A caption with a picture

Question

I'm using the Rosetta Stone software to learn Spanish, and I came across a part of a lesson I do not understand. In it, there is a picture. A man is holding his wife's coat for her to put on and he is supposedly saying the following sentence: Aquí tiene su abrigo. I do not understand why he is speaking of his wife in the third person. Why is he saying 'su abrigo' instead of 'tu abrigo'? Can anyone explain this to me? Gracias.

:-) - 007c5fc1, Feb 24, 2014

Answer 1

In many cases, you do not have to be so literal. I know some friends who treat their wives like that. They say usted! or here is "su" such and such. I don't know why they do it, but they do it. Perhaps, it is something they did when they were beginning the relationship and continued using the pronoun " usted' and never changed to treat them as " tu". However, if I were in a very formal setting, I would try to treat my wife as "usted", therefore I would say aqui tiene su abrigo. Hope it helps!

Gracias! It does help. I thought it might be because it was the man was being formal, but I wasn't sure. Thank you! - Ghosthawk, Feb 24, 2014

Answer 2

He is such a well trained husband that he regards his wife with the utmost politeness, as a virtual stranger..

:D - Ghosthawk, Feb 24, 2014

I think it depends in the situation. What is a couple? Was it business related? I wish I could say the content in that lesson. - juanmelgar, Feb 25, 2014

Answer 3

Para mí que no es su mujer...

Talvez. Pero en mi vida, he visto situaciones parecidas a esa. - juanmelgar, Feb 25, 2014