this post was submitted on 14 Nov 2025
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And what language and region is it?

I've noticed my language teacher uses the informal you in one language and the formal one in the other.

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[–] AbsolutePain@lemmy.world 8 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (2 children)

In Mexican Spanish, you would default to formal 'you' in most public interactions (although not all people do this). You would also use formal language when talking to a teacher or an authority.

  • Formal 'you' (singular): usted
  • Formal and informal 'you' (plural): ustedes
  • Informal 'you' (singular): tú

Note that the informal and formal 'you' in plural are the same.

Fun fact: formal language in Spanish is more than just formal 'you'.

E.g., if you're working at a fancy shop and wanted to ask a customer "how may I help you?", you would say "¿en qué le puedo ayudar?" (formal) instead of "¿en qué te puedo ayudar?" (informal). This question does not have 'you' in Spanish.

[–] calcopiritus@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

Formal and informal is not the same in plural.

"Ustedes" is formal, "vosotros" is informal. Although Mexicans (and many other south Americans) don't use the informal version, it doesn't mean that it doesn't exist.

Some countries also say "vos" for singular. I don't know if that replaces "tú" or "usted" though.

[–] LeapSecond@lemmy.zip 2 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago) (1 children)

Isn't te/le technically a conjugation of you though? You also have to conjugate the verb but at least the difference is just an 's' that you can aspirate enough that it's not clear if you're going for tu or usted.

[–] AbsolutePain@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Perhaps you are right. Unfortunately I've forgotten lots of the linguistics of Spanish :(