Conguation & Verb Agreement usted tiene que esperar

Question

This is supposed to mean "You have to wait." "Usted tiene que esperar."

Shouldn't this be said instead: "Tu tienes que esperar"

Thanks DL

tú - 0074b507, Jun 29, 2011

¡Bienvenido al foro! Welcome to the forum! - 0074b507, Jun 29, 2011

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, Jun 29, 2011

Answer 1

Both mean "you have to wait." Using "usted" is more formal than using "tú."

Answer 2

I have trouble with this too, the tú form seems so much more natural that the usted seems weird but this is proper grammar. That is the correct usted conjugation of that word however depending on the circumstances it may not be the best way to put it. For instance if it was a friend saying this to you.

Answer 3

"Usted tiene que esperar" is formal. It is more like saying, "You have to wait, sir."

Answer 4

Hello Dlowery and Welcome to the SpanishDict forum

Tienes que esperar = You have to wait

Tiene que esperar = You have to wait ((Ud form))

After you have been here a little while you may notice that Spanish natives seldom/rarely use personal pronouns such as: Ud, tú, él, ella etc...This is because the Spanish verbs are already conjugated for the exact person they represent eg tienes can only mean Tú = You (familiar form) tenemos can only mean = we

I would therefore recommend that you learn the personal pronouns and the verb forms to which they correspond eg I = Yo, tú= you (familiar) Ud = You (formal) etc and use the verbs without the personal pronouns. Infact ,any serious student aspiring to be able to speak the language proficiently would not use these personal pronouns most of the time..

A few visits to the dunce corner courtesy of Heidi our native chief administrator normally cures most people of addiction to using them

I hope this helps

Don't worry most of us have been there a few times hahaha - FELIZ77, Jun 29, 2011