Mayor v Viejo/a?
¡Ayuda! ¿ El es mayor o El es viejo? Many Thanks.
5 Answers
if you are pertaining to an old man or person it should me MAYOR vieja/o is for things like for example la casa es vieja
Kiwi Girl's post answers most issues-However- Between couples "te amo vejajita is not at all uncommon, nor is hola viejo among friends. With Spanish, context and tone are the guiding factors. One would not use Viejo in a public setting unless as Kiwi says its referring to a building or a car.
Thank you. My first post in Spanish, sorry for the confusion. - kickatinalon
No worries it's just that context makes all the difference.
Here's a few examples and I'll throw anciano and antiguo into the mix just for fun 
You can use viejo/vieja to refer to people if you mean 'former' and in that case it goes before the noun.
That's my old Spanish teacher.
Esa es mi vieja maestra de español.
Or in the set phrase 'viejo y querido' ie. good old so and so.
El viejo y querido Pablo. Good old Paul.
But generally if you want to refer to a person as being old you should use mayor or anciano.
Había una mujer mayor sentado en el coche.
There was an elderly lady sitting in the car.
El anciano andaba en last calle.
The old man was walking in the street.
When it comes to things you use viejo, unless you mean vintage, antique or ancient then you can use antiguo.
Coche antiguo: a vintage car
Coche viejo: an old car
Los antiguos grecos. The ancient Greeks.
Antique furniture. Muebles antiguos.
You may find this useful too how to say 'old' in Spanish
What would you like to say? Let us know your English version and then we'll be able to give you a better answer
Remember that accents are very important in Spanish el=the, él = he
viejo is pejorative. you rather use mayor.
