How do you know which "I" to use in Spanish?
There are many Spanish variations for the English "I". Yo, voy, digo, diji...it's very confusing! Which do you use when?
9 Answers
Well Yo means I and you can use it in front of the "I" conjugation of the verb to put emphasis. For example "Voy" is "I go". Unlike english the person and the verb are stuck together. However for emphasis you can say "Yo voy" I go. I hope this helps 
Hi hanginout,
One major difference between Spanish and English is the use of subject pronouns. In English, subject pronouns (or some other noun phrase) are generally considered obligatory in that they provide an understanding of to whom or what (especially in terms of person and number) the subject of a sentence refers. For example, examine the following series of sentences and note the effect of removing the subject pronoun:
Simple Past
| I went to the park. | ? | went to the park |
| You went to the park. | ? | went to the park |
| She went to the park. | ? | went to the park |
| We went to the park. | ? | went to the park |
| They went to the park. | ? | went to the park |
If you examine each of these carefully you might notice two things. First, removing the subject pronoun from each of these expressions results in an unsatisfactory sentence. When the subject pronoun is absent, it is impossible to recognize, who went to the park. Carefully looking at the verb in each sentence, we might also recognize that for each, the form is invariable. In grammatical terms, we would say that the verb does not inflect for either person or number.
Keeping this in mind, lets take a look at how one might express the same idea in Spanish:
Simple Past (preterite)
| English | Spanish | |
| I went to the park. | ? | Fui al parque |
| You went to the park. | ? | Fuiste al parque |
| She went to the park. | ? | Fue al parque |
| We went to the park. | ? | Fuimos al parque |
| They went to the park. | ? | Fueron al parque |
Notice how in the Spanish versions, the subject pronouns (e.g. Yo, tú, ella, nosotros, ellos) are conspicuously absent. Also, notice that, in Spanish, the verb ending changes to reflect the subject. Again, in terms of grammar, we would say that the verb inflects for both person and number. The use of inflectional endings is illustrated below:
| Stem | Inflectional | Conjugated |
| Ending | Form | |
| fu- | -i | Fui |
| fu- | -iste | Fuiste |
| fu- | -e | Fue |
| fu- | -imos | Fuimos |
| fu- | -eron | Fueron |
Based on this information, one might deduce (rightly) that Spanish is considered a more highly inflected language than English. Put simply, Spanish tends to rely on verb inflection (distinct conjugated forms) to relay certain information about the subject; whereas, English (with its general lack of inflectional diversity) instead relies on subject pronouns to convey the same information.
Of course, that's not to say that Spanish does not have its own set of subject pronouns. It does. However, in Spanish, subject pronouns are generally used only in cases where one wishes to place added emphasis on the subject of the sentence or in (relatively rare) cases of ambiguity.
In any case, to address your specific question:
But what are dije and digo? When do you use those?
The difference here is not one of subject but tense. That is, "dije" refers to a past action; whereas, "digo" refers to an action in the present. Just for fun, let's compare this with a couple of English expressions:
| English | Spanish | |
| I tell the truth. | ? | Digo la verdad |
| I told the truth. | ? | Dije la verdad |
Here we can see a certain similarity between the two languages. In both English and Spanish, the verb endings change form (i.e. show inflection) when we move from the simple present to the simple past (preterite) tense. Or in grammatical terms, in both languages, verbs show inflection for tense (i.e. past, present, future).
I'm sure that this explanation is probably a little more than you were looking for, but the simple answer to your original question is that, in Spanish, you are going to have to learn to recognize the pattern of verb endings, rather than relying on subject pronouns, in order to recognize such basic information as person and number (not to mention tense and aspect).
The good news is that the majority of verbs follow distinct patterns when it comes to inflection and that there are relatively few irregular verbs to memorize. You might try what many others do and attempt to tackle each of these forms tense-by-tense, in a systematic fashion. This can help you in terms of beginning to recognize each form when you come across it; however, in order to really become efficient, it is a good idea to do a substantial amount of reading so that you can begin to recognize the informational content of each ending without having to rely on the inefficient and tedious task of trying to analyze each one, verb-by-verb.
