Vosotros or ustedes? The two ways to say “you all”
Two words for “you all”, and where each one is used
Both mean “you all”: you are talking to more than one person. Vosotros is the informal “you all” used in most of Spain, and not in Latin America. Across Latin America, ustedes does that job, for friends and family too. In Spain, ustedes is the formal “you all”.
So the question is not which one is right, because both are. It is where you will use your Spanish. Learn the one that fits, and the other is easy to recognise when you meet it.
vosotros
Spain
- Informal “you all”
- Its own verb form
- Pronoun: os
Habláis español muy rápido.You all speak Spanish very fast.
ustedes
Latin America, and formal in Spain
- “You all”, for anyone
- Shares the ellos / ellas form
- Pronouns: los, las, les, se
¿De dónde son ustedes?Where are you all from?
On this page
Who uses vosotros, and who uses ustedes?
In most of Spain, there are two ways to say “you all”: vosotros, the informal one, and ustedes, the formal one. The Canary Islands and western Andalusia use ustedes for both, as Latin America does (the Real Academia’s note). Across Latin America there is one: ustedes, for everybody. Vosotros is not used there at all.
So Uds., short for ustedes, is formal in most of Spain and simply “you all” everywhere else, while vosotros is the informal “you all” of most of Spain.
What do the forms look like?
Here is hablar, to speak, in five tenses. The vosotros column is the extra one to learn for Spain.
| Tense | vosotros | ustedes |
|---|---|---|
| Present | habláis | hablan |
| Preterite | hablasteis | hablaron |
| Imperfect | hablabais | hablaban |
| Future | hablaréis | hablarán |
| Present Perfect | habéis hablado | han hablado |
The two most common verbs follow suit: sois and estáis for vosotros, son and están for ustedes. In every tense in the table above, the vosotros verb, or its helper habéis, ends in -is, which makes it easy to spot.
Why does ustedes add no new verb forms?
The one thing to remember
Ustedes uses the same verb form as ellos and ellas. Hablan is “they speak” and “you all speak”. Vosotros is a sixth form of its own.
You can see it in any verb table. In the Latin American setting, nemiria’s tables have five rows, and the last reads ellos / ellas / ustedes: hablan, they or you all speak. Switch to Spain and a sixth row appears, vosotros: habláis, you all speak.
That is the real difference in workload. Drilling ustedes costs you nothing extra, because you learn the form for “they” anyway. Drilling vosotros means one more form in every tense.
Which pronouns go with each?
The little pronouns follow the same split. With vosotros it is os: Os gusta esta canción, you all like this song, and the reflexive os levantáis, you all get up. With ustedes it is les for verbs like gustar, and se for reflexive verbs: se levantan, they or you all get up.
One more for ustedes: when the group is the object of the verb, the one seen or called, the pronoun is los or las, and les is kept for “to you all” (the Real Academia’s note on usted). Os does both jobs for vosotros.
How do you tell a group what to do?
With vosotros, the positive command is formed from the infinitive: drop the -r and add -d. Hablar gives hablad, speak! The negative has its own form: no habléis, don’t speak!
With ustedes, one form does both jobs: hablen, speak!, and no hablen, don’t speak! In Latin America that is the command to any group, friends and family included.
How nemiria teaches this
nemiria asks once, on the home screen, which Spanish you want: Latin America or Spain. Every table, test and sentence then follows that choice, so in the Latin American setting you never see a vosotros form, and in Spain every tense has its sixth row. You can switch at any time.
Which set should you drill?
Drill the one you will use. If your Spanish is for most of Spain, drill vosotros with your friends and ustedes for formal moments. If it is for anywhere in Latin America, drill ustedes and leave vosotros for recognising.
Recognise the other. The -is ending of habláis or estáis, or a stray os, tells you someone is using Spain’s form. You will understand it without having to produce it.
Pick one and stay with it. Switching back and forth while you learn teaches you two half-sets. Settle the forms you will use first.
Read next
nemiria’s Latin America or Spain setting decides which forms you practise, and you can switch it at any time. Get it on the App Store.