Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

8 Personal pronouns
^34 (p. 204) Spanish distinguishes three persons in both singular and plural: the first person singular (‘ ...

(b) The tuteo system (this is the ‘standard’ usage in most other Latin-American countries): Usted and ustedes are often abbrevia ...

Usted no es español, ¿verdad? You’re not Spanish, are you? 8.2 Object pronouns Spanish has two kinds of object pronouns: Unstre ...

NOTE Ti does not have a written accent. In voseo areas: Variations: (a)Lo(s) and la(s) are often replaced by le(s) when referrin ...

The object pronoun of the infinitive, and gerund complements of a number of common verbs, may be placed before the main verb rat ...

Se (= le or les) la entregamos. We handed it over to her/him/them/you. 8.3 Reduplicated pronoun structures (a) Spanish sometimes ...

9 Demonstratives 9.1 Forms Spanish distinguishes three demonstratives in contrast to the two of English: All forms except the ne ...

9.3 Usage 9.3.1 Este corresponds more or less to English ‘this’, i.e. ‘relating to me, near to me’. The difference between ese a ...

10 Possessives 10.1 Forms Spanish has two sets of possessives, one unstressed and the other stressed. 10.1.1 Possessive adjectiv ...

Vuestro, etc., are often used to refer to the second person plural, despite the absence of vosotros: He recibido vuestro saludo ...

10.2.2.3 Special uses: (a)Suyo has the meaning of ‘particular’, ‘of one’s own’: Tiene una estructura muy suya. It has a structur ...

11 Relative pronouns There is a fair amount of flexibility in the choice of relatives in Spanish, and preferences rather than ru ...

(a)El que, etc. can also mean ‘he who’, ‘the one which’, etc. (see 4.3.1). El que (but none of the other forms given here) is al ...

11.4Cuyo (adj.) Cuyo corresponds to English ‘whose’, ‘of which’: el chico cuyo libro pedí prestado the boy whose book I asked to ...

12 Interrogative and exclamatory forms NOTE Interrogative and exclamatory elements always carry a written accent, whether in dir ...

12.2¿Cuál? and ¿Qué?/¡Qué!
 35.3 (p. 211) In standard usage, cuál is used only as a pronoun (although it is sometimes found wi ...

but: ¿Qué haces esta noche? What are you doing tonight? ¿En qué consiste la verdad? What does truth consist of? 12.3¿Cuándo? ¿Cu ...

No sé por qué vino. I don’t know why he/she came.
 43.1 (p. 253) 12.7¿Qué tal? Qué tal is an alternative to cómo, used predomi ...

13 Indefinite and negative pronouns and adjectives Indefinite pronouns and adjectives denote very general, unspecific concepts, ...

Alguien ha mentido. Someone has lied. Vi a alguien en el jardín. I saw somebody in the garden. Nadie lo sabe. No one knows. No v ...