All About Pronouns

Some observations regarding grammar and linguistics

Hey Folks,

Awhile back, I promised to start delivering some subscriber-only content, and I’m finally following up.

As most of you probably know, I live in Mexico. I moved here in 2021 and began learning Spanish. To be honest, I’m still not fluent.

I’m 36 years old, and learning a language as an adult is hard. If you are under 25, you will have a significantly easier time learning a second (or third, or fourth) language.

If I had a teenager, I would encourage them to move to a foreign country to learn another language. I’m pretty sure that would be a much better use of time than going to university.

Anyway, I’ve spent a lot of time studying Spanish since I’ve been here, and I have decided to compile some of what I have learned. I think that I could have learned more quickly if I directed my energy in a more intelligent way.

My intention here is to pass along some things that I think would have helped me learn more quickly.

In a moment, I’m going to share what I think is a very helpful lesson on Spanish pronouns.

Before I do, though, I’d like to share an excerpt from something I wrote last year, which is probably more entertaining to most of you than a treatise on grammar.

Last year, I moved from Canada to Mexico. Since that time, I have been studying Spanish, and I am pleased to report that I am well on my way to becoming fluent, although learning a language as an adult is a painfully slow process.

One of the tools that I have used is YouTube, and at one point I came across a video by an American YouTuber in which he explains something that had never occurred to me as something which would be need to be explained - How Words Work.

I´ve included a link to this video below. It´s kind of long, but don´t worry, you don´t have to watch the whole thing.

You can skip to 2:07 and watch until 4:03. I promise you it´s a worthwhile use of two minutes.

“Words have no inherent value. Words have no inherent meaning. If I say ¨Pompledon¨ to you, do you know what I said? Did what I say have any meaning at all? No, it doesnt. Words have no inherent meaning. Words gain their meaning when (at least) two people communicating with each other both have the same picture in their heads when they see or hear a word. If I tell you that Pompledon means ¨wig¨ and I ask do you ¨Do you have a Pompledon?¨, then that sentence has meaning, even though I just made up that word.”

I think that a good illustration of this is provided by the American cartoon South Park.

On planet Marklar, the Marklar people refer to all people, places and things with a single word - Marklar.

If you haven´t seen these episodes, please take a few minutes to watch these clips, because they really are quite instructive about how words work.

Hopefully, through this Marklar, you can see what I mean. The marklar of marklars is determined by their marklar.

Now, it really never occurred to me that something so obvious would need explaining, but perhaps this is due to the marklar that I was raised in a very bilingual marklar.

I was born in Montreal, and grew up in Ottawa. I began learning French in kindergarten. All marklars of my immediate marklar are either bilingual or trilingual, and most of the marklars that I grew up with are at least somewhat bilingual. So perhaps it is for this marklar that it is hard for me to wrap my marklar around the marklar that it is not necessarily obvious to everyone that marklars have no inherent marklar, but are means of communicating marklars from one marklar to another.

Trippy, eh?

Now, hopefully that was clear, but just in case I took it too far, I´ll reiterate in plain English. Basically, I said that words have no inherent meaning, but are means to communicate ideas from one mind to another. One needlessly complicates communication if one places too much on the words themselves.

A marklar by any other marklar would smell as sweet.

Okay, now (drum roll, please)… Get ready for the grammar lesson of a lifetime!!!

Oh wait… you’re not subscribed?

Sweet Marklar of Marklar, whose marklar do you have to marklar to get these fucking marklars to pony up a bit of marklar? I’d like to conjugate their fucking marklars.

Why Substack writers should make money

Ah well, your loss if you’re too cool for dank-ass grammar lessons.

If you haven’t signed up for the free newsletter, why are you waiting for?

Is typing your email address in the search bar below too much effort for you?

I swear, y’all marklars really need some marklar to put a marklar in your marklar so it can eat your marklar and turn into a marklar.

IN SPANISH, PRONOUNS ARE USED IN A COMPLETELY DIFFERENT WAY THAN THEY ARE IN ENGLISH

I think Spanish teachers would agree that the most difficult thing about Spanish for English speakers is that sentences are constructed very differently. A lot of this has to do with pronoun placement, not verbs.

