Vosotros
Vosotrosis one of the five ways to say "you" in Spanish. It is essentially the plural form of túand is primarily used in Spain to address a group of people with whom you are familiar.
What is Vosotros?
If you have spent most of your time in Latin America or studying Latin American Spanish, it is likely that you don't have much experience with this pronoun. Check out these must-knows before we delve into the details!
- Vosotros is a second-person plural subject pronoun that is only used in Spain and has its own set of verb endings.
- Vosotros is used to address a group of men only or a group made up of men and women. Even if there are ninety-nine women and only one man in a group, you still use vosotros.
- Vosotrasis the feminine form and is only used when the entire group is female.
Vosotros vs. Ustedes
The use of vosotros is a major grammatical difference between Spanish in Spain and Latin American Spanish.
In Spain, vosotros is used when you are talking to group of friends, peers, pets, children, or close family members. In other words, it is used to address a group of people informally.
In Spain, ustedesis used to address a group of people formally. For example, a group of people older than you or people you don’t know well.
Since most Latin American countries do not use vosotros, ustedes is used in both informal and formal situations.
You can abbreviate ustedes as Uds. in writing, but vosotros does not have an abbreviation. Vos is not an abbreviation for vosotros, as it is a completely different subject pronoun.
The following examples demonstrate the difference between vosotros and ustedes in Spain.
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While these examples use the subject pronouns vosotros and ustedes, it's very normal for these pronouns to be omitted in everyday speech.
Conjugating the Vosotros Form
Vosotros has different endings depending on the tense you are using and whether the verb ends in -ar, -er, or -ir.
| TENSE | -AR VERBS | -ER VERBS | -IR VERBS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Indicative | -áis | -éis | -ís |
| Preterite | -asteis | -isteis | -isteis |
| Imperfect | -abais | -íais | -íais |
| Future | -éis | -éis | -éis |
| Conditional | -íais | -íais | -íais |
| Present Subjunctive | -éis | -áis | -áis |
| Imperfect Subjunctive | -rais or -seis | -rais or -seis | -rais or -seis |
Vosotros Commands
To form affirmative vosotros commands, replace the ‐r at the end of the infinitive with a -d.
For negative vosotros commands, use the vosotros form of the present subjunctive.
Check out these examples.
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