The most interesting topic in Spanish Dialectology: tú vs. vos in Latin America

On this channel I make videos on topics in Spanish language and linguistics. Mostly phonetics and phonology, but also dialectology, sociolinguistics, and historical linguistics. Many of my videos come from questions asked by viewers in the comment section.
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[@tenminutespanish]

There are typos in this video! Darnit! I have yet to make a video with no errors. The typos are at 14:42. The vos example words should be "cantá, comé, and viví". Because the video already has 118 views and 22 comments, I don't want to fix it and re-upload it. So, I'm pinning this comment instead.

[@eve36368]

​@@tenminutespanish you mean from the part of the vosotros commands ending in -d?

[@tenminutespanish]

@@eve36368 Ya. You're right. It's around 14:42

[@tenminutespanish]

@@davicbertiz6977 Sorry, I got the time wrong. It's around 14:42

[@davicbertiz6977]

@@tenminutespanish okay

[@RUT812]

Learn to spell. 😂

[@luckyidv6091]

Im a native Spanish speaker, and I don’t know why but I’ve been watching some videos about learning Spanish dedicated to English speakers. I truly think that you’re the best at explaining thing related to pronunciation and dialects. I wish there were channels like these but for other languages too. Greetings from Argentina 🇦🇷 💕👏🏻

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for your kind words!

[@klemo2529]

hah same

[@muhammadalkafari3743]

Che sho soy de Argentina 🇦🇷 y sho amo a nuestro casteshano che

[@andiehernandez1995]

I'm from Nicaragua. The pronoun "tú" is not used at all but we were taught at school how to conjugate it. If we committed a mistake using "tú", we got less marks, even though we NEVER use it. Unfortunately, we weren't taught how to use "vos" which is the pronoun we use (alongside the more formal "usted"). I find it quite contradictory but anyways. I just wanted to share that. I'm aware that in some schools they've started to learn about "vos" which sounds great. Hopefully it becomes more widespread.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this contribution!

[@bilbohob7179]

Go to internet and you can hear TU a lot...

[@lanapapas]

But we learn it orally through socialization. It is just as valid as learning in school.

[@Blue-jd8jf]

This frame work is exactly how it's used in El Salvador My parents from El Salvador use vos I was born in USA, and use vos

[@tenminutespanish]

Thanks for your contribution.

[@SiddharthS96]

In India, the European version of Spanish is taught, but they also teach about Latin American vocabulary. And many people use the Latin American accent since it sounds more neutral than the European one.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this contribution. I was unaware of this.

[@bilbohob7179]

it's not neutral... is a preconcept. And doesn't exist any kind of Latin american spanish. There are a lot of variations a different vocabulary in the entire América. Even in the proper Spain there are a lot of variations... I.E. the "voseo" is different in use and in speaking according to the country...

[@joshadams8761]

Linguriosa also did a great video on voseo. You are correct that conjugations vary regionally. A guy from Medellín told me that the RAE conjugations look correct, so those are a good starting point.

[@Sandalwoodrk]

It's fascinating how English and Spanish have both gone thru this same glide of 2nd p pronouns, and multiple times too. It makes me wonder if this specifically is common in languages in general. and fun fact:: There are actually a couple of dialects in norther England that still use Thou in casual speech. altho pronounced differently

[@tenminutespanish]

I didn't know that about modern thou-speaking English dialects. How do they pronounce it?

[@Sandalwoodrk]

​@@tenminutespanish it has the same vowel quality as You, but i dont know if the theta is usually voiced or not, I'm sure it varies between dialects. altho it's still used in the same way, informal singular. and there are some dialects with other historical holdovers like Tha and Thee but idk the differences, I'm no expert.

[@albayzinHCHO]

portuguese has also gone thru a 2nd-person evolution. the "tu" form isn't used in brazil and instead they use the formal address. although i'm definitely no expert. i'm sure there's much more to that story

[@potawatomi100]

Outstanding video in terms of accuracy and your narration is superb. I appreciated the researched information and background.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you! I really appreciate it.

