It

It
 

What is the common usage practice for the concept of the pronoun "it"?

I always thought that if you're not actually talking about a living thing with gender, you use "este/esta" or "ese/esa". Is this wrong?

In my workbook, there are two phrases that sound strange to me.

The first comes from an exercise that requires me to fill in the blank with the appropriate pronoun:
- debajo de ________ (it, feminine)
My answer: debajo de esa
The book's answer: debajo de ella

The second comes from a translation exercise:
English: Who put the pillow under it(f.)?
I thought it should be: ¿Quién puso la almohada debajo de esta/esa?
The book's answer: ¿Quién puso la almohada debajo de ella?

In both of these examples, I feel like the Spanish given by the book is talking about a woman ... about something that is physically underneath a woman. :?::?::?:

Thanks!

The exercises are weird.

it = eso/esa ella, aquella, lo etc

If you put something underneath a pillow I can ask you "qué pusiste debajo de ella" because I am talking about "la almohada"

If the object is, say, a book I can ask you "qué pusiste debajo de eso" or maybe althought sounds weird but I don;t think it is wrong "qué le pusiste debajo"

:thinking:

"Esa" would need that you have several known items, like several pillows to choose from, so it would be answering under what pillow.

"Ella" sounds weird, but it would be assuming you already know you're talking about a pillow.


However, as the pillow is the thing under "it", and I don't know what "it" is replacing, I'm tempted to use "¿quién puso la almohada debajo de esto?".

"It" is a strange pronoun for us, as we have many alternatives to express an impersonal, but I'm unable to provide any lists of translations... I guess you will learn with the use of expressions which will be better. :)

Thanks, Malila - no need for a list of translations. It's sufficient for me to hear that "ella" sounds a bit weird in this context to someone who speaks Spanish natively. I like the "esto" option, myself.

Well, I agree with your textbook. If 'it' is known, there's no problem with using the pronoun 'it'. There are a few choices:

debajo de él (ellos)
debajo de ella (ellas)
debajo de ello

These all mean 'under it'. 'Debajo de' is a preposition. If a preposition is followed by a personal pronoun, which is what 'it' is, a prepositional pronoun is used.
The prepositional pronouns for the third person are those I listed above (the neuter form is used for a concept or an unknown object).

If 'it' is not known, then you would the demonstrative pronouns 'that' or 'this' to designate the object. Thereafter, when everyone is on the same page about what the object is, 'it' is a perfectly good pronoun to use. The textbook, by the way, indicates that 'it' refers to a feminine word (which all were on board with). That's why 'ella' is the right answer.

Here's a link which may prove useful. (The linked page isn't without errors, however.)

If you named the thing, using "ella" is ok for me, if not it sounds quite bad, as you said.
I will use both options with the appropiate context:

A: Esta almohada está bastanta dura...
B: Es que debajo de ella hay libros.

A: Esto está bastanto duro... (tocando la almohada mientras se dice)
B: Es que debajo de la almohada / de eso hay libros.