Use of the pronoun "ti"

Question

Listening to No LLores, by Gloria Estefan, on Lomastv, there is this line that is repeated serveral times - Don't cry for me, just for you - which is translated "No llores por mí, sólo pa' ti" However, sometimes the "...pa' tí" is spelled with tilde over the - i - as in "tí" Would this be an error or is there some subtle difference between the two spellings? Thanks for any info.

Jimg

Answer 1

Remember it this way:

Mí means me. Mi means my. That's why you need a tilde over one to distinguish it from the other.

para mí (for me)

mi carro (my car)

Ti means you. Tu means your. See? No need for a tilde to distinguish one from the other.

para ti (for you)

tu carro (your car)

And you'll note also that the personal pronoun "tú" needs the accent mark to distinguish it from the possessive pronoun "tu". :-) - gintar77, Jun 27, 2011

Correction: possessive adjective, not pronoun - gintar77, Jun 27, 2011

Answer 2

This is an error. "Ti" does not use an accent mark, but you may see people use it in error because the 1st person equivalent "mí" (me) uses the accent mark to distinguish it from "mi" (my).

Gintar77 is right. However, mistakes like these are very common, even on music album covers and booklets. - rabiddog51sb, Jun 26, 2011

Answer 3

personal pronouns

ti is a personal pronoun used as an object of a prepostion (para ti) or as a reflexive object of a prepostion. (a ti mismo) Even in the special cases like contigo it has no accent mark.

There is no diacritical word tí.

La palabra tí no está registrada en el Diccionario. Las que se muestran a continuación tienen una escritura cercana.

ti

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Very nice link! - gintar77, Jun 27, 2011

Answer 4

Ti does not use a tilde.

Answer 5

Its not a tilde, its an accent mark. And since the word ti doesn't require an accent mark, its there to help the singer know where to put the emphasis.

I'm not sure what you mean by emphasis. "Ti" only has one syllable to stress. - gintar77, Jun 26, 2011

Also, "tilde" in Spanish can refer to any mark placed over a letter, not just the "~". - gintar77, Jun 26, 2011

Yes, it is a tilde. - Tosh, Jun 26, 2011

(typing at the same time, gintar) :) - Tosh, Jun 26, 2011

The proper name for the "~" symbol in Spanish is "virgulilla" and the one for the accent mark (´) is called "acento agudo". - gintar77, Jun 27, 2011

I guess emphasis isn't the right word, What I'm trying to say is that's the note in lyric that is held the longest. Thanks for setting me straight about the tilde thingee, I didn't know that. - mcwalters, Jun 27, 2011

@mcwalters: Here to help. Welcome to the forum! - gintar77, Jun 27, 2011