[@TobiasBalk]

In the Rioplatense variety (central+south Argentina + Uruguay) we don't conjugate present subjunctive/negative imperative like that, we use the same conjugation as in tuteo

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for that contribution. I discuss the specifics of regional varieties of voseo in my following video on this topic.

[@ro.d6673]

En realidad, diría que usamos ambas. Porque no es raro escuchar a alguien decir "no comás", "no cantés", "no jugués" etc, aunque lo mas común es usar la forma del tuteo.

[@fernandoricci9865]

Menos mal que hablo español como lengua materna! :-) Que dificil se ve esto para un extranjero. Excelente video! Saludos desde Argentina!

[@tenminutespanish]

Gracias!

[@salierisneighbor9736]

This is the best video I've seen on this topic, thank you very much, I appreciate the historical explanations

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you!

[@santiagosancho2317]

Im a Spanish teacher from Argentina, and I do try to teach a little bit of voseo to my students, as a whole I don't think is necessary for a student to use voseo even if they come to Argentina/Uruguay/Paraguay because we understand you if you use "tú", however I do think is critical for a student to be able to hear those varients of Spanish without getting confused. It's far more useful than learning "vosotros" IMO

[@bilbohob7179]

No so much because the "voseo" is different accoding to the country... You teach "voseo argentino" useful in... Argentina, wow... and vos is vosotros used in singular person with a kind of pronuntiation reduction different according the country.... then.. if you know vosotros conjugation you know all of types of voseo... because they are the same... Magic!

[@Boss_Scaggz]

@@bilbohob7179 Rioplatense Spanish has a large enough population and a large enough body of media (literature, movies, etc.) that it is often treated as a standardized form of its own. Also, saying you know all types of voseo by knowing vosotros is a gross oversimplification imo.

[@bilbohob7179]

@@Boss_Scaggz Simplification is. But you can deduce all of them easily knowing vos-otros and if you don't, you can not swap easily among them. If you know where you come you know where you go... Does it hurt your ego?

[@Boss_Scaggz]

@@bilbohob7179 Why would it hurt my ego? What a bizarre and flippant question. The OP's comment pointed out that it's used enough to be taught on its own and I agree with that. There are subtleties that can't be deduced from just knowing the the vosotros form.

[@ItsBilly.]

15:48 I'm from Nic. 🇳🇮 and you're right man! That's how we do it! And what a shame we're not taught the use of voseo as children even though that's the way we speak. Amazing video btw.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@ItsBilly. Thank you so much for your kind words! And thanks for watching my videos even though you're a native speaker.

[@peteymax]

In Ireland we learn tu and vosotros but not vos, but it was explained briefly in a class. In English there is an accepted you plural which is ye (pronounced like ‘Yee.’). It is standard in both Hiberno-English and Scottish English, and common enough in northern England. In the Irish language (Gaeilge) we have singular and plural forms of “you”: tú/thú for singular and sibh for plural. So tu/vosotros aren’t difficult for Irish or Hiberno-English speakers. In Spain, where a lot of Irish people holiday Usted and ustedes are not used frequently.

[@sheldonfrith8258]

Perfect timing as I've just arrived in Paraguay

[@tenminutespanish]

Awesome! What are you doing there? How long will you be there?

[@sheldonfrith8258]

@@tenminutespanish Ill be here for a few months, I'm touring a few countries trying to decide where I should immigrate to.

[@sheldonfrith8258]

@@tenminutespanish On the topic of vos, I just spent 3 months in Medellin, there vos is used when guys are talking to each other because apparently using tu when talking to another guy makes you a little "marica", at least according to the locals I was hanging out with.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@sheldonfrith8258 Cool! Best of luck.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@sheldonfrith8258 Ya, I've heard similar things from other places (such as Central America) that use vos.

[@Gerard_2024]

Your knowledge of Spanish is impressively deep and probably hard-won over a very long period of time and effort. I salute you on your amazing achievement. You sound like you teach (or have taught) at university level ?

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you so much for your kind words. I taught at the university for only a couple of years as a grad student back in the 90's. My profession is actually dentsitry. But Spanish has been my daily passion for over 35 years.

