/ʝo/
Translation
I
Word origin
From Latin ego ('I'). The same Latin pronoun gives English the psychological term 'ego'.
- Origin
- Latin
- Root
- ego
- English cognates
- ego
Examples
ningún .
I never said that.
, .
Between you and me, I think she is right.
.
It was I who called first.
quedarme .
I would rather stay at home tonight.
, .
If I were you, I would accept the offer at once.
Yo is the first-person singular subject pronoun. A key feature of Spanish is that subject pronouns are typically omitted because the verb ending already signals person and number - "hablo" alone means "I speak." Yo is used when emphasis or contrast is needed, or when the verb ending is ambiguous.
Overusing yo is a hallmark of beginner Spanish and can sound boastful or stilted to native speakers. Reserve it for sentences where you are emphasising yourself as the actor ("Yo lo haré" - I will do it, not someone else) or disambiguating forms like the imperfect, where endings are shared across persons.
Where this fits
Used in
Stories
(14)El camino a casa
2 min read · Core 1000
Lo mismo de siempre
2 min read · Core 1000
Un día con María
2 min read · Core 1000
Casi no llega
3 min read · Core 1000
El mejor café de la calle
3 min read · Core 5000
El vecino nuevo
3 min read · Core 1000
La llamada
3 min read · Core 1000
Le echo de menos
3 min read · Core 5000
No creo que sea grave
3 min read · Core 5000
No fue él, sino ella
3 min read · Core 5000
Pasen y siéntense
3 min read · Core 5000
Tú y tu hermano
3 min read · Core 5000
Los puestos del sábado
4 min read · Core 1000
Palabras de cocina
5 min read · Core 1000
Grammar articles
(46)Spanish Grammar Cheatsheet: The Essentials, One Page
Spanish Cleft Sentences and Emphasis: fue Pedro quien, lo que quiero es
Spanish Text Cohesion and Style: signposting, avoiding repetition, en resumen
Spanish Comparatives: más que, menos que, tan como and the Four Irregulars
Spanish Correlative Comparison: cuanto más... más, cada vez más, el doble
Spanish Compound Tenses: the Future Perfect and Past Anterior (habré hablado, hube hablado)
Spanish Conditional: the 'Would' Tense, me gustaría and Polite Requests
Conjugating Spanish -ar Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating Spanish -er Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating Spanish -ir Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating Spanish Reflexive Verbs in the Present Tense
Spanish Verb Conjugation: The Complete Rules with Examples
How to Say However, Even Though and Despite in Spanish: sin embargo, aunque, a pesar de
Spanish Formal Commands: usted and ustedes
Spanish Future Tense: ir a + Infinitive and the Inflectional Future
Gustar and Verbs Like It: Why Spanish Says the Coffee Pleases You
The Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive: Formation, Examples and Practice
Spanish Imperfect: hablaba, comía, vivía and Only Three Irregulars
Spanish Irregular Verbs: The Groups Worth Learning and the Ones to Memorise
Advanced Spanish Negation: ni, sino vs pero, tampoco, ni siquiera
Spanish Negation: no, nunca, nadie and Why Double Negatives Are Correct
Spanish Negative Commands: Why no hables Borrows the Subjunctive
Spanish Nosotros Commands: the 'Let's...' Form
The Spanish Present Perfect Subjunctive (haya hablado), with Practice
The Spanish Pluperfect Subjunctive and Conditional Perfect (hubiera hablado, habría hablado)
The Spanish Pluperfect (había hablado)
Spanish Possessive Adjectives: mi, tu, su and Why Agreement Trips Beginners
Spanish Prepositional Pronouns (para mí, conmigo, entre tú y yo)
Spanish Present Perfect: he hablado, ha vivido, hemos visto
The Spanish Present Subjunctive: Forms, the Opposite-Vowel Rule, and Practice
Preterite vs Imperfect: How to Choose Between the Two Spanish Past Tenses
Spanish Preterite: hablé, comí, viví and the Big Irregular Group
Spanish Quantifiers: mucho, poco, demasiado, todo, cada (mucha gente vs trabaja mucho)
Spanish Reflexive Verbs: levantarse, llamarse, lavarse and the Pronoun Position
Reported Speech in Spanish: tense backshift (dice que, dijo que)
Saber vs Conocer: The Two Spanish Verbs for 'To Know'
Ser vs Estar: When to Use Each, with a Practice Quiz and Worksheets
Spanish Stem-Changing Verbs: e>ie, o>ue, e>i and the Boot Pattern
Spanish Subject Pronouns: yo, tú, él and Why You Usually Leave Them Out
The Spanish Subjunctive in Adverbial Clauses: Rules and Practice
Subjunctive vs Indicative in Spanish: Doubt, Denial and the Negation Flip
Spanish Subjunctive After Emotion
Spanish Subjunctive After Impersonal Expressions
Spanish Subjunctive Set Phrases: pase lo que pase, como si, ojalá, que tengas...
Spanish Subjunctive After Wishes
Spanish Word Order: SVO, Pro-Drop and the Five Rules That Cover 90% of Sentences
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueSpanish · Free printables
yo: worksheet, infographic and listicle
Free printable study downloads for the Spanish word "yo" (I): a worksheet with the answer key built in, an infographic, and a sentence listicle. Open any one to view, print or save.
Free for members
The printable worksheets, infographics and PDFs are free with an account. Start a free week and download as many as you like.
Start your free weekThis word is part of lesson 1.