Why Is Vosotros Only Used In Spain?

A bit of a different aspect today on Travels Around Spain. As well as being an avid Hispanophile (yes, I did just Google what a person in love with Spain is called!), I am also a fluent Spanish speaker.

My love of the Spanish language started on a trip to the Costa Blanca with my family when I was 4 years old! Despite having only turned 4, I would say por favor and gracias to everyone I met and insisted on giving the address of the hotel to local taxi drivers.

I started learning Spanish formally at high school before continuing at the University of Manchester. For my year abroad, I moved to Peru, perfected my Spanish and on my return to the UK, decided to share my love of Spanish by becoming a teacher.

I was a teacher of Spanish for ten years in schools across the UK and the USA, so you’ve definitely come to the right place to find out the answer! Let’s delve in as to why vosotros is only used in Spain!

Short Answer

The short answer is down to Andalusia. Most of the Latin American colonists came from Spain’s southern-most region. The Andalusian dialect is one of the most distinct of Iberian Spanish and has had a big impact on Latin American Spanish and the prevalence of vosotros.

That’s also not to say that there is only one dialect spoken in Spain’s biggest region. However, there was a significant proportion of people moving to Latin America from Andalusia who did not use the vosotros form and so therefore it was never used in Latin American Spanish.

Brief History Of Vosotros

Not to get too historical here but finding out why vosotros is used in some Spain and not Latin America requires us to go back in time.

Spanish is a Romance language in that it is derived from Latin. It can be assumed that the Spanish vosotros came from the Latin vosateros, meaning you in the plural form. Very similar to vosotros, this is a good indicator of where the word came from originally.

Andalusian Spanish has always been a particular distinct variant of Spanish. Given the vast size of the region, there are even particular dialects depending on what part of Andalusia you are in.

The Impact of Western Andalusian Spanish On Latin American Spanish

Many Western Andalusian speakers replace the informal second person pronoun vosotros with the more formal ustedes making no distinction between the two. This can also be combined with the vosotros conjugation making for a strange sounding syntax for non-Andalusians.

For example, other regions in Spain would say vosotros cantáis (informal) or ustedes cantan (formal). In Western Andalusian Spanish, you may hear a combination of the two, so ustedes cantáis.

Given Andalusia provided many colonists and immigrants to Latin America around the Age of Discovery, the use of ustedes as the second person plural was brought with them with the standard conjugations being followed instead of the mix seen above.

Other Andalusian traits in Latin American Spanish are as follows:

• Deletion of the final -s
• Use of seseo (pronouncing ce and ci as an s)
• Use of yeísmo (pronouncing the ll as a j as opposed to y)
• Use of leísmo (Replacing direct object pronouns with le and les).

With such a strong Andalusian influence on immigration to Latin America, vosotros simply didn’t survive the voyage and over time has disappeared from use altogether.

The Andalusian cities of Seville, Granada and Málaga all feature on my list of 20 Places to Visit in Spain for First Timers. Find out why and be inspired for your next Spanish vacation now by reading my guide.

Where And When Is Vosotros Used?

Vosotros is used exclusively in Spain when addressing a group of people informally. It is the equivalent of saying you all or y’all in English (my American students used to love this analogy!)

To blend in with the Spanish, you’ll want to use vosotros anytime you are addressing a group of people informally instead of ustedes, which is used in Latin America. This sounds a bit too formal to Spaniards.

Vosotros Vs Ustedes In Spain

Both vosotros and ustedes are used in Spain. They are the equivalent plural versions of tú and usted. Spaniards use vosotros when speaking to a group of people informally and ustedes when addressing a group formally.

If you are a Latin American speaker of Spanish, just remember to use vosotros for a group if you would have used tú to address them individually.

How Is Vosotros Formed?

Thankfully, vosotros is not complicated to conjugate and follows a similar conjugation in each tense. Here are the conjugations of vosotros for regular verbs.