[@Boss_Scaggz]

@@tenminutespanish You have a very youthful (and pleasant) speaking voice. I would've never guessed you were over the age of, say, 30.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@Boss_Scaggz You're very kind.

[@JordannGeorge]

Thank you for this and a thanks in advance for doing the variations in the future. Two large areas of Spanish I've put off delving deeper into are voseo and the Dominican accent but it's nice to see content about them every once in awhile. Although, I've only been learning for 1.5 years.

[@tenminutespanish]

You're welcome! Thanks for your support!

[@eve36368]

OMG this explained so many questions my intuition had going but I couldn't quite articulate for years. I say this because my high school taught vosotros in my first year, but then the next school year they decided to drop teaching the vosotros forms.

[@tenminutespanish]

I'm so happy you found the video useful.

[@MrDonmilo]

Please don't forget "sumercé" for "usted" too

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for reminding me. I'll make a separate video about that.

[@eiodintotalistli8448]

Sumercé. Vuestra merced. Vuesarcé. Vusarcé. Vusted. Usted.

[@mrguystarr]

Very good video on the differences between vos & tu. I'm amazed at the use and differences in common day vernacular. When I visit Honduras (my birthplace); vos is commonplace and in fact, tu, is less used from my experience. Vos is used amongst family & close friends primarily.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you!

[@christianpereira-vandervoo9396]

Didn't you have a series already about the voseo and Latin American Spanish? Is there an improved series upcoming? EDIT: I remembered correctly, there are three earlier parts in your dialectology playlist. I found them really interesting btw, as my father is from Chile and he always jokes about Chilean voseo, 'weón' and other 'chilenismos'. It's funny how Chileans are aware that many Spanish speakers find their speech incomprehensible and weird.

[@tenminutespanish]

Ya, I decided to do it over, improve it, and add to it.

[@christianpereira-vandervoo9396]

@@tenminutespanish That's great! I look forward to them.

[@miguelangelsanchezruiz9137]

I am Spanish and really enjoy your videos. Actually they help me improve my English pronounciation too (e.g. vowel reductions) and teach me a lot about my own language. Thank you!!!

[@tenminutespanish]

I'm so happy you like my content.

[@user-hq6hb2xv4n]

I'm Spanish, from Spain that is, and to me vos is simply the 2nd person plural from Latin that during the Golden Age (XVIth and XVIIth centuries) was used as a 2nd person singular pronoun as a sign of respect. Many variants were produced (vuestra merçed-》vuesamerced-》usted, vuestra excelencia-》vuencencia,etc). In the Rio de la Plata region they and done other regions this usage got "fossilized" and substituted "tú" completely while in most regions simply disappeared from normal speach. In Spain "vos" is something we hear in Golden Age theater, movies, etc...or from Argentinians

[@jorgenavarrosaenz6908]

El vos persiste en toda América, en diferentes formas.

[@anonymoushominus]

Very good video. Glad you remade the voseo video, very good explanation.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you!

[@bilbohob7179]

It's simply, vos is vosotros used in singular with a kind of reduction (different according the country) pronunciation. Moreover, vos is the 2nd person PLURAL in latin.

[@Jkohnson-db9pk]

"¡Te equivocas! ¡Así no es como voseamos en Puerto Rico! De hecho, no voseamos nada en Puerto Rico, ¡así que este video está completamente equivocado!" ¡Lo digo en broma! Y estoy de acuerdo contigo, creo que el voseo es uno de los aspectos más interesantes del idioma español/castellano. Personalmente, creo que debería enseñarse en las escuelas estadounidenses junto con los demás pronombres personales. Soy puertorriqueño-estadounidense (el inglés es mi lengua materna) y nunca voseamos. Así que rara vez voseo. ¡Pero lo aprendí porque me encanta el idioma español/castellano! ¡Buen trabajo!

[@bilbohob7179]

Supongo que aprendiste a vosear en el dialecto rioplatense... ahora puedes seguir con el chileno y los demás... Un secreto... es el vosotros con alguna clase de reducción fonética que varía según el dialecto... otro secreto el vos el pronombre de 2a persona plural en latin coincidente con el vos-otros obviamente.

