Traveling to a Spanish-speaking country, or communicating with Spanish speakers for business or any other reason, you’ll gain a closer relationship with your interlocutor if you can address them as a local.
This is a complete guide to the conjugations, uses, history, and areas of influence of the pronoun vos in Spanish, as well as its differences and similarities with the pronouns tú and usted.
What’s the difference between tú, vos, and usted?
Usted is the form used in every Spanish-speaking country to address the second person singular in formal contexts when there’s a difference in age and/or hierarchy between the interlocutors. Tú and vos, on the other hand, are used in informal contexts when the relationship with the other person is closer. Depending on the region, vos can be considered colloquial or even rather uneducated.
Let’s see some examples of voseo in Spanish. In Spain and some Latin American areas, you might hear the following dialogue:
Buenos días. ¿Usted es el gerente?
Buenos días, sí. ¿Tú quién eres?
El nuevo cadete.
In some other Latin American countries though, this dialogue would turn into:
Buenos días. ¿Usted es el gerente?
Buenos días, sí. ¿Vos quién sos?
El nuevo cadete.
Where in the world is voseo used?
The Uruguayan linguist Virginia Bertolotti (A mí de vos no me trata ni usted ni nadie. Sistemas e historia de las formas de tratamiento en la lengua española en América, México, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 2015, 484 pp. ISBN: 978-607-02-6627-0) states that there exist six different forms of address in Latin America:
– Tú: second person singular informal pronoun; used in close relations (in Mexico, for example)
– Vos: second person singular informal pronoun; used in close relations (in Argentina, for example)
– Usted: second person singular formal pronoun; used in formal contexts (in all Latin American countries and Spain)
– Usted: second person singular informal pronoun; used in close relations (in Colombia, for example)
– Ustedes: plural you (in all Latin American countries)
According to the Royal Spanish Academy (RAE), vos in Spanish is used in most countries in Spanish America, although its uses and social acceptance vary from one region to another.
In Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, vos is used openly by all social classes both in spoken and written discourse.
On the contrary, tú is used almost exclusively in Mexico, most areas in Peru and Venezuela, the Antilles, and the Atlantic coast in Colombia.
In other countries, tú is the educated form while vos is considered uneducated. This is so in the North and South of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, small areas in the Venezuelan Andes, most of Colombia, Panama, and Eastern Cuba.
In Chile, tú is used in relatively formal contexts, and vos in highly informal, familiar contexts.
Voseo is not commonly found in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, the Dominican Republic or Puerto Rico.
Voseo Conjugations
Grammatically, there’s a noticeable difference in the verb conjugation depending on the pronoun you use:
| Mood | tú | vos | usted |
|---|---|---|---|
| Present Indicative | Si quieres, puedes quedarte. You can stay if you want to. | Si querés, podés quedarte. You can stay if you want to. | Si quiere, puede quedarse. You can stay if you want to. |
| Imperative Mood | Quédate, por favor. Please, stay. | Quedate, por favor. Please, stay. | Quédese, por favor. Please, stay. |
RAE recognizes two different forms of Spanish voseo– Pronominal voseo and Verbal voseo.
Pronominal voseo is the use of the pronoun vos instead of tú in any of the following grammatical functions:
| Pronominal voseo vs. tuteo | |
|---|---|
| vos | tú/ti |
| ¿Vos tenés hambre? Are you hungry? | ¿Tú tienes hambre? Are you hungry? |
| Che vos, vení por favor. Hey, you. Come here please. | Oye, tú. Ven por favor. Hey, you. Come here please. |
| Esto es para vos. This is for you. | Esto es para ti. This is for you. |
| Juan es más alto que vos. Juan is taller than you. | Juan es más alto que tú. Juan is taller than you. |
Verbal voseo is a unique verbal conjugation for the pronoun vos. In general, it is only apparent in the present indicative and the second person singular of the imperative form.
