Usted requirement

Question

Why do you need to put "usted" in the following sentence as I thought va implied usted:

¿A dónde va usted para (infinitive verb)?

Thanks,

Deryck

Good question! - bandit51jd, Apr 1, 2012

I agree! Welcome to the forum. =) - NikkiLR, Apr 1, 2012

Answer 1

Hola Deryck: Many schools teach the use of the subject pronouns as an aid to help the student to learn the verb conjugations. Here on Spanishdict.com we do not use those subject pronouns unless it is for emphasis and clarity.

Your question is a good example. ¿A dónde va para......? ¨

va¨ can refer to ´él, ella, or usted´.

With the use of ¨usted¨ there is an emphasis and clarity that it is you, not he or she.

¿A dónde va usted / él / ellla para...........?

Thanks everyone for clarifying this for me. - deryck, Apr 1, 2012

Answer 2

Adding usted can add emphasis, it can make the sentance more polite or formal, and it can also be used to remove ambiguity - remember that el/ella conjugate the same as usted.