[@Betadesk]

For the present subjunctive, if your not familiar with vosotros conjugations, could you derive the conjugation from the nosotros form instead? It seems to simplify both stress patterns and stem changes unless there's some wacky irregulars out there durmamos > durmás sigamos > sigás

[@martinchocoo]

Awesome video, one thing I noted is that here in Argentina (and I´d say in every other Voseo country) we don´t always use the voseo forms of a verb when using the negative imperative tense. For example: I´d say "No te vayas" instead of "No te vayás" (Don´t go). Or I´d say "No te mueras" instead of "No te murás" (Don´t die).

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for the compliment, and thank you for your contribution to the discussion.

[@thomasprieto7482]

Good explaining simplified. Thank you

[@lpc745]

In china, mostly we are taught the european spanish

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this information. I did not know this.

[@Yasmin-pi5pr]

Loved this video! So very complete!

[@tenminutespanish]

thank you. I'm so happy you liked the video

[@jamesrosemary2932]

For the present indicative tense, there is a simple rule: Take the infinitive, replace the last R with and S, and add a stress at the last syllabe. 10:13 There is another exception. "Ir" verb. In voseo this verb don't get conjugated and it's not used except in infinitive. "Andar" is used in its place.

[@bilbohob7179]

the rule for voseo ARGENTINO is simple, take the vosotros form, remove the middle "i" before s and tada!!!! but chilean voseo is different, they remove the S I think.... et voila!

[@juanangelvenega4318]

8:23 I am paraguayan, I speak with voseo in almost all cases except I don't always say "con vos" but most of the time I say "contigo"

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this insight.

[@portuguesnapratica]

Thank you 😊

[@tawan20082008]

thanks

[@tenminutespanish]

Welcome

[@kentonstuart6052]

Can you please do another video like this but mainly going over how to speak with ustedeo my family is Costa Rican and I'm planning on moving there next year so I want to learn their Spanish this video helped me so much on the voseo part but ik ustedeo is a really big part of their Spanish and I can't find a good video on it if you could make one it would really help me out thanks.

[@tenminutespanish]

Yes, I can do that.

[@nadiapitarch5870]

In Costa Rica, people use vos, usted and ustedes. Usted and ustedes conjugate like the third person, singular and plural respectively. Vos conjugates like he explained in this video. Cheers!

[@gringoglot-castellano-espanol]

The explanation at 14:36 doesnt confused me because voseo existed before vosotros, right? So saying it came from vosotros verbs seems strange. But maybe you are saying that vos used to use what today are vosotros conjugations? “Vos tenéis-> vos tenés” rather than “vosotros tenéis-> vos tenés”, right?

[@tenminutespanish]

I didn't say they came from vosotros verbs. I said they came from "verb forms that today we associate with visotros". Important distinction.

[@aynt_2065]

No soy un hablante nativo pero escuché que en ciertas regiones, vos y tu usan la misma conjugación en el subjuntivo presente. O sea vos dirías "digas" (como tú) cuando le tratás de vos a alguien, no "digás" con el estrés en la última sílaba. Pero ya que sos el experto, yo quería saber qué pensás de esto? Gracias!

[@tenminutespanish]

Tienes toda la razón. Hablaré acerca de eso en mi siguiente video.

[@aynt_2065]

@@tenminutespanish Ah okay gracias!

[@AdrianSebastianPinero]

Buena observación. Soy de Argentina y en la región donde vivo (Córdoba) usamos las dos formas. En mi experiencia la forma de voseo en el presente del subjuntivo (vos digás) es percibida como más coloquial, mientras que la forma de tuteo (vos digas) se percibe como más "correcta" o elegante. En algunos casos donde hay cambio de raíz en la conjugación (morir, sentir, dormir, querer, etc), la conjugación de tuteo (mueras, sientas, duermas, quieras) es la más usada para evitar conjugar mal el verbo y terminar en errores como muerás, duermás o sientás. En el caso del verbo querer, la forma "vos querás" no suena muy bien.

