Yo or not?

Question

If I wanted to say that I clean the bathroom, would I say

Yo limpio el baño o Limpio el baño ?

Gracias

Answer 1

Both ways are correct. Now, the "yo" explicitly emphasizes that it is you who's cleans the toilettes.

Quick question Chileno, if you said "yo" **after** limpio or baño to clarify "who", as in "limpio el baño, yo" or "limpio yo, el baño", would that sound clumsy or incorrect? - dennywells, Nov 27, 2013

clumsy if you are not enumarating/listing something, which even in English would be correct. So you see, everything is context and context is everything. - chileno, Nov 27, 2013

everything in context and context is everything. - chileno, Nov 27, 2013

I think I get what you're saying. Delivery, context make all the difference. Like in an argument one might say in English, " I clean the bathroom, me!". Maybe clumsy or sharped edged, but you might hear it. Thanks. - dennywells, Nov 27, 2013

Answer 2

Limpio el baño = I washed the bathroom

Yo limpio el baño = I washed the bathroom

Basically, you're clarifying to your listener/reader that you (and no one else) cleaned the bathroom. This applies to all pronouns:

Tiene un perro = She has a dog.

Ella tiene un perro = She has a dog (in case you were confused).

Creo que eres chevere = I think you're cool

Yo creo que eres chever = Well, I think you're cool (but others may not...)

limpio = clean --- wash =lavo - chileno, Nov 27, 2013

Ah; you're right. - HackerKing, Nov 27, 2013

Answer 3

You don't really have to use the pronoun in Spanish since the verb ending has the pronoun built into it, so it's kind of redundant and can make your Spanish a little heavy or wordy. However, if you just feel like using it, want to be assertive or add emphasis, it's perfectly ok. Funny story, once I was trying to explain that rule to a native Spanish speaker and their response was "Oh si, y quien te dijo eso?, (oh really, and who told you that?). My lame response was "uh, a book I guess". As they say, rules are made to be broken... One other comment. If you were trying to say that you were going to clean the bathroom, voy a limpiar el baño would be a better construction. If you were trying to clarify who was cleaning the bathroom, the 'yo' would probably help make it more clear that you were the one doing it. With something like "I always clean the bathroom", saying siempre limpio el baño would be fine,