There are four different types categories of pronouns in Spanish, each of which presents challenges to English speakers. They are:

• Pronominal Pronouns

• Reflexive Pronouns

• Direct Object Pronouns

• Indirect Object Pronouns

Today’s lesson is in Pronominal Pronouns.

HOW TO SAY “SHE LIKES BIKES” IN SPANISH

A Lesson in Pronominal Pronouns

For example, there is no way to say “I like cheese” in Spanish. That phrase would be translated as “Me gusta el queso”, which translates to “Cheese pleases me”.

This takes a lot of getting used to, because the action is being done by an inanimate object.

In English, when speaking in the first person, we usually use a sentence structure in which the subject comes first, followed by the action, then the object.

For example:

• I hate jazz

• You went to the store

• They party every weekend

In these examples, the person doing the action comes first. In Spanish, this is also the case in many cases. The above examples can be directly translated as:

• Odio el jazz

• Fuiste a la tienda

• Hacen la fiesta todos los fines de semana

However, there are certain verbs which work backwards, and you have to wrap your mind around them.

• A mi me gusta la literatura - I like literature

• A ti te gusta la literatura - You like like literature

• A el/ella le gusta la literatura - He/She likes literature

• A nosotros nos gusta la literatura - We like literature

• A ellos les gusta la literature - They like literature

Note that the conjugation of the verb is the same. This is because the subject of the sentence (“literature”) remains in the singular, whether you are saying “Literature pleases her” or “Literature pleases them”.

The following is also correct:

• Me gusta la literatura - I like literature

• Te gusta la literatura - You like like literature

• Le gusta la literatura - He/She likes literature

• Nos gusta la literatura - We like literature

• Les gusta la literature - They like literature

HOW TO SAY “SHE LIKES BIKES” IN SPANISH

You would think that a sentence as simple as “She like bikes” would be easy to translate, but it’s not.

Because the object of that sentence (“bikes”) is plural, that means that the verb needs be conjugated in the plural.

• A mi me gustan las bicis

• A ti te gustan las bicis

• A el/ella le gustan las bicis

• A nosotros nos gustan las bicis

• A ellos les gustan las bicis

So, if you want to say “I like bikes”, you have to say “Me gustan las bicis”. In order to formulate this sentence, you have to consider the end of the sentence.

But wait, there’s more!

If you want to say “She like bikes”, you have to say “Le gustan las bicis”, you have to start with the object of the sentence (“bikes”), which is plural, but remember that the subject of the sentence (“she”) is singular. That’s a lot to keep track of, especially since you have to think backwards. I still haven’t mastered it.

You really can’t get around learning this, either. There are a whole bunch of commonly-used verbs that follow the same principle, including:

• Gustar

• Encantar

• Fascinar

• Interesar

• Importar

• Molestar

• Preocupar

• Fastidiar

• Agradar

• Doler

• Parecer

• Aburrir

• Caer

• Disgustar

• Desagradar

One thing that you may find helpful is to realize that English also does have verbs that work in the same way. They’re just not as common. Consider the following examples:

• It pleases me.

• It amazes me.

• It excites me.

• It frightens me.

• It disgusts me.

• It scares me.

• It horrifies me.

• It confuses me

• It bewilders me.

• It astounds me.

• It annoys me.

• It terrifies me.

• It astonishes me

• It moves me

Interestingly, it seems that most of the English uses of this sentence structure refer to negative emotions, and that the positive ones imply a lack of agency on the part of the subject. It seems to me that English seems to encode a negative view of actions that are not under one’s direct control. Perhaps this is why Italians call English a “language of shopkeepers and pirates”.

Anyway, I have two little tips that might make things a little easier for you.

TIP #1

Let’s say you wanted to compliment someone’s poetry. If you wanted to speak correctly, you could say either:

• Me gusta tu poema

• Me gustan tus poemas

To avoid having to choose between this, you could simply add an extra verb after saying “Me gusta”. Both the following sentences are correct:

• Me gusta oir tu poema.

• Me gusta oir tus poemas.

TIP #2

When unsure about how to construct a sentence using pronominal verbs, you may find it useful to begin sentences by making it clear who the subject of the verb is, which is to say who exactly the action is happening to.

