Ellos siempre me apoyan a mí cuando dudo de mi propio progreso.

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Breakdown of Ellos siempre me apoyan a mí cuando dudo de mi propio progreso.

• mi: my
• ellos: they
• de: of

Questions & Answers about Ellos siempre me apoyan a mí cuando dudo de mi propio progreso.

Why do we have ellos if the ending -an in apoyan already shows the subject?

In Spanish, the verb ending usually makes the subject clear, so ellos is not strictly necessary here.

• Apoyan already means “they support”.
• Adding ellos adds emphasis or clarity, a bit like saying “They always support me” in English, stressing they.

Both are correct:

• Ellos siempre me apoyan… – emphasizes they
• Siempre me apoyan… – more neutral, subject understood from context

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Is ellos required here, or can I just say Siempre me apoyan a mí cuando dudo de mi propio progreso?

You can absolutely drop ellos:

• Siempre me apoyan a mí cuando dudo de mi propio progreso.

That sounds very natural. Omitting subject pronouns is very common in Spanish because the verb endings show who the subject is.

Use ellos when:

• You want to contrast: Ellos me apoyan, pero ella no.
• You want extra emphasis on they.

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Why do we need both me and a mí? Aren’t they saying the same thing?