Perhaps you are reading a story in Spanish, and you come across the sentence, Canta como un gato (He/she/they singular sings like a cat). You might not know who the subject is from the Spanish alone (who sings like a cat?!)—because in Spanish, the subject is optional.
Context will help you understand who the subject is (typically, the person or thing mentioned most recently), but you'll also use a secret grammar weapon: the verb!
Here’s how verb endings reveal the subject of any Spanish sentence.
A quick tip for identifying the subject in Spanish
When reading or listening to Spanish, there is one key clue to who the subject is: Look at the verb ending!
Spanish verb endings include four kinds of information:
- tense (like past tense or future)
- aspect (like whether something happened just once or was ongoing)
- person (first person vs. second person vs. third person)
- number (one person vs. two or more)
In the sentence Canta como un gato, here's what the verb canta (or more specifically, the -a ending) tells us about the subject:
- the subject is singular (not plural)
- the subject is either third person—él (he) or ella (she)—or it's usted, the formal way of saying “you”
- the verb is present tense
If you were to hear this sentence in a story, like if someone was describing what was happening, you can use this information to understand who the subject is—all from paying attention to the ending on canta.
Spanish verb endings, from helpful to vague
In Spanish, verb endings can change for up to six grammatical persons. That can sound like a lot, especially when you consider, how many verb forms Spanish has, but luckily some grammatical persons have pretty consistent endings, no matter the tense!
| Spanish pronoun | Patterns to look for |
|---|---|
| yo | 🚨 All forms end with a vowel… but you'll have to pay attention to these forms, as there is a lot of variation and they often look like third person singular forms! 🚨 |
| tú | Nearly all forms end with -s |
| él ella usted |
🚨 All forms end with a vowel… but you'll have to pay attention to these forms, as there is a lot of variation and they often look like first person singular forms! 🚨 |
| nosotros nosotras |
All forms end with -mos |
| vosotros vosotras |
All forms end with -is or -ís |
| ellos ellas ustedes |
🚨 All forms end with -n, but some will have the meaning “they” and some will have the meaning “you all” 🚨 |
Note: Spanish commands don't follow these patterns!
Let’s try a few examples!
1️⃣ ¿Dónde están?
- The verb is están, and it has the ending -an for third person plural in the present tense.
- The subject could be:
- ellos (a group of men, a group of men and women, or a group of objects with masculine grammatical gender)
- ellas (a group of women or a group of objects with feminine grammatical gender)
- ustedes (a group of people you're speaking directly to, like saying “y’all” or “you all,” or a group of people who you want to be formal with)
- Translation: “Where are you all?” or “Where are they?” (And “they” could have a lot of different meanings!)
2️⃣ No teníamos suficiente tiempo.
- The verb is teníamos, which has the -íamos ending for first person plural in the imperfect (one of the Spanish past tense forms).
- This time, the subject is clear: It has to be “we”! Spanish has two forms of “we,” nosotras for a group of women and nosotros for a group of men or a mixed group, and all the first person plural verb forms have some ending with -mos depending on the verb and the tense (-amos, -emos, -imos, -ábamos, -íamos, etc).
- Translation: “We didn't have enough time.”
3️⃣ ¡Me compraste un regalo!
- The verb is compraste, with the ending -aste for second person singular in the preterite tense (another kind of Spanish past tense).
- This ending is another clear case: It's used for the subject tú, the informal form of “you.”
- Translation: “You bought me a gift!”
Spanish subjects are hidden in the details
To understand who is doing an action in Spanish, context is key—but you'll get most of the information you need from the verb! Look for these clues to help you pinpoint who the subject is.
