Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

34Asking and giving personalinformationIn this chapter you will learn different ways of asking and giving personal informationsuch as name, nationality, place of origin, occupation, marital and professional status,religion and political affiliation. You will also learn how to say your age and when andwhere you were born, and to ask similar information from others.To give personal information you will need proper names such as Carmen, José, ornoun phrases such as mi padre . . . , ‘my father’, el hermano de Ana . . . , ‘Ana’sbrother . . .’; you may also need the Spanish equivalent of words like ‘she’, ‘he’, ‘they’,instead of the actual names. These words are called subject pronouns and in Spanishthey are not always necessary, as the ending of the verb usually indicates the personreferred to. Subject pronouns are normally used for emphasis, for contrast (e.g. Soyinglés, pero él es escocés, ‘I’m English but he is Scottish’), to add politeness in thecase of usted or ustedes (Usted no es español, ¿verdad?, ‘You aren’t Spanish, areyou?’), or to avoid ambiguity (e.g. Él es de Madrid, ‘He is from Madrid’, instead ofEs de Madrid, which can mean ‘He is/she is/you are from Madrid’). 8.1 (p. 34)34.134.1.1NameMe Ilamo . . ., ‘my name is . . .’Llamarse, literally ‘to be called’, is the verb most frequently used when saying one’sname or asking someone’s name. It is a reflexive verb, that is a verb which requires anaccompanying pronoun: me, te, se, for the first, second and third person singular, andnos, os, se, for the first, second and third person plural. 23 (p. 108)¿Cómo te llamas?What’s your name? (fam.)¿Cómo se llama usted?What’s your name? (pol.)Me llamo Rodrigo.My name is Rodrigo.204