The word "ello"

[wafflestomp]

Hey guys,

I'm taking the AP Spanish exam Tuesday and just curious with this word. How does ello work? Whenever I ask my native friends they tell me to just ignore it because no one says it, but regardless I'd like to know what it means/functions as.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's a neuter personal pronoun, like "it"/"that". It can often be replaced by "eso".

· La palabra "ello" se usa poco en el lenguaje corriente, pero no por ello/eso debe dejar de aprenderse.
The word "ello" is seldom used in daily speech, but not because of that should it be neglected.

· El rey de España era miembro de WWF, aunque ello/eso no le impidió ir a cazar elefantes a Botswana.
The king of Spain was a member of WWF, but that didn't keep him from going to hunt elephants in Botswana.

· Juan iba corriendo como si le fuera la vida en ello.
Juan was running as if his life depended on it.

· Todavía no he terminado el informe, pero estoy en ello.
I haven't finished the report, but I'm working on it.

[wrholt]

"Ello" is the neuter third-person singular subject/object pronoun; it corresponds to the neuter definite article 'lo'. Your friends are right; it is rarely used in daily speech.

It is only ever used to emphasize or disambiguate a neuter-gender subject. Even when such emphasis or disambiguation is desirable, most speakers use other means to achieve the goal, such as using one of the neuter demonstrative pronouns "esto", "eso" or "aquello". If emphasis or disambiguation is not necessary, of course, one doesn't use any subject pronoun at all.

[wafflestomp]

Thanks, I really appreciate it. I understand now.