AR Verbs – Cantar Vosotros Conjugation

Tense	Conjugation
Present	cantáis
Preterite	cantasteis
Imperfect	cantabais
Future	cantaréis
Conditional	cantaríais
Perfect	habéis cantado
Pluperfect	habías cantado

ER Verbs – Comer Vosotros Conjugation

Tense	Conjugation
Present	coméis
Preterite	comisteis
Imperfect	comíais
Future	comeréis
Conditional	comeríais
Perfect	habéis comido
Pluperfect	habías comido

IR Verbs – Vivir Vosotros Conjugation

Tense	Conjugation
Present	vivís
Preterite	vivisteis
Imperfect	vivíais
Future	viviréis
Conditional	viviríais
Perfect	habéis vivido
Pluperfect	habías vivido

FAQs

Why Doesn’t Latin America Use Vosotros?

Latin America doesn’t use vosotros due to the influence of Andalusian colonists way back when. Less prevalent in Andalusia, the vosotros form was not used by the majority of Spanish-speaking settlers in the Americas and therefore disappeared from use in Latin American dialects.

Why Do Spanish Teachers Hate Vosotros?

Hate is quite a strong word for a grammatical concept. Spanish is a language spoken by around 500 million native speakers and is the official language of 20 countries. With so many people speaking Spanish across the globe, it is only natural that different dialects have evolved.

When I was a teacher, I used to teach Spanish as a world-language. Students would learn about different pronunciations across different countries and differences between Iberian and Latin American Spanish, including the use of vosotros.

Whilst my Spanish is heavily influenced by my time spent in Peru and vosotros now feels a bit jarring for me, I would still teach it as a correct form of Spanish. I imagine other Spanish teachers would be the same as there is no one dialect that is more correct than the other.

Is The Pronoun Vosotros Only Used In Spain And Argentina?

Vosotros is used in Spain but not in Argentina. As Argentina is in South America, they do not use vosotros to address groups of people informally. They do however speak a distinct form of Spanish.

This is known as Rioplatense Spanish, named after the Río de la Plata river basin. It is spoken in both Argentina and Uruguay. Two of the dialects most recognisable features are the sh sound of the ll and the use of vos in place of tú. Not related to vosotros, that is a whole other topic for a whole other blog post.

In What Country Is The Vosotros Form Used Exclusively?

Vosotros is only used in Spain. If you head to Latin America, you will hear ustedes being used as the plural 2^nd person (you). This is a little jarring to a Spaniard as ustedes in Spain is used for more formal situations. To an untrained ear, it can seem like people are being overly formal.

Do Spanish People Actually Use Vosotros?

Yes they do! This will be more surprising to American readers rather than British readers. Given the US’s close proximity to Latin America, Latin American Spanish is generally taught across the country. As the UK is closer to Spain, Iberian Spanish is more commonly taught in Britain.

Spanish people use vosotros frequently when talking and will use it to address groups of people in an informal manner. Listen out for it and you’ll hear it being used on your trip to Spain.

Do Spaniards Ever Use Ustedes?

Yes! The Spanish have two plural forms for the 2^nd person (you). They use vosotros as the plural counterpart of tú. For informal situations you’ll hear Spaniard using tú/vosotros depending on the number of people.

Where ustedes comes in is with the formality. Spanish people use usted to address people formally. Imagine it as if you’re speaking to the King of Spain (one speaks, one eats etc.). Ustedes in Spain is simply the plural version of usted. It is used as a way of addressing a group of people formally.

Do People In Spain Understand Ustedes?

Of course! Spanish people are generally very receptive to non-native speakers attempting to speak the language. They will completely understand what you mean and if you are speaking with a Latin American accent, will not bat an eyelid.

Just think of it as the same between American and British English. Words such as trash/rubbish, sidewalk/pavement and highway/motorway are used for the same things but speakers of both dialects understand each other.

Final Thoughts: Why Is Vosotros Only Used In Spain?

So, there you have it! That is why vosotros is only used in Spain. Having evolved across many years in multiple countries, Spanish was always likely to develop different dialects and ways of speaking. That’s one of the fun things about speaking a language!

Whether you are a complete beginner or starting to get confident in Spanish, I would encourage you to make the most of the opportunity to practise in Spain. Spaniards are warm and friendly people and incredibly receptive to foreigners making the effort to speak their beautiful language.

Regardless of whether you speak Iberian or a variant of Latin American Spanish, have a go and don’t be afraid. Life should be about taking chances and you might end up having an even better experience just because you made the effort to communicate in Spanish!