The second person plural
 

I noticed that people from Columbia don´t use the 2nd person plural, i.e vosotros/vosotras the way we use it here in Spain.
I´m still having a bit of a hard time reconciling their usage to what I learnt in my Spanish classes.:(
Does this happen in the rest of the Spanish speaking countries?

The 2nd person plural is not used in Latin America (Western Hemisphere). What you learned in your Spanish classes is glossed over in this hemisphere. Its use in the older versions of the Bible, though, ensures that many will understand it, but won't use it in everyday communication.

Y cabe agregar, in the Americas, they use ustedes in place of vosotros/vosotras.

Also the second person singluar informal in some areas is vos instead of tu.

In Costa Rica, they use almost exclusively usted and ustedes for everyone (no tu/vos/vosotros). I often heard little children fighting, calling each other names in usted. Or also, parents talking to their children in usted.

Agreed. I've mentioned this before. In neighboring countries to Costa Rica, they use vos instead of tu. I thought I wrote something about that conjugation, but I couldn't find it. If anyone wants more information about vos, there is sure to be something on the Internet.

Hi, I am finally making significant progress on using Spanish. I've studied it all of my life, but I made little progress until I moved to Costa Rica. I lived in Mexico in the Chapala area outside of Guadalajara for 3 years. I love Mexico, but I learned little Spanish. Too many people speak English there. In Costa Rica, I have had the opportunity to really learn. I hope to improve my Spanish greatly. I love it hear in Costa Rica. I have no plans to ever leave.

I look forward to opportunities to communicate in Spanish with other members, if possible.

Best,
Jim

This is an old thread, yet here I am replying. I speak with people here in Spanish daily. My experience is somewhat different from the others in this thread. I find vos to be used constantly by everyone. I also find the 2nd person singular is never used. It is always 2nd person plural ... and not as in Spain. 2nd person plural is used as if singular. I also find that formal and informal forms are often intermixed in the same sentence.

My friend Leonardo from Cartago told me that they make allowances for Spanish speakers from other countries, but to Ticos (Costa Ricans), the use of 2nd person singular indicates a lack of education. No one ever says <<¿Quieres tú algo?>>. It is always <<¿Quereís vos algo?>>.

However, it is correct to say <<¿Me gusta tu camisa?>>

My two cents.

Hi Jim,

The use of vos (known as el voseo) is indeed very popular in Costa Rica. Here is a link that'll help you solidify its use (the Ticos use the 'General' form).

You'll read that vos is the singular form of the second person (not the plural), and that it replaces tú, also the singular form of the second person.

The plural form is ustedes (for both the second- and third-person form of 'you'), just like everywhere else in Latin America. In those countries, no one uses the second-person plural vosotros.

You'll also see that querés is the correct spelling of 'you want'. The spelling you provided is the one used for vosotros, and it is pronounced different.

¡Divertite!

I started a thread about the voseo form when I was going to Argentina: http://forums.tomisimo.org/showthread.php?t=8240

Fun fact: Chile has different conjugations for vos.

er + ir verbs = ís

Vos tenís, vos hacís, etc...

Whereas elsewhere, er verbs become tenés, hacés, and so on.

ar verbs become ái.

hablar = Vos hablái

:)

Those conjugations for vos with the -ar verbs is interesting!

In Argentina & Uruguay, the imperative form is also different:

(tú) ven = (vos) vení
etc....

It's the same way in Nicaragua, too. I found it remarkable that the vos imperatives were so regular: remove the final -r from the infinitive and maintain the tonic accent on the last syllable. The only problem verb is ir/irse, which by the rule would be *i or *ite. When I was living in Nicaragua everyone said andá and andate instead.