Kilo Lingo

/el/

#44 of 5,000 Core 1000

Translation

he, him (after a preposition)

Word origin

From Latin ille ('that one'), the distal demonstrative that also gives Spanish the article el and French il.

Origin
Latin
Root
ille

Examples

Madrid Sevilla.

He works in Madrid and she works in Seville.

¿ ? .

Who said it? It was him.

.

This present is for him.

.

He does not want to come with us today.

.

I spoke with him yesterday afternoon.

Él is the third-person singular masculine subject pronoun - "he" - and, after a preposition, "him" ("para él", "con él"). The written accent is not decoration: it is what separates the pronoun él from the article el ("el libro" - the book). Drop the accent in writing and you have changed the word.

Like all Spanish subject pronouns, él is usually omitted, because the verb ending already carries the person: "trabaja en Madrid" is a complete sentence. Reach for él when you need contrast or emphasis ("él trabaja, ella descansa") or when the verb form alone is ambiguous.

Where this fits

Used in

Grammar articles

(39)

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él: worksheet, infographic and listicle

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This word is part of lesson 1.