If I were you...

Question

Hello,

I'm not quite sure when I should use the direct object pronoun or subject pronoun in cases such as these-

"... if I were you"

I thought the translation for this example would be:

"...si te fuera"

But that is not correct, and it seems to be:

"...si fuera tú"

Is this a special case to do with the verb "ser", or something I'm missing with pronoun rules? Any tips would be appreciated!

Answer 1

Neither. You is neither a direct object nor an indirect object in that sentence so you would not use an object pronoun.

The sentence is the same as in English where there is a precidicate nominative. This is she, not This is her.

However, look at this thread concerning Yo que tú. We just had a thread on this the other day, but I can't find it. It was found.

¡Bienvenido al foro!

Welcome to the forum!

Great! that makes sense. - tomsky, Jul 10, 2011

Answer 2

The thread suggested by Qfreed has a bit of nonsense (not his fault, of course). All these options are correct:

• yo que tú...
• yo en tu lugar...
• si (yo) fuera tú...

If anyone has doubts, RAE and literary quotes are available on request.

Answer 3

I have recently asked a question about the expression: '' if I were you'' and although i was not asking about pronoun placement/position the answers our native Heidi gave me may be of some help to you.Please follow the link below

link text

I hope this helps

If you need any furthur help do not hesitate to Pm/e-mail me although I am not an expert in grammar by any means . You could also put a search in the forum for ;;If I were you'' and see what else it brings up I am sure that your question must have been covered here before

Yep, thanks for the link! - tomsky, Jul 10, 2011

Thank you so much, Feliz :) - Fidalgo, Jul 10, 2011

Qfreed has already covered the grammar angle but you may still find Heidi's and Qfreeds response to my question helpful and informative - FELIZ77, Jul 10, 2011

Fidalgo, you are very welcome my friend:) - FELIZ77, Jul 10, 2011

you are very welcome tomasky :) - FELIZ77, Jul 10, 2011

:) - Fidalgo, Jul 10, 2011