Era [...] a quien mirabas.
Era a mí a quien mirabas.
Era yo a quien mirabas.
A mi entender, la segunda es correcta. Corríjanme, por favor, si me equivoco.
5 Answers
The first is the correct one...
Although we never say: Era a mí a quien TE mirabas (That's wrong)
Era a mi a quien mirabas (Era a mí a quien tú mirabas) This is right
I'm native speaker
"I" is not the subject of any verb and should not be in the subject pronoun form.
From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary of English usage (copyright 1989 [not exactly "long ago"]):
it's me The venerable argument over the nominative versus the objective case after the verb to be is a memorable part of our linguistic heritage. Nearly everyone has heard it in one form or another. You should be aware that , while the discussion is still going on, it's grounds have been shifted: "The choice between "It is I" and "It's me" is a choice not between standard and nonstandard usage but between formal and colloquial styles." --- Trimmer & McCrimmon 1988
For those who prefer to get their information from the web (rather than from books), the first of many hits in Google (The Grammar Girl): "The traditional grammar rule states when a pronoun follows a linking verb, such as is, it should be in the subject case. That means it is correct to say, “It is I,” and “It was he who dropped the phone in shock when Jodie answered, 'This is she.'”"
In short, neither is "wrong" (although many grammarians have for a long time deprecated "It's me."). One is formal and one informal.
La primera es correcta porque necesitas un pronombre de objeto directo, no uno de sujeto.
The first is correct because you need a direct object pronoun, not a subject.
Era a mí a quien mirabas - It was me whom you were looking at - Correct
Era yo a quien mirabas - It was I whom you were looking at - Incorrect
Edit: As noted in the comments, te mirabas is not correct in this case. You don't need the te.
Soy yo = It is I. Most English speakers I know don't say this correctly, but the proper response to "Who's there?" should be, "It is I", meaning , "I am here", not "Me am here".
In the sentence "It is I.", the pronoun "it" is the subject of the verb "is" which is conjugated correctly to agree wih the subject. "I" is not the subject of any verb and should not be in the subject pronoun form. The sentence is a carryover from long ago when "It am I." was considered correct, and is generally used for dramatic effect in sentences like:
"It is (or 'Tis) I, your knight in shining armor come to slay yon dragons."
"It's me." is correct.
To avoid confusion, you can also say "Yo fui la persona a la que miraste."
