I am often unsure as to when a subject pronoun is necessary, as I recall lessons that indicate the subject/person is known by the verb. So, my question is, please help me to understand why the subject pronoun "vosotros" is included in the above example, "¿Teníais vosotros las llaves del coche?
Gracias,
Pati E.
Hola Pati
We include the personal subject pronouns only when we want to emphasise for some reason who is doing the action. For example if someone is keen to emphasise that he/she does "actually" something or doesn't:
Here you make clear with the subject that you personally woudn't.
In the question that you mentioned:
¿Teníais vosotros las llaves del coche?
The scenario here could be that you have been looking for your car keys for ever and they finally appeared! Then you would ask this question using the pronoun to emphasise that it was you guys who may have had the keys.
Sometimes it's necessary to use the pronoun for clarification, especially when it is to do with he/she as their conjugation is the same. For example:
Sometimes in Kwiziq you will see the subject pronouns used in very basic sentences for A1 and A2, even when we don't need them; this is because it helps students when they see the pronoun so they recognize the ending of the verb.
Saludos
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard
Find your Spanish level