Which person to use during formalities

Question

Hola a todos! Ahora en Inglés At school I was taught to use the 3rd person verbs along with Usted (Vd. vive; Vd habla) but I am watching the TV series Pirata and they use the 5th person so instead they say hablais .

When I was in Chile I was told they used the 5th person. Does Piratas talk using the 5th person because it is actually a latino series or because that is more common nowadays?

And instead of using Usted + 5th person verb, is it -le- + 5th person verb?

Thankies!

Answer 1

In older Spanish (say, the age of pirates) the vosotros form was used as a formal form. "Usted" comes from "vuestra merced" meaning "your grace". Over time "vuestra merced" evolved into "usted" and meant "you" in the formal sense. Use it for everyone who is older than you, is not in your family and is not a close friend. Just as a friendly suggestion, please review the use of "person" grammatically as follows:

1st person singular: I, me 2nd person singular: thou, thee (now you in modern English) 3rd person singular: he, she, it

1st person plural: we, us 2nd person plural: you 3rd person plural: they

Answer 2

hablais is the vosotros form, which is informal and plural. It's like "You all" or "Y'all" or "Yee" I guess.

It's mostly used in Spain though as far as I know. In South America they mostly just use ustedes.