River Plate Spanish
Questions This Article Answers
Where is River Plate Spanish spoken?
What are the main features of River Plate Spanish?
What is voseo?
What is seseo?
What is lunfardo?
How are y and ll pronounced in River Plate Spanish?
What is River Plate Spanish?
The term español rioplatense, also known as castellano rioplatense(River Plate Spanish), refers to the variety of Spanish spoken in the Río de la Plata area. The Río de la Plata marks the limit between Argentina and Uruguay.
Although more dialects exist in Argentina and Uruguay, español rioplatense is the most widespread variety in both countries. The largest cities where español rioplatense is spoken are Buenos Aires(Buenos Aires), Rosario(Rosario), Santa Fé(Santa Fe), and La Plata(La Plata) in Argentina and Montevideo(Montevideo) in Uruguay. Since the majority of the people who moved south in Argentina were from Buenos Aires, español rioplatense is also spoken in the Patagonia (Patagonia) region.
Now, let’s look at the defining characteristics of español rioplatense.
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Voseo
One of the most prominent features of español rioplatense is voseo(voseo). Instead of using the informal second-person singular tú(you), español rioplatense speakers use vos(you). Learn more about voseo here.
| Spanish | River Plate Spanish | English |
|---|---|---|
| Eso lo dijiste tú. | Eso lo dijiste vos. | You said that. |
| ¿Tú sabes bailar? | ¿Vos sabés bailar? | Can you dance? |
| Tú eres hermosa. | Vos sos hermosa. | You’re beautiful. |
Vos is also used instead of ti(you, yourself), the indirect object form of tú, after prepositions. Look at the following examples.
Voseo in Other Countries
Although voseo is synonymous with River Plate Spanish, it is also used in other countries. It can be found in some regions in the following countries:
Conjugation of Vos
As you saw above, the conjugation of the verbs changes sometimes when you use vos. This only happens in the present indicative and the imperative mood. In the vos conjugations, the accent is moved to the last syllable. The stem of some verbs may also change.
Let’s look at the conjugations of the verbs amar(to love), tener(to have), vivir(to live), ser(to be), hacer(to do), and querer(to want) in both tú and vos forms.
| present tú | present vos | imperative tú | imperative vos |
|---|---|---|---|
| amas | amás | ama | amá |
| tienes | tenés | ten | tené |
| vives | vivís | vive | viví |
| eres | sos | sé | sé |
| haces | hacés | haz | hacé |
| quieres | querés | quiere | queré |
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Verb Tenses
Español rioplatense favors the preterite over the present perfect and the informal future over the simple future.
Spanish Verb Tenses
Learn more about Spanish verb tenses in the following articles:
Pronunciation of Y and LL
In español rioplatense, the letters y and ll are not only pronounced the same, but they’re pronounced like the English sound sh in show. It is one of the most distinctive sounds of español rioplatense, as no other Spanish dialect uses it. Pronouncing the letters y and ll with a sh sound is known as yeísmo rehilado(yeísmo rehilado).
Listen and repeat the following sentences. First say them out loud with the regular y and ll, and then say them replacing them with the sh sound.
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Pronunciation of C and Z
Just like the rest of América Latina(Latin America), in español rioplatense the letters c (before e and i) and z are pronounced like an s. This feature is known as seseo(seseo).
Pronunciation of S Before Consonants
Another characteristic shared with other Spanish-speaking countries is the s aspirada(aspirated s). This means the letter s is similar to the English sound h in hi before consonants.
It is worth mentioning that some speakers may not aspirate the s before consonants, while others may do it before both consonants and vowels.
Listen and repeat the following words. First say them with the regular s sound, and then try to use the s aspirada.
Intonation
Along with yeísmo rehilado, another characteristic that distinguishes the sound of español rioplatense from other varieties is intonation. The inflection was heavily influenced by the large number of Italian immigrants that arrived around the beginning of the 20th century. Linguists suggest the accent was mostly influenced by the Neapolitan dialect.
Lexicon
The Spanish spoken in the Río de la Plata area borrowed and adapted words of diverse languages and dialects, including Italian, Genovese, Lombard, Neapolitan, Occitan, Portuguese, French, Galician, Romani, and African and Native American languages.
This argot (jargon or slang) was named lunfardo(Lunfardo), which is believed to derive from the word lombardo(Lombard). Nowadays, lunfardo is mainly known as the name of the slang spoken in Buenos Aires.
Lunfardo
Click here to learn more about lunfardo.
Let’s see some examples of lunfardo words.
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Besides the words that are be considered lunfardo, español rioplatense also has its own regional terms.
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Learn more about Spanish grammar and regional varieties with these articles:
