AMIGOS VS FAMILIA

                                            AMIGOS VS FAMILIA

                                            Tu vs. Ud. Questions

     Ever wonder how to address your elders in spanish? Or how to greet your amigos? Depending on the person, they're will always be a certain amount of respect given in the spanish language. In english, we usually address authority figures with “Mr.” or “Ms.”, but with Spanish, it is way more complex.

     There are two different ways of speech that specify who you are talking to. When having a conversation with a friend or peer, it is always necessary to end the sentence “Tú”. This is an informal way of speech and should not be used when talking to authority figures. The same is applied when asking questions. Imagine you are meeting a new friend for the first time. They ask for your name. You would say, “´¿Me llamo ____, y tú?” By ending the sentence with “...y tú?” You are saying “And you?”. A couple of practices and you'll get the hang of it!

     Now onto to the formal way of sayings! Whenever referring to an adult or older authority figure, it is essential to ask them a question that ends with “Usted”. Simple questions such as “What is your name?” would be said in espanol like “¿Cómo se llama usted?” as opposed to its informal counter part, “¿Cómo te llamas tú?”. This applies to all older family members, teachers and other authority figures.

Just remember these simple things:

Tú=Someone around your age/peer/friend

Usted= An adult, authority figure (ex: Professora)


Try practicing here

 

   Lets take a look at the boxes below:




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Here is a video of three friends talking to one another using "Tú" and a child talking to their grandmother using "Usted".

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