Now, it is somewhat redundant to say “a mi me gusta el jazz”, because you’re basically saying “to me, jazz pleases me” but it is grammatically correct. And if you put the pronoun that the verb needs to agree with up front, you’ve narrowed down what you have to think about considerably.

Native Spanish speakers would normally omit the “a mi” part of the sentence, because it is implied by the verb form. “Me gusta el jazz” contains all of the information than “A mi me gusta el jazz” does. That said, they will use the extra pronoun sometimes, usually for the sake of clarification or emphasis. It’s not uncommon to hear a sentence like “No, estaba diciendo que a ella le gusta el jazz” (indicating a specific girl or woman). This would clarify that the speaker was previously referring to a female, whereas “le gusta el jazz” could refer either to a male or female.

So, if you want to practice pronominal verbs, I suggest beginning sentences with these pronouns:

• A mi me…

• A ti te…

• A el le…

• A nostros nos..

• A ustedes les…

This will make it clear to your mind who the subject of the verb is, meaning that you don’t have to waste valuable brain power on that, allowing you to hone in whether the verb is singular or plural.

For example, is their one thing that is pleasing, or more than one?

If there is one, you might say:

• A mi me gusta este este libro. (I like this book.)

If there were two or more, you could say:

• A mi me gustan los libros de Edgar Allen Poe. (I like the books of Edgar Allen Poe.)

In both cases, the sentence will begin with “A mi me”.

And same goes for:

• A ti te…

• A el le…

• A nostros nos..

• A ustedes les…

This also will make more sense to an English brain, because it makes it clear who the statement is about.

After all, when you say “I love you” or “she knows him”, you are stating up front who you’re talking about. And once you’ve made clear who you’re talking about, you’ll have an easier time communicating what you mean, even if you don’t get the conjugation right.

I would them suggest practicing conjugating the verb gustar in its singular and plural forms, running down the list of the different pronouns you can start a sentence with.

Those are, as you’ll recall:

• A mi me…

• A ti te…

• A el le…

• A nostros nos..

• A ustedes les…

Here’s an example using the word libro.

• A mi me gusta el libro

• A mi me gustan los libros

• A ti te gusta el libro

• A ti te gustan los libros

• A el le gusta el libro

• A el le gustan los libros

• A nosotros nos gusta el libro

• A nosotros nos gustan los libros

• A ustedes les gusta el libro

• A ustedes les gustan los libros

Now, choose some other word, for example pelicula, and just run down the list:

• A mi me _____ la pelicula.

• A mi me _____ las peliculas.

• A ti te _____ las peliculas

• A ti te ______ las peliculas

• A el le ______ la pelicula

• A el le ______ las peliculas

• A nosotros nos _____ la pelicula

• A nosotros nos _____ las peliculas

• A ustedes les ______ la pelicula

• A ustedes les _______ las peliculas

You can run through this list with any number of words. And once you’ve mastered the verb gustar, you can start practicing with these words:

• Encantar

• Fascinar

• Interesar

• Importar

• Molestar

• Preocupar

• Fastidiar

• Agradar

• Doler

• Parecer

• Aburrir

• Caer

• Disgustar

• Desagradar

For instance, molestar means “to bother” in Spanish. So let’s practice using molestar with the word vecino (neighbour) in singular and plural.

Note that in this exercise there are only two possibilities: you would use molesta if the object was singular and molestan if it is in the plural.

• A mi me molesta el vecino.

• A mi me molestan los vecinos.

Got the idea? Try it out for yourself!

• A ti te _____ el vecino

• A ti te ______ los vecinos

• A el le ______ el vecino

• A el le ______ los vecinos

• A nosotros nos _____ el vecino

• A nosotros nos _____ los vecinos

• A ustedes les ______ el vecino

• A ustedes les _______ los vecinos

There you go!

This knowledge was hard-won, and it’s my pleasure to pass it along. I really feel that this will greatly help you crack the code. I assure you that Spanish does make sense. Indeed, it makes more sense than English does in a lot of ways. But you’ve got to train your brain to sort information differently, and in order to do you, you need to break it down into bite-sized chunks. And that’s what my method will train you to do.

Hopefully this was helpful to someone out there! Thank me later!