YO, ME, MI & MÍ
Do you sometimes get confused between ‘yo’, ‘me’, ‘mi’ and ‘mí’?
Here’s a quick guide to what they all are and how they work:
Yo = I, the subject of a sentence. Yo no quiero ir. I don’t want to go.
Me = me or to me, this is an object pronoun (direct or indirect) or it can be a reflexive pronoun.
Me vió. He saw me. (me is the direct obect pronoun ‘me’)
Me dió el libro. He gave the book to me (me is the indirect object pronoun ‘to me’).
Me ducho. I’m showering (myself)
Mi = my, is a possessive adjective.
Este es mi amigo. This is my friend.
No fue mi intención hacerte daño. I didn’t mean to hurt you.
(Remember to add an ‘s’ when you are referring to more than one thing or something plural – Estos son mis amigos. These are my friends.)
Mí = me (with a tilde/escrito con tilde) is a pronoun and is used after a preposition Por mí mismo. By myself. Me lo dió a mí. (To me) he gave it to me. ¿Es para mí? is it for me? Estaremos encantados de saber de ti. We will be happy to hear from you.
Exceptions to the rule: ‘entre’ (between), ‘excepto'(except, but), ‘incluso’ (even), ‘menos’ (except, but), ‘salvo’ (except) and ‘según’
Although these are prepositions they are exceptions and are followed by subject pronouns rather than object pronouns, as is usual. (eg. según yo, según tú, según ella, según nosotros, etc.)
Ponlo entre tú y ella. Put it between you and her
Todos excepto yo. Everyone but me.
Incluso yo, que no tengo este comportamiento. Even I don’t act that way.
El pesimista cree que todo está mal, salvo él mismo. The pessimist thinks everything is bad,except for himself.
¿Qué está en juego, según ustedes? What is at stake, in your opinion? (according to you)
Según yo, no es necesario. According to me, it’s not necessary.