Subject pronouns and the verb ser

These are the subject pronouns in Spanish:

There are two forms of “we”. Nosotros is used for a group of all men, or a mixed group. Nosotras is used for a group of all women. The same goes with vosotros / vosotras and ellos / ellas.  

In addition, there are various ways to say “you”. Let’s break it down:

• usted is singular. It is used in formal situations
• vosotros / vosotras is plural. It is used in familiar situations, and only in Spain
• ustedes is plural. In Latin America, it is used in both familiar and formal situations. In Spain, it is used only in formal situations.

You might be thinking, why is usted and ustedes placed in “third person”, but tú and vosotros in “second person”. Spanish books usually do this and the simplest reason is because usted will share the same conjugations as third person singular and ustedes will share the same conjugations as third person plural.

The verb ser

The verb ser is one of the most important verbs to learn, so you must memorize its conjugations. You need to change the verb depending on the subject, like in the table below. This is an example of conjugating.

Conjugation table of the verb ser

*Remember that vosotros is only used in Spain. From here on out, every conjugation table will have an asterisk for this subject pronoun. Learning this pronoun and its conjugations is optional in my class.

Using ser

• To identify someone/something
  • o (Yo) soy (I’m Manuel.)
  • o Es mi cuaderno. (It’s my notebook.) *There is no equivalent of the English subject pronoun “it”
• To ask or say where someone is from
  • o ¿De dónde son ustedes? (Where are you all from?)
    • (Nosotros) somos de los Estados Unidos. (We’re from the U.S.)
  • To ask and say your occupation
    • o ¿Eres (tú) profesor? (Are you a professor?)
      • No, (yo) soy estudiante. (No, I’m a student.)