1. Subject pronouns & Verb “ser”
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.
“SER” is our verb for “to be”
At the end of this lesson, you will be able to use and recognize subject pronouns and the conjugations of the verb “ser” to describe yourself and others.

2. What is a pronoun?
It’s a word used instead of a noun (or a phrase containing a noun) Example: `He', `it', `who', and `anything' are pronouns.
When the pronoun is the subject (the person doing the action) of the sentence, it is called a Subject Pronoun.
Example: Bob is swimming. He is swimming.
Subject
Subject Pronoun

3. What are the English subject pronouns?
Singular
Plural
1st person I We
2nd person
You
(You all)
3rd person
He, She, It
They

4. English subject pronouns and their Spanish equivalents
Spanish subject pronouns are similar to English, but there are some differences.
Singular
Plural
1st person
I = Yo
We = nosotros (m)
Nosotras (f)
2nd person
You (familiar) = tú
You (plural, familiar) =
vosotros
vosotras
3rd person
He = él
She = ella
You (formal) = Usted (Ud.)
They (m) = Ellos
They (f) = Ellas
You guys (plural) = Ustedes (Uds.)

5. Differences – YOU: Tú vs. Usted
Each one has a specific time when it used. If you use the wrong one, it can be offensive to the person with whom you are speaking.
Tú = you (informal/familiar)
Use “tú” when talking to people with whom you are on a first name basis.
friends
family
small children
people younger than you
pets
Usted (Ud.) = you (formal)
Use “Usted” when talking with people to whom you should show respect.
People in authority (police, teachers, bosses, etc.)
Strangers
Acquaintances
Adults

6. Verb Ser
As you noticed in our first PowerPoint, you already used many of these.
Él es alto. – He is tall.
Ella es morena. – She is dark-haired.
Yo soy atletico. – I am athletic.
So we know that “El” “Ella” & “Yo” are subject pronouns.
So what are “es” & “soy”? These are our Spanish forms of “to be” in a sentence. (I am, you are, he/she is, etc)

7. Verb Ser
These are all different forms of the verb “ser”. “Ser” means “to be”. Just like in English, it takes a different form based on the subject. This is called verb conjugation:
For example: Yo soy = I am
Ella es = she is
Ellos son = They are
Just like in English, you wouldn’t say “I is funny”. It would be wrong. So in Spanish, we also need to use the right word also.

8. Make sure you copy these to your notes!
Verb Ser
Here are the conjugations of the verb “ser”
Yo soy
Tú eres
Él/Ella/Usted es
Nosotros somos
Vosotros sois
Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes son
Make sure you copy these to your notes!

9. Verb Ser
Now that you know the subject pronouns and verb “ser”, you can make complete setences to describe yourself and others.
Examples:
Nosotros somos cómicos. – We are funny.
Ellas son perezosas – They are lazy.
Yo soy alta y bonita – I am tall and beautiful.
José es bajo. José is short.
Anita y Juana son inteligentes. – Anita and Juana are intelligent.

10. Ser & Subject Pronouns
Be careful with which form of “ser” to use. Sometimes, we have to determine which subject pronoun would fit. For example, the last sentence was “Anita y Juana son inteligentes”
We know that we are talking about “Anita y Juana”, so we would replace their names with “they”, or “ellas” to use a subject pronoun.
Therefore, since we know that, we can determine that our “ellas” form of “ser” is “son”.