Language/Galician/Grammar/Pronouns

Galician Grammar - Pronouns

Hi Galician learners! 😊
In this lesson, we will focus on pronouns in Galician grammar. Galician pronouns can sometimes be complex, but don't worry! By the end of this lesson, you will be able to understand and use them correctly. So, let's get started!
To navigate easily throughout the lesson, please use the table of contents below:

Take some time to dive into these other pages after completing this lesson: Say Hello and Greetings in Galician, Adverbs in Galician & Plurals.

What are Pronouns?

Before getting into the specifics of Galician pronouns, let's take a moment to review what pronouns actually are. Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun in a sentence. They are used to avoid repetition and keep the flow of language smooth. For example, instead of saying "John went to the store," we can say "He went to the store." The word "he" is a pronoun that replaces the name "John."

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are words that refer to a person or group of people. In Galician, personal pronouns change depending on their grammatical case, which means the form of the pronoun changes depending on its role in the sentence. The three grammatical cases are: nominative, accusative, and dative. Below are the Galician personal pronouns for each of the grammatical cases:

Galician	Pronunciation	English
Eu	/eu/	I	Ti	/ti/	You (singular)	El	/el/	He	Ela	/ela/	She	Nós	/nóʃ/	We	Vós	/vós/	You (plural)	Eles	/eles/	They (masculine)	Elas	/elas/	They (feminine)

To see how these pronouns are used in context, let's look at the following dialogue:

• Person 1: Olá, Eu chamo-me Luís. (Hi, my name is Luis.)
• Person 2: Prazer em conhecê-lo, Ti é de onde? (Nice to meet you, where are you from?)
• Person 1: Eu sou de Santiago de Compostela. (I'm from Santiago de Compostela.)

In this dialogue, we can see the use of personal pronouns "Eu" and "Ti" to replace the names of the speakers, as well as the use of "lo" as an object pronoun.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession or ownership. In Galician, possessive pronouns change depending on the gender and number of the object being possessed. Here are the Galician possessive pronouns:

Galician	Pronunciation	English
Meu	/meu/	My (masculine)	Minha	/miɲa/	My (feminine)	Teu	/teu/	Your (singular, masculine)	Túa	/tuɲa/	Your (singular, feminine)	Seu	/seu/	His/Her/Their/Your (formal)	Nosso	/noʃo/	Our (masculine)	Nosa	/nosa/	Our (feminine)	Voso	/bõso/	Your (plural, masculine)	Vosa	/bõsa/	Your (plural, feminine)	Seus	/seus/	Their/Your (masculine)	Suas	/suas/	Their/Your (feminine)

To see how these pronouns are used in context, let's look at the following dialogue:

• Person 1: Eu gosto da tua camisola. (I like your shirt.)
• Person 2: Obrigado, é Minha camisola favorita. (Thank you, it's my favorite shirt.)
• Person 1: Eu adoro os teus sapatos. (I love your shoes.)
• Person 2: São Vosos? (Are they yours - plural, masculine or formal?)

In this dialogue, we can see the use of possessive pronouns "Túa" and "Minha" to denote possession of an object.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are used to indicate which noun is being referred to. In Galician, demonstrative pronouns change depending on the gender and number of the object being referred to. Here are the Galician demonstrative pronouns:

Galician	Pronunciation	English
Este	/este/	This (masculine)	Esta	/esta/	This (feminine)	Isto	/isto/	This (neutral)	Ese	/ese/	That (masculine)	Esa	/esa/	That (feminine)	Iso	/iso/	That (neutral)	Aquele	/aˈkwele/	That one (masculine)	Aquela	/aˈkwela/	That one (feminine)	Aquilo	/aˈkilo/	That one (neutral)

To see how these pronouns are used in context, let's look at the following dialogue:

• Person 1: Este é o meu livro favorito. (This is my favorite book.)
• Person 2: Eu gosto mais daquela novela ali. (I like that novel over there more.)
• Person 1: Aquilo é uma paisagem bonita. (That is a beautiful landscape.)

In this dialogue, we can see the use of demonstrative pronouns "Este" and "Aquilo" to indicate the nouns that are being referred to.

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. In Galician, there are three main interrogative pronouns:

Galician	Pronunciation	English
Quen	/kẽn/	Who	Que	/ke/	What	Cal	/kal/	Which

To see how these pronouns are used in context, let's look at the following dialogue:

• Person 1: Quen é o teu professor? (Who is your teacher?)
• Person 2: O meu professor é de Madrid. (My teacher is from Madrid.)
• Person 1: Cal é a tua cor favorita? (Which is your favorite color?)
• Person 2: A Minha cor favorita é o azul. (My favorite color is blue.)

In this dialogue, we can see the use of interrogative pronouns like "Quen" and "Cal" to ask questions.

Conclusions

Pronouns are a fundamental part of any language, and mastering them is critical to developing proficiency. In this lesson, we covered personal, possessive, demonstrative, and interrogative pronouns in Galician. To reinforce what you have learned, practice using pronouns in your everyday conversations or find exercises in some Galician grammar resources available online. To improve your Galician Grammar, you can also use the Polyglot Club website. Find native speakers and ask them any questions!

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➡ If you have any questions, please ask them in the comments section below.
➡ Feel free to edit this wiki page if you think it can be improved. 😎

Sources

• A Crash Course in the Galician Language
• Galician language - Wikipedia

Other Lessons

• Possessive Case in Galician
• Adjectives
• How to Use Be
• Conditional Mood
• Past Participle in Galician
• Definite Articles in Galician
• Be Polite
• Indefinite Articles in Galician
• Adverbs in Galician