that. “Lo que come este caimán” (=What this gator eats).

The verb can always be conjugated in the third person, no matter who the person is:

• Yo soy el que más te ama (=I’m the one who most loves you)
• Eres la que me domina (=You are the one who dominates me).

Order of pronouns

For YES/NO questions, the order goes right as in any affirmative sentence (first subject, then verb), with an uprising pitch:

• ¿Tu perro está en el parque?=Is (located) your dog in the park?
• ¿Tu mamá vive en Cartagena?=Your mom lives in Cartagena?
• ¿Tu primo viene mañana?=Your cousin comes tomorrow?
• ¿Tus hermanos trabajan en construcción?=Your sibblings work in construction?

When you add words like Qué=What, Quién=Who, Cuándo=When, Cómo=How or Dónde=Where, generally you put the subject right AFTER the verb:

• ¿Dónde está el perro?=Where is (located) the dog?
• ¿Dónde vive tu mamá?=Where your mom lives?
• ¿Cuándo viene tu primo hermoso?=When your gorgeous cousin comes (here)?
• ¿En qué trabajan tus hermanos?=In what your sibblings work?

Not in questions, the subject can go right after the verb to state that the verb is more important than the subject. That is in the Colombian cumbia about the gator-man:

• Se va el caimán, se va el caimán=The gator goes, the gator goes. (Coro)
• Se volvió un hombre caimán (1:12) =A man turned into a gator.
• Lo que come este caimán es digno de admiración (1:42)=The thing that this gator eats is deserving of admiration.

se va el caiman billos uploaded by thefreeboysccsful

JUST CARIBBEANS!!!

Los caribeños dicen TÚ more often than other Spanish speakers in questions, and they curiously place it right after the question word:

• ¿Cómo tú me haces eso?=How you do that to me? (just Caribbeans)
• ¿Quién tú crees que eres?=Who you think you are? (just Caribbeans)
• ¿A dónde tú vas?=Where you go? (just Caribbeans)
• ¿Por qué tú no me llamas?=Why you don’t call me? (just Caribbeans)

Sample conversations:

Deleting pronouns and Yes / No questions

Respond with the corresponding yo-form without saying the word YO.

A: ¿Estudias? (=Do you study?)

B: Sí, estudio OR No, no estudio. (Yes, I study. OR No, I don’t study) Pick one

A: ¿Trabajas? (=Do you work?)

B: Sí, __________ OR No, no ___________. Pick one and conjugate in the yo-form.

A: ¿Nadas? (=Do you swim?)

B: Sí, __________ OR No, no ___________. Pick one and conjugate in the yo-form.

A: ¿Cocinas? (=Do you cook?)

B: Sí, __________ OR No, no ___________. Pick one and conjugate in the yo-form.

A: ¿Vives en la universidad? (=Do you work in the university?)

B: Sí, __________ OR No, no ___________. Pick one and conjugate in the yo-form.

Create the questions in the tú-form without saying the word tú:

A: ¿__________? (=manejar, to drive. Conjugate in the tú-form)

B: Sí, manejo. / No, no manejo. (Pick one)

A: ¿__________? (=desayunar, to have breakfast. Conjugate in the tú-form)

B: Sí, desayuno. / No, no desayuno.

A: ¿__________? (=leer, to read. Conjugate in the tú-form)

B: Sí, leo. / No, no leo.

A: ¿__________? (=beber, to drink. Conjugate in the tú-form)

B: Sí, bebo. / No, no bebo (=alcohol).

Clarifying things you like

Speaker A is going to assume something you like, and speaker B is going to clarify it. Use verb 1 and verb 2 from the list below.

A: Te gusta __________ (verb 1), ¿cierto? (=right?)

B: No, lo que me gusta es __________ (verb 2).=No, what I like is __________.

Keep verbs in the infinitive because they go after gusta.

Asking where someone works:

A: ¿Dónde trabaja __________ (add person)?

B: Trabaja en __________ (add city).

Person: tu papá (=your dad), tu mamá (=your mom), tu hermano OR hermana mayor (=your older brother OR sister), tu hermano OR hermana menor (=your younger brother OR sister), tu mejor amigo OR amiga (=your best friend), tu novio OR novia (=your boyfriend OR girlfriend), tu profesora OR profesor de español (=your professor/teacher of Spanish)

Guessing where someone lives:

Discuss donde viven los artistas by following the information below and the template:

• Bud Bunny vive en Los Ángeles (pronounce it /los án-he-les/).
• Karol G vive en Medellín (Colombia).
• Yandel vive en Puerto Rico
• Shakira vive en Miami
• Daddy Yankee vive en Miami
• Sofía Vergara vive en Beverly Hills

A: ¿__________ (add artist) vive en __________ (add wrong city)?

B: No, no vive en __________ (repeat wrong city).

A: ¿Dónde vive __________ (repeat artist)?

B: Vive en __________ (add correct city).

Deceased artists (use imperfect VIVÍA=used to live):

• Celia Cruz vivía en New Jersey. Cantó “La vida es un carnaval”.
• Selena vivía en Corpus Christi (Texas). Cantó “Como la flor”.
• Tupac Shakur vivía en Baltimore (Maryland). Cantó “Dear mama”
• Freddy Mercury vivía en Londres (Inglaterra). Cantó “Bohemian Rapsody”
• David Bowie vivía en Nueva York. Cantó “Space Odity”
• Tony Camargo vivía en Mérida (México). Cantó “El año viejo”.

A: ¿__________ (add artist) vivía en __________ (add wrong city)?

B: No, no vivía en __________ (repeat wrong city).

A: ¿Dónde vivía __________ (repeat artist)?

B: Vivía en __________ (add correct city).

A: ¿Qué cantó?

B: Cantó __________ (add famous title).