Might this happen with Spanish?
Hello to all my friends here. I hope you all have had a good start to e New Year.
I just read an interesting article about when Sweden did away with the formal "you" conjugated in the third person sometime in the '60s.
I wonder if Spanish might follow suit, whether sooner or later? For myself, I'd rather they do away with the informal "tu" form - one less conjugation to remember!! 
Edit after reading Feliz's post: I do hope everyone realizes i'm not really in favor of doing away with any part of Spanish. That was the function of the smiley face. Indeed, I like a formal way of addressing people due respect or who one doesn't know. It is an easy way of "enforcing" a bit of civility which we seem to be losing these days.
I grew up in the South of the States, where every child was forced to say "m'am" and "sir" when responding to any adult, familiar or not, until the adult excused you from doing so (like me with my nieces and nephews), and even then, dropping the formality was discouraged. In fact, my 27 year old niece still sometimes says "sir" to me even though I excused her from that a long time ago. It is rather nice to hear occasionally, though, and it is an easy way to tell if someone at least has a sense of manners.
On the other hand, my wife is from the UK where they do not generally do that. It seems to me that doing away with the formality of "m'am" and "sir" made young Brits sound almost brash and bold, if not downright rude.
More to the point, I think my using "m'am" and "sir" with my wife's parents made them quite a bit more accepting of a Yank taking their daughter away to the New World.
4 Answers
Wow. This is complicated. In Mexico we do not use the informal plural form. So we only have five to learn. Now obviously four would be even better. But getting rid of the formal singular and plural means that I would have to learn the informal plural. Not good.
So I vote yes, but only if we do away with the informal singular form as well.
Hello Wink,
Interesting question! 
As somone who speaks Spanish and as a beginner has started to learn to speak Swedish I feel a little qualified to speak, although probably Annierats would be the best person to answer your question as a native Swedish speaker and someone who I am sure speaks Spanish with reasonable proficiency. Daniela, who is a native Spanish teacher or one of the other native Spanish speakers would also have a much better idea than I would as to the future development of their mother-tongue (language)
In my view, and I am sorry but I have to respectfully disagree with your line of thinking, I think that it is unlikely and undesirable since in Spanish both the formal usted form and the informal tú serve useful but different functions: the first to show respect to people you do not know and who are in authority and the second to express friendliness and /or greater depth of intimacy in relationships. I would not want to see either disappear! The distinction is both helpful and practical. I particularly like the tú form which is very popular in Spain, particularly amoung younger people. Usted is more common in Latin America.
Should we do away with conjugating verbs in various languages because beginners find it too hard or should the Spanish just use ser and forget about estar because people experience problems with it?! Of course not!
I also speak French and the French people use personal pronouns all the time, unlike the Italians and the Spanish who use them only for clarification and emphasis. It would be much easier if only I could persuade the French to stop using them all the time; it would make learning French much easier if they would just follow suit with the Spanish! (I am speaking tongue in cheek)
Wink, in Swedish it lasted longer than that' ni' still exists, it just is hardly used any more, my generation is probably the last to have said ' ni' to our great-aunts, teachers and other superhuman persons.. Nowadays it is Hej på dej! But if we were to meet the King in the street? Maybe Hej på dej or maybe Goddag Ers Kungliga Höghet, hur står det till?
Hi Wink:
In Spain, it's the "usted" form that you hear less and less. Among societal equals, the "tú" form is entered into almost immediately. However with someone to whom you should show respect, like a police officer, doctor, judge, priest etc, the "usted" form is highly recommended.
Strangely enough in Argentina "tú" is hardly ever heard. There the familiar form is "vos" with a somewhat modified "vosotros" verb form. Ex. Vos hablás español ¿no? ¿Tenés vos las llaves? etc.
