Vosotros vs Ustedes: Spain vs Latin America

One of the most visible differences between Spanish in Spain and in Latin America is a simple pronoun: vosotros.

In Spain, vosotros is the informal plural “you all.” In Latin America, it barely exists — ustedes handles everything. Here’s what this means in practice.

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The Two Systems

Spain

Spain distinguishes between informal and formal plural “you”:

	Singular	Plural
Informal	tú	vosotros/vosotras
Formal	usted	ustedes

• ¿Qué queréis tomar, chicos? — What do you guys want to drink?
• ¿Habláis inglés? — Do you (all) speak English?
• ¡Venid aquí! — Come here! (command, informal plural)

Latin America

Latin America uses only ustedes for all plural “you” — whether informal or formal:

	Singular	Plural
Informal	tú (or vos)	ustedes
Formal	usted	ustedes

• ¿Qué quieren tomar? — What do you guys want to drink?
• ¿Hablan inglés? — Do you (all) speak English?
• ¡Vengan aquí! — Come here! (command)

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Vosotros Conjugations

If you’re learning for Spain, you need the vosotros forms. They’re distinctive and not hard to spot:

Present tense

The vosotros present always ends in -áis, -éis, or -ís:

Infinitive	Vosotros present
hablar	habláis
comer	coméis
vivir	vivís
ser	sois
estar	estáis
tener	tenéis
ir	vais

Commands (imperative)

Affirmative vosotros commands: replace infinitive -r with -d:

• hablar → hablad — speak (y’all)
• comer → comed — eat (y’all)
• venir → venid — come (y’all)

Negative commands use the present subjunctive:

• no habléis — don’t speak
• no comáis — don’t eat

Reflexive affirmative commands drop the -d and attach -os:

• sentaros (from sentad + os, dropping the d)
• iros (go, from ir reflexive)

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Ustedes Conjugations

Ustedes uses the third person plural verb forms (ellos/ellas). No special forms needed — it’s the same as “they”:

Infinitive	Ustedes present
hablar	hablan
comer	comen
vivir	viven
ser	son
estar	están
tener	tienen

Commands for ustedes: present subjunctive third person plural:

• hablen — speak
• coman — eat
• vengan — come

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Which Should You Learn?

Learning for Latin America (most learners): focus on ustedes. Skip vosotros — you can understand it passively when you encounter it, but you won’t need to produce it.

Learning for Spain: learn both. Vosotros is used constantly in everyday speech in Spain, and not knowing it will feel awkward.

Using Hablito: the Vosotros setting in the app can be toggled on or off, so you can focus on the system that applies to your target dialect.

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Passive Understanding of Vosotros

Even if you’re focusing on Latin American Spanish, you’ll encounter vosotros in Spanish films, music, and literature from Spain. The key forms to recognize:

• Present: -áis / -éis / -ís endings
• Preterite: -asteis / -isteis
• Imperfect: -abais / -íais
• Future/Conditional: -éis / -íais

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Quick Reference

	Spain	Latin America
Informal plural “you”	vosotros	ustedes
Formal plural “you”	ustedes	ustedes
Verb form	Unique vosotros forms	3rd person plural
Command form (affirmative)	infinitive - r + d	Present subjunctive
Do you need it?	Yes, if targeting Spain	No (passive recognition only)

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