Hola a todos,
Tú and
usted both can be translated as
you in English. These are two important words of Spanish who define the person who we are talking to and our level of respect or relationship we have with the person. These two words are also going to define the way we conjugate our verbs depending on the person
Tú is used when you have a more informal relationship with the
you (the other person) For example if you are talking to a friend and want to ask this friend if he wants a coffee, you would say this:
¿(tú) quieres un café?
Remember that you don´t need to say the pronoun explicitly as the information is always in the conjugated verb, that is why it is in brackets.
Usted is used when you have a more formal relationship or there is a bigger level of respect for the
you. For example if you are talking to your boss and you have a very formal relationship you would offer him coffee by saying:
¿(usted) quiere un café?
These are some examples of people who we would direct to using
tú or
usted depending on the relationship:
Tú: friends, classmates, some relatives, co-workers, people our same age, younger people, children, etc.
Usted: boss (when there is a formal relationship), some relatives, older people, people you have just met, clients, waiters and shop assistants, etc.
If a person wants you to treat him/her more informally as
tú he/she will give you permission by saying:
tuteame, or
trátame de tú.
Saludos,
Fernanda
