Coffee Break Spanish - ‘Tú’ and ‘usted’ - How to navigate informal and formal Spanish | The Coffee Break Spanish Show 1.04

Episode Date: November 9, 2023

Welcome to another episode of the Coffee Break Show! This time, we're helping you use ‘tu’ and ‘usted’ like native speakers of Spanish. With the help of our Spanish team, you'll know how to navigate informal and formal Spanish, enabling you to communicate more naturally in the language.➡️ Click to access the blog article and worksheet which accompany this episode ⬅️ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Welcome to Coffee Break Spanish. Welcome to the Coffee Break Spanish show. I am Concha. And I'm Annab. And I'm Annab. What, Concha? Very bien. And you? I'm very well and with much ganas.

Yes? Perfecto. So in this weekly episodes, we help you improve your Spanish one sip at a time. And you might be watching us in our YouTube channel. In that case, remember to subscribe. Or maybe you are listening to the podcast version because we do both. If you are listening to us, of course, remember to subscribe to the podcast feed wherever you are listening to. Very good.

And I think in this episode you have prepared something very interesting for us. I have indeed. Yes, today we are going to be talking about the word Ustead and how to use it. So when we address someone formally or when we use address someone informally. Oh, me encanta. So, no we want to expect more. Nothing. We're going to start.

Well, we're going to be learning about. Uste and what can you tell us about it? Well, before we dive in into the meaning of Ustead, let's talk about two concepts that we use in Spanish quite a lot, which is tutio and Ustedeo. For sure. What can you tell us about tuto, Annabelle? Well, Tuteo is when you use to. That is what I do in Spanish.

Exactly. Very bien. So two is the form that we use to address someone informally, right? Can you give us a context when we would use a two? For example, I will use it with you. I would say, Concha, you can't come a moment. Exactly. So when you know someone and you address them in an informal way.

So that's Tudeo. And then we have Ustedeo, which is the same, but when we address someone in a formal way. So, for example, someone other than you and that you don't know, can you give us an example, Annabel? Well, in that case, I think it depends. For example, if I'm in a bus stop, then I see, for example, a lady or a non-lawful.

man, I would use Ustead if I want to ask for the time or the past times, for example. Okay. But if I see someone kind of like my age or even younger, you see in Ustead will sound like strange, don't you think so? Yeah, exactly. So even if you don't know that person, if it's a younger person, then we would use to anyway. So we would say something like, ah, what's how hour or saves a que in a bus. So that would be for a young person, whereas if it was an old lady, like, you know, said, what would you say?

Well, you know, what would you say? Exactly. So, that is the principal difference between you and you're in

Spain because we are both from Spain and from Madrid. Exactly, very but it gets a little bit more complicated when we go to

Latin America. So in Latin America, we use different forms for informal addressing. So we also have two, but we

have another one that we can also use. Do you know what I'm talking about, Annabelle? Well, I know both. Exactly. Very well. So in some countries, we use voice voice as tu.

For informal. However, for formal, we use Ustead generally in Latin American as well. However, in some countries like Colombia, we use Ustead for not informal, but for when we want to talk about or talk to someone in a more loving way. So, for example, if I were to ask you a favor, for example, I could say something like, Por favor, Annabelle, can't get me to the station of a train. So that is a little bit more of a please, but it's not formal, is in a loving way. Oh, yeah, nice.

I like it. I think I remember, like watching a TV show when I was younger and it was recorded or filmed in Colombia. And they used Ustead and I thought it was lovely. Exactly. Yeah, that's nice. And for us, it's a little bit confusing because hearing Ustead used in that informal way is a little strange, but it's very nice to use it in that loving way. Oh, I mean, me encaught to listen to. Yes, I'm sorry. And what happens with the plural for you? Okay, the plural will always be Usteades. So the conjugation for Ustead is used always as the plural in Latin American Spanish.

Okay, so no, you? No, Vosotros, no in Latin American. Oh, well, easy, easy. I like that. And there is one more thing. Just as a little bonus piece of information that in Spain, in a very specific region in Andalusia,

you might hear people using Usteades, but then conjugating the verb in Vosotros. So using Usteads in an informal way, but conjugating with Vosotros. Don't worry because I think this is too much for today. Maybe we can learn more about this. another day. But if you hear it, just so you know, we also use it in that way. But also something important is that it doesn't really matter if we are using Vosotros, Ustead, and we are not quite sure

how to use it because people are going to understand what you mean in the end. So that's the most important thing. Exactly. They know you're learning Spanish. They know you're making an effort. So, yeah, just try and get the message across and that's the most important thing. Yes, we're going to love the fact that you can speak with us in Spanish. Exactly. Great. Always. Well, very well.

That's all. Very well. Well, that's everything for today. Well, that's everything for today. We hope you have enjoyed this lesson. If you want to find everything that we have talked about and more examples written down, you can visit our blog. We have posted the link in the description of this episode, of today's episode.

And if you will like more help with your Spanish, remember that you can get regular free email lessons. And in order to get those, you just need to visit coffeebreaklanguages.com slash Spanish. Very well, Annabel, well, that's all. Well, thanks to you, thanks a thank you. Happy coffee breaking. You have been listening to a coffee break languages production for the Radio Lingua Network. Copyright 2023 Radio Lingual Limited.

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