[@user-en8vb9th5v]

@@AdrianSebastianPinero fua, usó tu comentario para el video kjjj

[@user-en8vb9th5v]

@@AdrianSebastianPinero El siguiente a este, kzbin.info/www/bejne/eYHGq5WirJaCeqc Minuto 10

[@miguelramirez6352]

When he refers to "dialects of the Spanish language", he is talking about the different ways the Spanish language has evolved in different religions and countries of the Spanish speaking world including Spain, where the Spanish language has had influence by let's say Catalonian, Gallego, Andaluz y demás, as you can see even in Spain itself, the Spanish language presents different varieties, now if we talk about Latin American Spanish, it also presents a wide variety of versions (dialects) , an Argentinian does use the same Spanish a Mexican , or a Colombian, these versions of the Spanish language are similar but are not the same, they are individually different,! (Dialects). The Spanish we inherited from Spain centuries ago, and the Spanish spoken in Spain continued to evolve influenced by different aspects throughout the centuries that explains the dialects! In America the Spanish language has been influenced by the native languages like in Mexico, take a look at the vocabulary and terminology used in Mexican Spanish! One great thing to say though it's a n AWESOME thing to be able to understand one another when speaking our language even if we are from different, countries, cultures, continents!

[@khanhvo292]

I previously pointed out how your v in your vos videos sounded like an English v. I know you explained how it was for the sake of being an English demonstration, but I was curious because I’ve read a website where Argentine v and z sound like the English versions. I wanted to know if it was true, so I watched videos of Argentine Spanish. I watched some of Sergio agueros streams and he pronounces his v very much like the English v. Is that just how some people pronounce it? Thanks!

[@JulianGonzalez-th2fr]

Hi, I'm a native speaker of Spanish from Argentina. I wouldn't say we use the same English phonemes for V (/v/) and Z (/z/), at least not that I'm aware of. V is just like B and Z like the letter S (always /s/). Good luck and keep it up ;)

[@pablorai769]

I am from Uruguay and was taught at 4th, 5th and 6th grade in school to pronounce b and v as b, but, having been previously taught at my Italian school to differentiate between them and since my mother was Italian, I pronounce v and b as in English.

[@nadiapitarch5870]

Nope. V sounds as B, and Z sounds like S.

[@someonerandom704]

Hay algún acento que usa voseo y vosotros juntos? Quizá se confundirían las conjugaciones porque usualmente solo hay una vocal i para diferenciar

[@tenminutespanish]

No. Que yo sepa, el vosotros sólo se usa en España, y el vos sólo se usa en Latinoamérica. Y por lo tanto, no existe ningún dialecto que use los dos.

[@nadiapitarch5870]

No.

[@bilbohob7179]

@@tenminutespanish En España se usa el "vos reverencial" cuando se hace referencia a épocas pasadas. Esto es usar la conjugación de 2a persona plural en singular... Así que si lo puedes ver en España pero no de forma coloquial o generalizada...

[@tenminutespanish]

@@bilbohob7179 Gracias por esta información.

[@annamueller253]

I‘m from Germany and over here we are only taught the version from spain (tú y vosotros (y usted)) (and not vos and ustedes)

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this input. I suspected that in Europe, the variety taught in school was the Spain variety.

[@ahascool]

Why is Usted not mentioned in the video? How does it compare to the use of vos in the evolution you describe?

[@tenminutespanish]

Usted is not mentioned, because it's a different topic. Tú and vos are comparable friendly/familiar forms of address. Tú is friendly/familiar in some places while vos is friendly/familiar in others. Usted is formal. That's a different topic. I have several other videos on second person address, including tú, vos, usted, ustedes, and vosotros in this playlist: kzbin.info/aero/PL3ULFTl2_RyOLLw58kWm2TKGAuqrA50fA&si=BePmf-Kw_hMEB255

[@NoahSteckley]

Is it not a more succint model to claim that stress splits some Spanish vowels into diphthongs? Thus when the stress moves off the vowel collapses back to original monophthong

[@tenminutespanish]

Certainly. This is accurate and true. I explain it the way I do because I presume that some significant percentage of my viewers are novices, and their knowledge is limited to what they've learned in introductory courses about stem changing verbs.

