Home
Q&A
How do I use "tu" in the personal and plural form?

How do I use "tu" in the personal and plural form?

0
votes

plural intimate for "tu"

30344 views
updated Aug 12, 2012
posted by abbevans

3 Answers

3
votes

Another thing you can investigate is the use of "voseo", a form that is distinct from the "vosotros" used in Spain. It is not well known in Spanish instruction in the US, but it is easily searched out on the web.

updated Aug 14, 2012
posted by Noetol
2
votes

In English, we just use one word to talk to a person directly: "you." However, in Spanish, there are a few ways this is accomplished. They have four ways to say "you." 1) "Tú" means "you." It's informal and personal, meaning you use it with your friends or people younger than you. You can use it with parents in most homes, and I've even heard it that you use "tú" when speaking to God.

2) "Usted" means "you." It's formal. Use this when you are meeting someone new or to show respect, like to people older than you or teachers. It's conjugated like "él" and "ella" (he and she).

3) "Vosotros" means "you all." It's primarily used in Spain. It's conjugated differently than usted or tú. It can change to "vosotras" if the group you're addressing is entirely comprised of females.

4) "Ustedes" means "you all" too. It's conjugated like ellos/ellas (they). You can use this when speaking to a group of "usted"s or more often than not, when you're just speaking to a lot of people directly. In most all Central and South American countries, this is the only form of "you all."

Hope that helps!!

updated Aug 14, 2012
edited by pianoviola
posted by pianoviola
By the way, tú and usted are singular while ustedes and vosotros are plural! - pianoviola, Aug 12, 2012
2
votes

With Spanish, you have two choices of saying "you all." You can use "vosotros" or you can use "ustedes." "Vosotros" is the personal plural form of tú. "Ustedes" is the plural form of "usted." "Ustedes" is commonly used in all situations in Latin America, though the vosotros form is still understood.

Vosotros conjugations will end in -áis, -éis, or -ís. Preterit forms will end in "asteis."The imperfect forms will be -abais and - ías. Commands will end with a "d." For example, "Hablad vosotros." In the case of a reflexive verb, you'll see the "d" taken off and "os" added on. For example, "Vestíos." Future and conditional forms will have "éis" and " ían," respectively.

Ustedes conjugations usually end with -an and -en, aron, ieron, aban, ian. All of this information should be really easy to find. smile

Also, a note about the voseo. In certain places in Latin America, "vos" in a pronoun used instead of "tú." It takes the first-person singular, though the conjugations come from the vosotros conjugation. For example, tú pienas, vosotros pensáis, vos pensás. If you want to look into it, that would be pretty rad and could potentially come in really handy if you're speaking to people from certain places in Latin America, though the tú forms will be understood, too. smile

updated Aug 13, 2012
posted by joshhh317