they

ellos

ellas

they(they)

pronoun

1. (subject)

a. ellos (masculine)

They work in the rail industry.

Ellos trabajan en la industria ferroviaria.

b. ellas (feminine)

They are sisters.

Ellas son hermanas.

2. (indefinite use)

a.

no direct translation

That's what they say!

¡Eso es lo que se dice!

The lights in the sky never change, or so they thought.

Las luces del cielo nunca cambian o eso pensaban.

they

pronoun

1. (personal use)

a. ellos mpl, ellas fpl

they're Scottishson escoceses

They haven't got it!¡ellos no lo tienen!

they alone knowsólo ellos lo saben

2. (indefinite use)

a.

nobody ever admits they've liedla gente nunca reconoce que ha mentido

they say that…dicen que…

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they [ðeɪ]

pronoun

Note that subject pronouns are used less in Spanish than in English - mainly for emphasis, to avoid ambiguity and in comparisons.

2 (referring to particular people, things) (emphatic, to avoid ambiguity) ellosellas;ellas

we went to the cinema but they didn't nosotros fuimos al cine pero ellos no; I spoke to my sisters and they agreed with me hablé con mis hermanas y ellas estaban de acuerdo conmigo; it's they who ... son ellos quienes ...; we work harder than they do trabajamos más que ellos

Don't translate the subject pronoun when not emphasizing or clarifying:

they're fine, thank you están bien, gracias; they're yellow son amarillos

they who ... los que ...; quienes ...

we went to the cinema but they didn't nosotros fuimos al cine pero ellos no

3 (referring to "someone", "anyone")

if anyone tells you otherwise, they're mistaken si alguien te dice lo contrario, no tiene razón

if anyone thinks that, they must be stupid if someone hits a policeman they're bound to get into trouble

4 (generalizing)

they say that ... se dice que ...; dicen que ...; as they say como dicen; según dicen; they are making it illegal lo van a hacer ilegal