Él vs Ello in Spanish: Meaning, Use and Examples (Plus El vs Él)
Él means “he” (or “it” for a masculine noun), while ello means “it” or “that” when you refer back to a whole idea, fact or situation, never to a person or a thing. Él is pronounced EL, exactly like the article el (“the”); the accent mark only tells them apart in writing. Ello is pronounced EH-yoh and is mostly a written word: in conversation people say eso instead, except in a few fixed phrases such as estoy en ello (“I’m on it”).
So: Él es mi hermano (He is my brother), but Perdí el tren y por ello llegué tarde (I missed the train, and because of that I was late). Below: el vs él, where ello can and cannot go, the phrases built with it, how it compares with eso, esto and lo, a short dialogue, real mistakes to avoid and practice with answers.
Quick picker
| You mean… | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| “the” before a masculine noun | el (no accent) | el perro (the dog) |
| “he” as the subject | él | Él trabaja aquí. (He works here.) |
| “him” or “it” after a preposition (masculine) | él | Voy con él. (I’m going with him.) |
| “him” or “it” as a direct object | lo | Lo veo. (I see him / I see it.) |
| “that” referring to a whole idea, after a preposition | ello (formal) or eso | No quiero hablar de ello. (I don’t want to talk about it.) |
| “that” referring to a whole idea, as subject, in writing | ello | Ello demuestra que… (This shows that…) |
| “that” referring to a whole idea, in speech | eso | Eso no me preocupa. (That doesn’t worry me.) |
| “it” as a direct object for an idea | lo | No lo entiendo. (I don’t understand it.) |
El vs él: the accent mark
Spanish uses a written accent, called a tilde diacrítica, to separate pairs of words that sound the same but do different jobs. El without an accent is the masculine article “the”. Él with an accent is the pronoun “he” or “him”. Both are said the same way, so the accent matters only on paper, where it can change the meaning:
- Es para el profesor. (It’s for the teacher.)
- Es para él, profesor. (It’s for him, professor.)
- El dijo que sí is simply wrong in writing; the subject “he” needs the accent: Él dijo que sí.
Capital letters keep their accents too: write Él at the start of a sentence, not El. And remember that el also appears before some feminine nouns that begin with a stressed a: el agua, el águila. The noun is still feminine (el agua fría). For the full set of articles, see how to say “the” in Spanish.
How él works
Él is the third-person masculine singular pronoun. Its feminine partner is ella, and its plural is ellos. It has two main uses.
As a subject. Él vive en Sevilla. Because Spanish verbs already show the person, the subject pronoun is often dropped: Vive en Sevilla is just as correct. People keep él for contrast or clarity: Ella estudia, pero él trabaja (She studies, but he works).
After a preposition. con él, para él, sin él, de él, a él. Here él can stand for a man, a male animal, or a masculine thing:
- ¿Conoces a Andrés? Siempre hablo con él. (Do you know Andrés? I always talk to him.)
- Este abrigo es viejo, pero no puedo vivir sin él. (This coat is old, but I can’t live without it.)
- El parque está cerca; vamos a pasear por él. (The park is close; let’s walk through it.)
So it is not true that él is only for people. What Spanish avoids is using él as the subject for a thing. You would not say Él es muy interesante about a book; you would simply say Es muy interesante.
Not as a direct object. “I see him” is Lo veo, not Veo él. You can add a él for emphasis, but the lo stays: Lo vi a él, no a ella (I saw him, not her). The same goes for indirect objects: Le di el libro a él.
How ello works
Ello is a neuter pronoun. It has no masculine or feminine form and no plural, because it never stands for a noun. It points back to something said before: a fact, an event, a whole sentence.
El vuelo se retrasó tres horas. Por ello perdimos la conexión. (The flight was delayed three hours. Because of that we missed the connection.) Here ello stands for “the flight was delayed three hours”, not for el vuelo.
It appears in three positions.
1. After a preposition (the most common use). This is where you will meet ello most, in writing and in some set phrases in speech:
- Tengo que pensar en ello. (I have to think about it.)
- No estoy seguro de ello. (I’m not sure about it.)
- Quería aprobar y para ello estudió cada noche. (She wanted to pass, and to do so she studied every night.)
- Hubo muchos problemas; a pesar de ello, terminamos a tiempo. (There were a lot of problems; despite that, we finished on time.)
2. As the subject, in formal writing. Reports, essays and news articles use ello at the start of a sentence to refer back to the previous one:
- Las ventas cayeron un diez por ciento. Ello se debe sobre todo a la subida de precios. (Sales fell ten percent. This is mainly due to the rise in prices.)
- El plan es caro. Ello no significa que sea malo. (The plan is expensive. That does not mean it is bad.)
In speech, the same sentences would use eso or esto: Eso no significa que sea malo.
3. Never as a direct object. For “it” as the object of a verb, Spanish uses neuter lo: No lo entiendo (I don’t understand it), Ya lo sé (I know). No entiendo ello is not Spanish.
