Essential Spanish Grammar – Formal and Informal Speech
The personal pronoun "you" has different corresponding forms in Spanish depending on whether the context requires formal or informal speech, or if you are addressing one or more than one person.
SINGULAR:
- Formal: usted
- Short: Ud., Vd., U. and V.
- Informal: tú
PLURAL:
- Formal and informal: ustedes
The formal speech is used to address people of higher rank or authority, who are older, or when there is a formal environment even if the rank and the age are similar. The use of "usted" implies courtesy, formality, and even emotional distance.
If the pronoun is acting as a subject, even if the pronoun refers to the second person, the verb must be conjugated in third person for both the singular and plural forms.
| ENGLISH | SPANISH | SPANISH |
|---|---|---|
| Formal | Informal The subject "tú" is always omitted unless one wants to emphasize "you" instead of "her" or "him" etc. | |
| How are you? | ¿Cómo está usted? | ¿Cómo estás? |
| You agreed with that decision. | Usted estuvo de acuerdo con esa decisión. | Estuviste de acuerdo con esa decisión. |
| You are a cultured person. | Usted es una persona culta. | Eres una persona culta. |
| Are you the chief of this department? | ¿Es Ud. el jefe de este departamento? | ¿Eres el jefe de este departamento? |
| Are you in charge of the company? | ¿Está Ud. a cargo de la empresa? | ¿Estás a cargo de la empresa? |
| You know what I mean. | Usted sabe lo que quiero decir. | Sabes lo que quiero decir. |
"Usted" often is accompanied by "Señor (Sr.)" or "Señora (Sra.)" before the person's name:
- Por favor, Sra. Carmen, pase usted.
Sr. Arturo, usted puede comenzar su discurso.
Unlike English, the subject of the sentence may be left out in Spanish. In that case, the verb conjugation provides formal or informal diction.
| ENGLISH | SPANISH | SPANISH |
|---|---|---|
| Formal | Informal | |
| Tell me what I have to do. | Dígame lo que tengo que hacer. | Dime lo que tengo que hacer. |
| Be careful walking down that aisle. | Tenga cuidado al caminar por ese pasillo. | Ten cuidado al caminar por ese pasillo. |
| Look both ways before crossing the street. | Mire hacia ambos lados antes de cruzar la calle. | Mira hacia ambos lados antes de cruzar la calle. |
| What is your name? | ¿Cuál es su nombre? | ¿Cuál es tu nombre? * |
| Did you see the new Tom Hanks movie? | ¿Vio la nueva película de Tom Hanks? | ¿Viste la nueva película de Tom Hanks? |
| Always think before talking. | Piense siempre antes de hablar. | Piensa siempre antes de hablar. |
The subject "usted" isn't left out as often in formal Spanish.
*In this case, "tu", without accent, is not the personal pronoun but the possessive adjective (your) corresponding to the informal speech, and "su" is the possessive adjective of the formal speech.
The plural ustedes is the only way to refer to more than one person, both formally and informally in all the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, and in the regions of Andalucía and the Canary Islands in Spain. In the rest of Spain, the pronoun vosotros is used for informal speech.
| ENGLISH | SPANISH | SPANISH |
|---|---|---|
| Formal and Informal (plural) | Informal (Spain) | |
| You are welcome. | Sean ustedes bienvenidos. | Seáis vosotros bienvenidos. |
| What do you think about global warming? | ¿Qué creen ustedes del calentamiento global? | ¿Qué creéis vosotros del calentamiento global? |
| You have won the contest. | Ustedes han ganado el concurso. | Vosotros habéis ganado el concurso. |
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