Understand vos, the informal you of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay, with its verb forms and audio.
Voseo is the use of vos to speak to one person, in place of tú. It expresses closeness and familiarity. The Diccionario panhispánico de dudas of the Real Academia Española describes it as a feature of several varieties of American Spanish.
In Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, voseo is accepted by all social classes. The usual form there combines the pronoun vos with its own verb forms: vos llegás. In Chile, the verb forms of voseo are common in familiar, everyday speech, while formal speech uses tú.
In the Río de la Plata area, the vos form of a regular verb takes the stress on the ending: hablás, comés, vivís. Verbs that change their stem with tú do not change with vos.
| Tú | Vos | English |
|---|---|---|
| tú hablas | vos hablás | you speak |
| tú comes | vos comés | you eat |
| tú vives | vos vivís | you live |
| tú tienes | vos tenés | you have |
| tú puedes | vos podés | you can |
| tú quieres | vos querés | you want |
| tú eres | vos sos | you are |
The affirmative command drops the final r of the infinitive and stresses the last vowel.
| Tú | Vos | English |
|---|---|---|
| habla | hablá | speak |
| come | comé | eat |
| ven | vení | come |
| dime | decime | tell me |
| siéntate | sentate | sit down |
The object pronoun stays te. After a preposition, vos takes the place of ti. The conditional is not affected by voseo.
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| Vos te equivocás. | You are wrong. |
| ¿Cómo te llamás? | What is your name? |
| Esto es para vos. | This is for you. |
| ¿Venís conmigo? | Are you coming with me? |
| Vos hablarías con ella. | You would talk with her. |
| Spanish | English |
|---|---|
| ¿Vos sos de acá? | Are you from here? |
| ¿Qué querés tomar? | What do you want to drink? |
| Vos sabés la respuesta. | You know the answer. |
| Vení, sentate. | Come, sit down. |
| ¿Dónde vivís? | Where do you live? |
| ¿Tenés hora? | Do you have the time? |
You do not have to. Tú is understood everywhere. Learn to recognize the vos forms, so that you understand speakers from Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.
Vos speaks to one person. It is not vosotros, the plural used in Spain.
Vos tenés razón. (You are right. One person.)
Vosotros tenéis razón. (You are right. Several people, in Spain.)
Write the accent mark on the last vowel of the present-tense form.
Vos hablás muy bien. (You speak very well.)
Vos comés poco. (You eat little.)
Say each sentence in Spanish, then open it to check your answer.
Vos hablás español.
¿De dónde sos?
¿Tenés tiempo?
Vení acá.
¿Qué querés?
Este regalo es para vos.
1. Vos is used to speak to:
2. The vos form of "tú hablas" is:
3. The vos form of "tú eres" is:
4. The vos form of "tú tienes" is:
5. The vos command of "venir" is:
6. In which country is voseo accepted by all social classes?
7. Esto es para _____.
8. The object pronoun that goes with vos is:
9. "¿Qué querés?" means:
10. Vos is the same as:
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