If you are a relative "newbie" to Spanish, you might try the free online video lessons available here:
Learn Spanish with Paralee Whitmire
To practice your recognition of the various verb tenses, you might also like to try the interactive verb conjugation trainer available here:
Spaleon: Verb Conjugation Trainer
In any case, best of luck in your studies, and remember, if you have any specific questions, you can always come back and post them here on the forum. Hope to see you around.
In Spanish the verb includes the noun. For example:
Voy a la película. (I AM going to the movie.)
Soy una maestra. (I AM a teacher.)
Como chocolate. (I AM eating chocolate.)
They are all ways to say that I am doing something. In Spanish you can also put the word "Yo" in front of the verb as well but it is not usually used in everyday speech because it is redundant-- it is just repeating what we already know though YOU CAN USE IT and it will not make a difference in meaning. Here I'll show you:
(Yo) Voy a la película. (I AM going to the movie.)
(Yo) Soy una maestra. (I AM a doctor.)
(Yo) Como chocolate. (I AM eating chocolate.)
And to make things clear:
"Voy" means "I am going"
"Digo" means "I am saying"
These are verbs and do not just mean "I"
I hope this makes things a little easier.
MellamoWaver said:
In Spanish you can also put the word "Yo" in front of the verb as well but it is not usually used in everyday speech because it is redundant-- it is just repeating what we already know though YOU CAN USE IT and it will not make a difference in meaning
I think that these last two statements might be a bit misleading. Using subject pronouns serves a purpose. It does not boil down to a simple matter of caprice. That is, they should not be considered "optional" in the sense that you can take them or leave them as you wish; instead, they should be considered to be "reserved" for occasions when one wishes to add a certain emphasis.
There have been numerous discussion on the use of subject pronouns in Spanish, and in none of these have I ever read a single native speaker indicate that the use of subject pronouns makes no difference. In the words of one of our very knowledgeable and esteemed members, Lazarus:
No, you shouldn't [use subject pronouns unnecessarily], because it is not English, and those pronouns are kept on hold for a very good reason. If you use them, you not only sound horrible most of the time, but you deprive Spanish from expressing distinctions and nuances that are normally expressed with those pronouns.
In another thread, he had this to say:
Not quite true. Subject pronouns are required when we need others to pay SPECIAL attention to the subject of a sentence, ie. when we want to differentiate between several subjects, for particular emphasis, or to make a contrast. If this unusual focus on the subject is not required, it must be omitted, otherwise the listener (or reader) would wonder why is he/she required to make that exceptional differentiation between one subject and the rest.
Yo is the Spanish subject pronoun for "I". By properly conjugating the verb for person, tense, and mood, i.e., using the 1st person, singular, you can imply the subject pronoun Yo without explicitly stating it.
[Yo] dije (not diji).
Dije and digo mean "I Said" or "I Say" and are simply different conjugations of the verb decir but as AeryFaery said in their reply you could add emphasis to it be prefixing it with Yo in exactly the same way you can prefix soy with Yo.
Estoy means "I am" as opposed to voy which means "I go" and as a very general rule you use estoy when describing temporary aspects of something like a mood e.g. Estoy feliz "I am happy" (which can change) and Soy for more permanent things like Soy (or Yo soy) Escocés, I am Scottish (which wont change).
I too was finding conjugation of verbs the hardest part of learning Spanish but hang in there and it'll come. I've miles to go but I'm getting a grip of present tense verbs, only all the others to go 
Hope that helps. Better Spanish speakers than me (not hard) feel free to correct me here. I'd hate to be giving bad advice but that's my understanding of it.
I am grateful for everyone's advise! You're awesome for taking the time to teach me, thank you!
Generally speaking to say that I do or I am doing something you use the first person conjugation of the indicative tense, e.g. Voy I go, juego I play (as in a game) toco I play as in I play a musical instrument, Puedo I can etc. and in the definate past tense, fui I went, jugué I played, toqué I played, Pude I did, Iba, I used to go, jugaba, I used to play, toqué, I used to play, podía, I could etc. I could go on all day, there are thousands of ways to say I in Spanish.
-you usually use yo i.e. yo nado (I swim) -when you are using a verb like gusta (to like) you use me -voy is i am going -dijo is i said
