basic question - verb conjugation form for "it"
I am still confused on where the word - it - comes in Spanish.
He speaks well. She speaks well. You (formal) speak well.
Habla bien.
But now, if there was a robot or computer voice that was speaking well, and someone wanted to comment on it... In the English language, that person would say "It speaks well".
Habla bien.
"It speaks well". Is this correct? If so, why do none of the teaching resources I have come across include 'it', along with He/She/You (formal) for the El/Ella/Usted conjugation of verbs?
3 Answers
Usually in Spanish, because the verb conjugation system is so much more varied, subject pronouns can usually be omitted.
Come mucho.
He eats a lot.
She eats a lot.
It eats at lot.
The context of the story or conversion will tell you whether he, she or it is meant.
With verb conjugations, if "it" is the subject, one must conjugate according to the conjugation listed form él, ella y usted.
The reason why "there is no Spanish word for "it" in a verb conjugation chart, for example, is because, although it seems really strange to English speakers....there is no subject pronoun for "it" in Spanish.
It is not necessary in most cases to have a subject pronoun. The sentence:
Llovió ayer. is translated to It rained yesterday.
There is absolutely no need for the subject pronoun here. This is not a made-up example to prove my point. A great number of Spanish sentences do not have an explicit pronoun.
I teach English to Mexicans, so I have the opposite problem. I constantly have to remind them they have to have a visible subject or pronoun in English sentences.
Just keep marching with your studies and all will become clear. What method (book, website, etc.) are you using to learn Spanish?
'It' in Spanish is far more complicated than in English. The main reason for this is because there is no subject pronoun for 'it', subject pronouns being yo, él, ella, usted, nosotros ect. Therefore, when a subject pronoun is omitted, as in 'habla bien' it can mean he, her or it.
When it comes to object pronouns, you have lo and la, but that is different.
You would know it's either he, she or it because of context.
When you say "you " in English it's not clear for us, Spanish speakers if a person is speaking to only ·"one individual" or "many individuals". Haven't you ever thought this is a problem? Of course not because you take it for granted because you were born in an English speaking atmosphere.
I think this is what makes the learning of a foreign language so interesting. It makes you see people all over the planet take the world in a somewhat different way, not better, not worse, just differently. It opens our minds.
