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View Full Version : Do Spanish people/fluent speakers actually use vosotros, nosotros usted and the like?



rob897
13-11-2011, 00:48
bit of a silly question but im in my 3rd year doing spanish and were doing the whole nosotros vosotros usted and the rest of it, Still cant get my head round it. But im begining to wonder if spanish people and fluent speakers actually use it?

Added after 1 24 minutes:

and no we havent been doing nosotros for 3 years...

bonitatime
13-11-2011, 07:48
Nosotros is always used
Vosotros isn't used in the Canaries but is in other parts of Spain or south America. For some reason in the Camaries they always use ustedes.

mike in chayofa
13-11-2011, 12:01
I have heard vosotros used fairly frequently, but usually with the 3rd person plural ... ie vosotros hablan. Stange!

rob897
13-11-2011, 15:23
ah well, looks like im going to have to learn it then :(

cainaries
13-11-2011, 16:07
I am not quite sure what you're asking. The Spanish don't always use yo, tu, el, etc. and also don't always use nosotros, vosotros either. It is perfectly correct to say nosotros hablamos and just as correct to say hablamos. Is that what you mean? You've still got to learn all the verbs whether or not you put nosotros in front of them or not! Or is that not what you meant??

rob897
13-11-2011, 16:13
its just all the different variations and when to replace then such as hablas hablar hablamos hablais and so on that im asking about and if the spanish even use these? hope this helps you...

cainaries
13-11-2011, 16:24
its just all the different variations and when to replace then such as hablas hablar hablamos hablais and so on that im asking about and if the spanish even use these? hope this helps you...

How are you learning Spanish, rob897? If you are going to classes you should discuss this with your teacher as what you are asking is - to me - very basic stuff which you should have covered at the very beginning! (Don't mean to be rude). If you are teaching yourself through tapes and books, it's going to be more complicated so ... let's take the verb hablar since it ends in 'ar' and is regular.

I talk = (yo) hablo
You (singular) talk = (tu) hablas (familiar form of you)
he, she, talks = (el/ella) habla
We talk = (nosotros) hablamos
You (plural) talk = (vosotros) hablais
They talk = (ellos/ellas) hablan

It is more complicated than this because the Spanish have a polite form of you ... usted .... which they use with people they don't know well and this takes the third person singular.

Good luck with it anyway!

Yes, they definitely use all these words! They are their basic verbs.

rob897
13-11-2011, 16:34
hi thanks for that
im doing intermediate 2 at school which is the equivalent of GCSE here in Scotland. i did intermediate 2 from 2009-10 but was moved down to intermediate 1 for final exam this May as i did a lot better as i was also doing int1 french at the same time.

cainaries
13-11-2011, 18:36
hi thanks for that
im doing intermediate 2 at school which is the equivalent of GCSE here in Scotland. i did intermediate 2 from 2009-10 but was moved down to intermediate 1 for final exam this May as i did a lot better as i was also doing int1 french at the same time.

You're welcome. I took GCSE Spanish in 2005 from night school in London. And I got an A* (boasting but I've never got a mark like that before in my life). When we retired to Spain (also in 2005) I discovered that I didn't really know much in relation to actually living here but it proved a VERY useful base to start from so keep at it! You don't need to worry about the Canary Islands not using vosotros in the situation you are in! Just learn it like they tell it and you'll be fine for the exams and then you can learn the finer points if you come out here.

rob897
13-11-2011, 19:19
i got an A at int1 and in French too (really surprised at that) and my target grade for this year is a B that's allright i guess.

kikebolli
17-11-2011, 09:47
I think its depend basically of where are you in Spain.
In peninsula we use nosotros and vosotros, but you can also just say the form of the verb, and you understand it.
Usted its a really polite verb, (talk to a teacher, police, somebody that you dont know very well, elderly...)
For example in south america, they use usted/ustedes all the time.

I guess is like american and british english. They have some differences.

PaulW
17-12-2011, 02:12
When I first started learning I was never taught the vosotros form. Then I moved to mainland Spain and suddenly it was everywhere. It doesn't take too long to learn though, especially when you're teaching Spanish children!

bonitatime
17-12-2011, 09:31
For example in south america, they use usted/ustedes all the time.

And the Canary islands