Spanish voseo, Present Indicative: It is formed by dropping the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and adding a new one instead (-ás, -és, -ís). In regular verbs, the only difference between the tú and vos forms is that the stress is moved to the last syllable.
| Verbal voseo vs. tuteo | ||
|---|---|---|
| Regular verbs | ||
| Present Indicative | vos | tú |
| -ar estudi-ar | ¿Estudiás español? Do you study Spanish? | ¿Estudias español? Do you study Spanish? |
| -er hac-er | ¿Hacés la tarea todos los días? Do you do your homework every day? | ¿Haces la tarea todos los días? Do you do your homework every day? |
| -ir viv-ir | ¿Dónde vivís? Where do you live? | ¿Dónde vives? Where do you live? |
Some verbs are irregular for the pronoun tú, yet they remain regular for vos.
| Verbal voseo vs. tuteo | ||
|---|---|---|
| Irregular verbs for “tú” | ||
| Present Indicative | vos | tú |
| jug-ar | ¿Jugás al tenis? Do you play tennis? | ¿Juegas al tenis? Do you play tennis? |
| perd-er | Vos nuncaperdés. You never lose. | Tú nuncapierdes. You never lose. |
| ment-ir | ¿Por qué mentís? Why are you lying? | ¿Por quémientes? Why are you lying? |
And some verbs are totally irregular for vos:
| Irregular verb: SER | |
|---|---|
| vos | tú |
| ¿Vos sos la hermana de Juan? Are you Juan’s sister? | ¿Tú eres la hermana deJuan? Are you Juan’s sister? |
Spanish voseo, Imperative Mood: In the imperative mood too, the only difference in regular verbs conjugated for the pronoun vos is that the stress is moved to the last syllable.
| Verbal voseo vs. tuteo | ||
|---|---|---|
| Regular verbs | ||
| Imperative Mood | vos | tú |
| -ar estudi-ar | Estudiá muchosi querés aprobar el examen. Study a lot if you want to pass the exam. | Estudia mucho si quieres aprobar el examen. Study a lot if you want to pass the exam. |
| -er corr-er | ¡Corré más rápido! Run faster! | ¡Corre más rápido! Run faster! |
| -ir compart-ir | Compartí el chocolate con tu hermano. Share that chocolate with your brother. | Comparte el chocolate con tu hermano. Share that chocolate with your brother. |
Some verbs are irregular for the pronoun tú, yet they remain regular for vos.
| Verbal voseo vs. tuteo | ||
|---|---|---|
| Irregular verbs for “tú” | ||
| Imperative Mood | vos | tú |
| hac-er | “Hacé un pastel para María”. “Make a cake for María.” | “Haz un pastel para María”. “Make a cake for María.” |
| ir/and-ar | “Andá a la escuela”. “Go to school.” | “Ve a la escuela” “Go to school.” |
| dec-ir | “¡Decí la verdad!” “Tell the truth!” | “¡Di la verdad!” “Tell the truth!” |
| pon-er | “Poné la mesa, por favor”. “Set the table, please.” | “Pon la mesa, por favor”. “Set the table, please.” |
The verbs SER (to be) and ESTAR (to be) remain the same for both pronouns:
| SER -> | Sé vos mismo siempre. |
| Sé tú mismo siempre | |
| Always be yourself. |
| ESTAR -> | Che vos, estate quieto un rato. |
| Oye tú, estate quieto un rato. | |
| Hey you, be quiet for a while. |
More on using SER and ESTAR in conversation.
The origin and backstory of Vos in Spanish
The first traces of the use of vos in Spanish appeared in Spain in the IV Century, and its use was deferential or respectful. This voseo reverencial was used to address people of the highest orders, like emperors or kings. The familiar second person singular pronoun was tú, and the deferential vos was both singular and plural.
The grammatical forms were: vos, subject (“Vos decís”) and prepositional complement (“Iré con vos”); os, object (“Yo os lo digo”). The verb was always in the plural form, even when a single person was addressed. In order to distinguish both uses, the formula Vuestra Merced (“your Grace”) appeared in the XVI C. Over time, this form turned into the usted that we use nowadays to address a single interlocutor in formal contexts.
From then on, vos was used only as a singular second person pronoun, and speakers added the form otros (others) when used in the plural form (vos otros → vosotros).
According to the Venezuelan writer, essayist, critic and professor Iraset Paez Urdaneta, at some point between the VI and VII C the social use of vos to address someone from inferior to superior hierarchy, turned in the opposite direction- from superior to inferior; until it reached a point when it started to be used to address people of the same social status.
By the XVIII Century, Spanish voseo disappeared completely from Peninsular Spanish, in favor of usted for formal address, and tú for familiar uses. Yet it was retained in the Americas, where the Spaniards used it to reinforce the social distance between the conqueror (Spain) and the conquered (the Americas).
Over time, Spanish voseo disappeared from most of the territories that held economic bonds with Spain like Peru, Mexico, and the Caribbean; and remained only in the most Southern countries like Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, where criollos used it to address one another and displaced the use of tú.