[@cabarete2003]

I knew vos existed...but never really dealt with it. I was calling Argentina doing surveys for Mary Kay. Usually a woman would answer, but one time a man answered. I asked for the lady I was looking for. He said "Por qué llamás?" And I was like...what? And he repeated it. I still didn't get it. Then he said, with an Argentine accent, "por qué estás llamando" and I was like...OOOOOhh. I laughed and laughed and laughed (see The Young Ones for that reference). But ya it was a new experience for me.

[@tenminutespanish]

Very interesting experience. Ya, we don't teach vos in school or university in the US, so if you don't live in a vos-speaking place, you may never even hear of it. I had a pen pal from Argentina when I was in high school who only used vos, so I learned about it, but my high school Spanish teacher (whose Spanish was very good) couldn't help me with it.

[@eiodintotalistli8448]

Para un angloparlante no tiene caso aprender algo gramaticalmente incorrecto.

[@nadiapitarch5870]

@@eiodintotalistli8448 vos serás gramaticalmente incorrecto. 🤭

[@awbinn3377]

I am from Europe and here they don't mention that at all. Moreover, they don't even mention that 'vosotros' isn't used outside Spain. For the last few years I've had a tutor who's Venezuelan & had he not too me about Ustedes I would not have known that. Let alone about TU vs VOS

[@tenminutespanish]

How interesting. Thanks for contributing. I have a whole series on usted and ustedes if you're interested.

[@arloucantela1325]

Can't distinguish if those spanish verbs which i had studied four years in high school were voseo or tuteo. If Spain uses tuteo and voseo then those might be what i had conjugated but can't remember them now.

[@tenminutespanish]

In ordinary daily communication, Spain uses tú and vosotros. Spain does not ordinarily use vos. The verb forms of vos are derived from the verb forms that are today associated with vosotros, but they've been changed over time. So, if you learned the forms in common use in Spain, you learned tú and vosotros, not vos.

[@maki9462]

This is off topic but I can’t find many sources for the pronounciation of spanish ‘f’. Is it labiodental like english, or bilabial? Does it vary between dialects? Thank you.

[@tenminutespanish]

Just like English. No variation I'm awake of.

[@lingo4048]

@1:19 VOS could be pronounced either [bos] (betacismo) or [vos] (dentilabial) so you can never be right 😂

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for commenting. I agree with you to a point. Here's my counter argument: In standard Spanish, the [v] sound (dentilabial) only exists as an allophone of /f/ before a voiced consonant. /v/ doesn't exist as a standard Spanish phoneme, and it isn't an allophone of /b/. (Notice my emphasis of "standard" in "standard Spanish") So, in standard Spanish, [v] cannot appear in the phonetic context of the word "vos". Granted, Spanish speakers pronounce [v] in various contexts for various reasons, but in normal natural speech, natives rarely pronounce vos with [v]. I have a whole video on the pronunciation of , including a short historical discussion of betacism: kzbin.info/www/bejne/pKTFiWpnq7Knn9E

[@lingo4048]

@@tenminutespanish Thanks. Your video on Chile (kzbin.info/www/bejne/fYmciqprYpZ5Y9k) says that V is a dentilabial / labiodental. Could you please make a list of dialects with V [v], that would help.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@lingo4048 In the video I linked for you earlier, I explained why some native Spanish speakers variably pronounce as [v], particularly when reading aloud. It's too much to write out here. I recommend watching that video.

[@albertodominguez4106]

They are not dialects of Spanish; it is Spanish, nothing more. To say or write that there are dialects of Spanish in Latin America demonstrates a complete lack of knowledge of the Spanish language, its roots, its evolution, etc. One must know before attempting to explain

[@tenminutespanish]

People frequently respond to my videos saying that Spanish has no dialects. I made a whole video addressing that complaint. Here's the link. kzbin.info/www/bejne/bofGhp2so7yjo5Ysi=h8rm5pzi3GXz7z0A