Set phrases with ello
| Phrase | Meaning | Register | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| por ello | for that reason, therefore | neutral to formal | Llovió mucho y por ello se suspendió el partido. |
| para ello | to do that, for that purpose | neutral to formal | Quiere viajar y para ello está ahorrando. |
| a pesar de ello / pese a ello | despite that | formal | Estaba cansado; pese a ello, siguió. |
| con ello | with that, by doing so | formal | Bajó los precios y con ello ganó clientes. |
| todo ello | all of this | formal | Todo ello demuestra que el proyecto funciona. |
| estar en ello | to be working on it | everyday speech | ¿Has terminado el informe? Estoy en ello. |
| ¡a por ello! | go for it! | everyday speech, mainly Spain | ¿Te presentas al casting? ¡A por ello! |
Estoy en ello and ¡A por ello! are the two places where ello sounds completely natural in conversation. Outside these, a native speaker talking casually will almost always pick eso.
Ello vs eso, esto and aquello
Esto, eso and aquello are also neuter and also refer to ideas or to things you have not named. The difference from ello is mostly register and pointing:
- Esto points to something near or just mentioned: Esto es increíble.
- Eso is the everyday word for “that” idea: Eso es lo que dije.
- Aquello points to something distant in time or space: ¿Te acuerdas de aquello?
- Ello does not point at all. It just refers back, and it sounds written.
When in doubt in speech, use eso. When writing a formal essay, ello after a preposition (por ello, para ello) will make your Spanish sound polished. The demonstrative pronouns are covered in more detail in Spanish demonstrative pronouns.
The third-person pronouns side by side
| Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | él | ella | ello (formal writing) |
| After a preposition | él | ella | ello |
| Direct object | lo | la | lo |
| Indirect object | le | le | le |
| Plural (subject / after preposition) | ellos | ellas | (none) |
Notice that the neuter row borrows lo for the direct object. That is why “I don’t understand it” is No lo entiendo whether “it” is a book or an idea. For how nouns get their gender in the first place, see Spanish gender rules.
A short dialogue
Lucía: ¿Has hablado con Marcos?
Pablo: Sí, hablé con él ayer. Va a dejar el trabajo.
Lucía: ¿En serio? ¿Y qué piensas de eso?
Pablo: No sé, tengo que pensar en ello. Él dice que está cansado.
Lucía: ¿Y el proyecto? ¿Quién lo va a terminar?
Pablo: Yo. Ya estoy en ello.
Lucía: Have you talked to Marcos? Pablo: Yes, I talked to him yesterday. He’s going to quit his job. Lucía: Really? And what do you think about that? Pablo: I don’t know, I have to think about it. He says he’s tired. Lucía: And the project? Who’s going to finish it? Pablo: Me. I’m already on it.
Look at the pronouns: con él (Marcos), de eso (his quitting, said casually), en ello (the same idea, in a set phrase), lo (the project, as direct object), en ello again in “I’m on it”.
Mistakes learners really make
| Not this | But this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| El es mi amigo. | Él es mi amigo. | The pronoun needs the accent; without it, it reads as “the”. |
| No entiendo ello. | No lo entiendo. | Ello cannot be a direct object; use lo. |
| Conozco a él. | Lo conozco. / Lo conozco a él. | “Him” as a direct object is lo; a él only adds emphasis. |
| Ello es importante que estudies. | Es importante que estudies. | Impersonal sentences have no pronoun subject in Spanish, unlike English “it”. |
| Ello está lloviendo. | Está lloviendo. | Weather verbs have no subject at all. |
| Compré un libro. Ello es muy bueno. | Compré un libro. Es muy bueno. | Ello never stands for a noun like libro. |
| ¿Y ello? (casual chat) | ¿Y eso? | In speech eso is the natural choice. |
Most of these come from translating English “it” word for word. Spanish has no single word for “it”: it drops the pronoun as subject, uses lo or la as object, él or ella after a preposition for a noun, and ello or eso for an idea. The same kind of choice comes up with object pronouns in me vs te.
Practice
Choose el, él, ello, eso or lo.
- ____ libro está en la mesa.
- Ella no viene, pero ____ sí.
- Han subido los precios y por ____ compramos menos. (formal)
- ¿Ves a Javier? Sí, ____ veo.
- Hablé con ____ ayer. (about Javier)
- ¿Que has perdido las llaves? ¿Y ____? (casual)
- No sé la respuesta, pero estoy en ____.
- No entiendo el problema. No ____ entiendo.
Answers
- El (article)
- él (subject “he”, kept for the contrast with ella)
- ello (refers to the whole fact “prices went up”)
- lo (direct object)
- él (after a preposition)
- eso (casual “how come?”)
- ello (set phrase “I’m on it”)
- lo (direct object; ello is not possible)
Quick answers
Is ello the neuter of él?
Yes. Él (masculine), ella (feminine) and ello (neuter) form a set. But the neuter one refers only to ideas and situations, not to nouns, because Spanish nouns are always masculine or feminine.
Do native speakers say ello?
In set phrases, yes: estoy en ello, ¡a por ello!, por ello. Otherwise it is mainly written, and in speech eso takes its place.
Can ello refer to a person?
No. For a man use él, for a woman ella.
What is the difference between el and él?
El is “the”; él is “he” or “him”. They sound the same, and only the accent separates them in writing.
Can él mean “it”?
Yes, after a preposition for a masculine noun: el coche y todo lo que hay en él (the car and everything in it). As a subject for a thing, Spanish just leaves the pronoun out.
More Spanish word and grammar pages are collected in the Spanish vocabulary hub.
