The Yo pronoun. Do we need it?

Is it better to say yo camino or simply camino?

Actually both are correct, technically speaking. However one of them would sound redundant -in most cases- whereas the other one is how you´ll hear native speakers say it. Can you guess which is which?

Your guess is correct!

We usually drop the YO pronoun (as well as the TU and NOSOTROS pronouns) because they are what is called understood subject pronouns. What is this grammar mumbo-jumbo?  Ha!

This means that we do not need to use them because doing so is reduntant.

Why? If we look at the verb in our example at the beginning, caminar... yo camino, the ending  -o of the conjugation is quite self-explanatory as to who the subject is, the same in the case of  TU.. caminas or NOSOTROS caminamos.

This wouldn´t be the case for EL, ELLA, UDS, ELLOS, ELLAS, where the form of the verb (conjugation) isn´t clear enough by itself to explain who the subject is,  so it needs to be accompanied by either one of these pronouns or a name.

Unclear: Habla todos los dias.
Clear: Ella habla todos los días.

Now, there is a time when we DO need to use pronouns YO, TU & NOSOTROS, and that is when we specifically want to emphazise and distinguish the person performing an action.

YO compro los boletos, y TU las palomitas, ¿va?
I´ll buy the tickets and YOU buy the popcorn, deal?

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Do you Know LoLa?

Her name was Lola... sang Barry Manilow in his seventies hit Copacabana, perhaps thinking in how helpful this common name in Spanish would be forty years later for this post. And it´s because it might help you remember Direct Object Pronouns LO & LA - Ring any bells? - at least by name.

To know a little more than that about them, let´s have some clear definitions first:

1. Direct Object: In a sentence, the thing (or person) that directly receives the action of a verb.

Juan come tacos.
John eats tacos.

Rosalba compra fruta en el mercado.
Rosalba buys fruit at the market.

Lucía lleva a su hijo a la escuela.
Lucia takes her son to school.

In order to know what the Direct Object is in these sentences ask questions What? or Whom? to the verb.

What does Juan eat? tacos
What does Rosalba buy? fruit
Who(m) does Lucia take to school? her son

2. Pronoun: A word that is used instead of a noun (thing or person), in this case, LO & LA (and their plural forms LOS & LAS).

So, if we don´t want to use the noun - tacos, fruit or her son in the examples used -such as in a conversation where it would be redundant repeating the noun over and over, we instead choose to use these Direct Object Pronouns.

Let´s use the same sentences as before, taking out the noun and placing a DO Pronoun:

John eats them. (the tacos)
Juan los come.

Rosalba buys it (fruit) at the market.
Rosalba la compra en el mercado.

Lucía takes him (her son)to school.
Lucía lo lleva a la escuela.

Wether to use LO, LA, LOS, LAS depends on the noun (person or thing) being masculine or feminine / singular or plural.

Take a Look:

Luis tiene su coche en el taller. Luis has his car at the carshop.
Luis lo tiene en el taller. Luis has it at the carshop.

Mi mamá manda correos electrónicos a toda la familia. My mother sends e-mails to all the family.
Mi mamá los manda a toda la familia. My mother sends them to all the family.

Ella pone las llaves en la mesa. She puts the keys on the table.
Ella las pone en la mesa. She puts them on the table.

Mis hermanos manejan bien la empresa. My brothers manage the company well.
Mis hermanos la manejan bien. My brothers manage it well.

Keep posted for more on DO Pronouns!

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