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When is saying "yo" necessary?

 

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  #1  
Old July 23, 2012, 08:38 PM
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When is saying "yo" necessary?

When you say words like "tuve" or "soy" it's obvious who the subject is. Stating yo or él before them is redundant. However, with verbs where the yo form and the él/ella form are identical, does it make no sense if I only say "cuando era niño" to mean when I was young? this sentence could also mean "when he was young". Any clarification on this would be superb! Thanks
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Old July 23, 2012, 09:21 PM
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As you already stated, it's not necessary to state a subject pronoun when the verb ending conveys it. When the verb ending may refer to more than one subject, it becomes necessary to mention the subject. The subject may be deducible by context. If it isn't, it must be declared for proper understanding.

To answer your specific question, if you were not talking to me about a third person and then said, "Cuando era niño...," I would not have any reason to think that you were referring to anyone but yourself. If you were talking to me about a third person when you said that phrase, I would have every reason to think that you were still referring to the third person. Context, as always, is key.
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Old July 23, 2012, 09:30 PM
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Context determines whether using a subject pronoun is necessary or optional.

A subject pronoun is optional (and usually suggests contrast or emphasis) whenever both of these conditions are true:

1. The context already establishes the current topic (person, group of people, thing, group of things, etc.) under discussion; that topic is normally the default subject of a new sentence, provided that the verb agreement in the new sentence is appropriate.
2. The subject of the new sentence is, in fact, the default subject in the context.

For example:
Ana: ¿Cuándo fue María a España?
José: Cuando era niña. = When she was a child.

José: ¿Cuándo fuiste a España?
Ana: Cuando era niña. = When I was a child.

When the first condition is not true (that is, either no default subject is obvious from the current context), or when the second condition is not true (the new sentence is about a different subject than the default subject AND both the old and the new subject require the same verb form), normally one must explicitly say the subject, whether as a subject pronoun, as a demonstrative pronoun, or as a full noun. Under these circumstances a subject pronoun is considered a case of clarification of the subject, and it usually does not suggest contrast or emphasis.

Last edited by wrholt; July 23, 2012 at 09:34 PM.
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Old July 23, 2012, 10:53 PM
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entiendo. mucho gracias!!
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Old July 23, 2012, 11:01 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Tycholiz View Post
Entiendo. ¡¡Muchas gracias!!
You're welcome.
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Old July 23, 2012, 11:27 PM
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Just wanted to add that you can use the Spanish pronouns when you want to emphasize or clarify fully, if your listener didn't get it right.

Example,
"No, quise decir cuando yo era niño, no cuando él era niño".

"No, I meant to say when I was a kid, not when he was a kid."
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Old July 30, 2012, 10:48 AM
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noted. thank you
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Old August 03, 2012, 05:11 PM
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You're welcome!
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