What is the difference between ello and él?

Question

I have never really learned the difference. Maybe that was something that I was supposed to pick up on the first few days of learning Spanish but three years later I still don't know.

Are they interchangeable? Or is one more preferred over the other? I have always thought that since in the third person plural él became ellos so you could just drop the s when it was singular and be fine.

Answer 1

In my experience the singular form of a masculine character is él, and the commonly used form to say 'they' is ellos, as can be seen in a conjugation chart:

yo
tú
él/ella/usted

nosotros
vosotros (Spain) ellos/ellas/ ustedes

I have never seen anyone use the word ellos without the 's'

Okay, thanks. I have always used ello en all my papers and on tests and have never been marked down. I will start to switch it over to él to fix my problems. Now I just have to break a three year old habit. Shouldn't be too hard to do. haha - chad_es_epico, Feb 3, 2011

My knowledge in that area comes mostly from a native spanish speaker from Mexico, so I hope its correct. A 3 year old habit may be a lot more set in your mind than you may think! That may be hard to break but when it comes to language its not impossible - McMatt, Feb 3, 2011

Answer 2

Hi Chad,

Ello= It

1. it (neutro)

   • no nos llevamos bien, pero ello no nos impide formar un buen equipo -> we don't get on very well, but it o that doesn't stop us making a good team
   • no quiero hablar de ello -> I don't want to talk about it
   • por ello -> for that reason

2. It; this business, that whole affair.

   • Ello es difícil -> it's awkward
   • Ello no me gusta -> I don't like it

3. Es que ello.

   • Es por ello que ->
   • Por ello no quiero -> that's why I don't want to

.., the fact is that.., that is why...

&

él= He

Answer 3

The implication in the responses given to this question seem to indicate that the use of "Ello" is unlikely to be encountered these days.

This is not entirely correct. I am in Andalusia in España and today I received an email that read, in part, "Creo que has hecho lo correcto con este asunto a pesar de no estar en demasiado ánimo para ello."

Note that this was not a formal nor business email though neither was it from a friend. It was from "a friend of a friend" who I had contacted to ask for some advice about a rescue dog. Obviously it wasn´t in conversation either but I did encounter it and was prompted to search and found this question.

Answer 4

"Él": like "he" in general, and also like "it", but used with feminine things (and only after preposition).

"Ello": more or less "that", used only in very formal Spanish (slowly becoming old fashioned) to refer to abstract concepts or previously mentioned situations. While you probably want to learn it at some point, you don't need it to speak proper Spanish.

1. It; this business, that whole affair.

• Ello es difícil -> it's awkward
• Ello no me gusta -> I don't like it

Those two examples are extremely unusual in modern Spanish, so they'll feel wrong to many natives, who never talk like that in most countries. Grammars recommend avoiding this ancient usage.