In an interview appearing in the Spanish series, 75 minutos, we can hear a beautiful gypsy voice singing the following:

Me dormí pensando en ti; pensando en ti, me desperté

I fell asleep thinking about you; thinking about you, I woke up

Soñé contigo, estoy sin ti y así llevo to' mi vi'a

I dreamed about you, I am without you, and I carry on like that all my life

Captions 10-11, 75 minutos - Del campo a la mesa

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Do you see that "ti" in the example above? That's a prepositional pronoun, or pronoun that follows a preposition. As prepositional pronouns may have been outshone in your studies by the complexity of object pronouns (me, te, se, le, etc.), let’s focus on them for a change.

A Look at Prepositional Pronouns in Action

When pronouns follow prepositions, they take on a special form in the first and second person singular, as follows:

Tú sabes que una fiesta sin mí no es una fiesta

You know that a party without me is not a party

porque yo soy el alma de las fiestas.

because I am the soul of parties.

Caption 19, Club 10 - Capítulo 1 - Part 2

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He sentido un flechazo por ti.

I felt love at first sight with you.

Caption 7, Cortometraje - Flechazos

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Note that, unlike the possessive adjective mi (e.g. Mi nombre, or "My name"), the prepositional pronoun mí has a graphic accent (tilde) whereas ti does not. 

In contrast to the first and second persons, the other persons utilize the same form as the subject pronoun (él, ella, nosotros, etc.) and do not require any special form:

Es un poco estresante para nosotros.

It's a bit stressful for us.

Caption 6, Animales en familia - Un día en Bioparc: Cachorro de leopardo

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No, estoy hablando de ella.

No, I'm talking about her.

Caption 22, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta

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O en los brazos de ella.

Or in her arms.

Caption 21, El Ausente - Acto 3 - Part 8

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Reflexive Use of the Third Person

The third person is the only grammatical person to employ a specific form exclusively for reflexive use: sí. Although this form does not indicate gender or number, these aspects are apparent (and the agreement with the subject achieved) with the words mismo(s) and misma(s), which often follow the prepositional pronoun sí when expressing the idea of "himself" or "herself." 

Agente, Pierre Bernard no habló mucho de sí mismo.

Agent, Pierre Bernard didn't talk much about himself.

Caption 24, Confidencial: El rey de la estafa - Capítulo 4

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Sí can also come after the preposition entre in the third person plural to express the idea of "with each other," as follows:

Entonces, ellas son amigas entre sí, también.

So, they are friends with each other also.

Caption 48, Clase Aula Azul - Información con subjuntivo e indicativo

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However, entre can be also followed by the subject pronouns yo and tú:

Pues lo que está sucediendo

Because what's happening

es entre tú y yo

is between you and me

Captions 26-27, Vivanativa - Si tú me quieres

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Conmigo, Contigo, and Consigo

Soñé contigo, estoy sin ti / I dreamed about you, I am without you

Considering the fact that pronouns do not often merge with the prepositions that preceed them, you may have wondered why conmigo, contigo and consigo are written as a single word. The fact is that the prepositional pronouns mí, ti, and sí have special forms when used with the preposition con.

Quédate conmigo

Stay with me

Caption 42, Carlos Baute y Marta Sanchez - Colgando en tus manos

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Bailar contigo y perdernos esta noche

Dancing with you and losing ourselves tonight

Caption 9, Monsieur Periné - Bailar Contigo

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Porque si no, muchas personas

Because otherwise, many people

tienen conflictos consigo mismas.

have conflicts with themselves.

Captions 2-3, Natalia de Ecuador - Los tipos de temperamento

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Some years ago, a politician in Latin America gained notoriety after saying conmigo o sinmigo, an egregious error for a native speaker of Spanish, let alone a public figure! Now that you have read this lesson, you can rest assured that contigo no tendremos ese problema (we won’t have that problem with you). We hope you liked this lesson, and don't forget to send us your comments and suggestions. ¡Hasta la próxima!

*Note that some strong language is discussed, so sensitive readers may wish to skip this lesson.

When something is importante (important), people usually care about it. In Spanish, the simplest way to say that one doesn’t care about something is to negate the verb importar (to care), as Victoria does when Federico asks her how she's feeling:

Que ya no me importa nada, Federico.

That I don't care about anything now, Federico.

Caption 20, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta - Part 4

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

However, it’s possible—and very common—to use the verb importar without negation to express a lack of caring. The trick is to add to me importa (or me interesa) to a noun that conveys the idea of something of negligible value. Comino, pepino, cacahuate, and bledo are a few examples of such nouns. Let’s learn how to actually use them.

Semillas de comino (cumin seeds) are so minuscule that they are close to nothing:
 

Perdés el tiempo, querido. Absolutamente.

You're wasting your time, darling. Absolutely.

Porque me interesa un comino su candidatura.

Because I don't give a damn about his nomination.

Captions 39-40, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta - Part 5

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Using pepino (cucumber) or cacahuate (peanut) is also very common:
 

¡Se lo dije al mayordomo, me importa un pepino!

I told the butler, I don't give a damn!

Caption 30, Muñeca Brava - 7 El poema

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Another common word to use is bledo, or pigweed. For the Spanish, this plant, although edible, was considered flavorless. They brought the expression over with them to Latin America (where in fact the plant and its seeds have been consumed since pre-Hispanic times, for their nutritional and medicinal properties).
 

¡Me importan un bledo los quinientos mangos!

I couldn't care less about the five hundred bucks!

Caption 35, Muñeca Brava - 8 Trampas

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If you want to add extra emphasis you can use the interjection carajo ("damn" or "hell").
 

¿Y a vos qué carajo te importa?

And to you, what the hell does it matter?

Caption 20, Yago - 2 El puma

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In fact, you can use any bad word you can come up with. That includes all the really vulgar ones, but here are two examples that are not so offensive:
 

¿A mí qué diablos me importa su vida?

What the hell does your life matter to me?

Caption 6, El Ausente - Acto 2

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Y no por ellos que me importan un diablo.

And not because of them who don't matter a damn to me.

Caption 4, El Ausente - Acto 3

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Finally, we want to introduce you to a curious expression: me vale. It’s only used in Mexico and it’s interesting because it’s quite contradictory. While its literal meaning would be something like “I care” it actually means the exact opposite. This happens because, in Mexico, the verb valer (to be worth) can replace the verb importar (to care) in phrases such as the ones mentioned before. So me vale un pepino, me vale un comino, etc. are all very common. At some point, Mexicans just shortened these phrases to me vale:

Después de eso me vale si muero

After that I don't care if I die

Caption 32, Los Originales de San Juan - Ojala La Vida Me Alcance

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BANNER PLACEHOLDER

The common—and very contradictory—Mexican phrase me vale madres belongs to this group. It means “I don’t give a damn about it!” but its literal meaning is something like “It’s worth what my mother is worth to me.” Quite puzzling, right? Especially given the proverbial Mexican affection for their mothers!

We hope you have enjoyed this lesson!