"Usted " form is masculine or feminine?

Question

Hi~I'm a beginner

I have two question to ask....

1. "Usted " form is masculine or feminine? I'm so confuse...some one said that both can use this form.. and some saying that "usted" only for feminine.. which one is correct??

2. If someone I'm not sure about his age, can I use "Usted" ?

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, May 1, 2011

Answer 1

EDITED It was very kindly pointed out to me that I had a number of rather serious errors in my original post. Hopefully I have corrected them all. I just wanted to see if you were paying attention.

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There are four pairs of gender-specific subject pronouns in Spanish: él-ellos (he- masculine they), and ella-ellas (she- feminine they). Nostros-nosotras (we, male-female), vosotros-vosotras (vos form of you, male-female)

The rest are genderless: Yo, tú usted, ustedes vos-

So you can use "tú", "vos", "usted" equally for males or females.

"Usted" is the formal form of "you", so will generally favor it for use with strangers, people older than you, and/or people in "respectable" positions, such as a doctor, a judge, or the President of a country, for example. It will be the same usted whether you are talking to President Obama or Secretary of State Clinton.

él, not el - 0074b507, Apr 25, 2011

Answer 2

Now I know how to use it ~~

Thank you~~

Answer 3

hola

dear friend, be aware of 3 points (see: A,B, C):

A) that there is two form of addressing someone else in spanish ( specially in latin american countries).

1- informal way. 2- formal way.

formal way is somewhat polit and official way of talking. for example, when you are speaking to an stranger or you teacher or an older person and other situation you feel that you 'd better to be more polit.

informal way is used in situations that are common to you; for example, when you are speaking to a frind or to your family member or a kid and else.

B) that when there is a talk of "tú o Ud.(Vd. /usted)" form or "vosotros or Uds.(Vds./ustedes)" form, it is talking about using a certain kind of verb conjugation form. in fact, you want to find out that which form of the verb conjugation is appropriate for formal and informal way of speaking with someone else. in espnish, for informal way, the " tú form" (for single second person) and "vosotros form"(for plural secon person), are used. and for Formal Way, "Ud. form"(for single second person) and "Uds. form"(for plural second person), are used.

C) that any talk about Masculin or Feminine, is talking about Nouns, not about verbs. that is, forms of verbs never have gender division. one verb form con be used about both a male sobject or object and female subject or object.

so, for example: we say

to a friend: single: tu form: ¿Cómo estás? = how are you to two or more friend: plural : vosotros form: ¿Cómo estáis?

and:

to one of your teacher : singl: Usted form: ¿Cómo está (Ud.)? to two or more of your teachers: Ustedes form: ¿Cómo están (Uds.)?

Answer 4

Usted can be used either way but its only sigular form so No "es" at the end

Answer 5

Usted works for both and you can use usted for anybody you don't know no matter the age and as a sign of respect no matter the age although older people will appreciate more.

Tell that to a middle aged woman. It like a 12 year old calling a 25 year old...madam. - 0074b507, Apr 25, 2011