El voseo

[Glen]

Knowing regional preferences for vos in place of tú I'm interested in trying to get good at el voseo and wonder, how many of you might have occasion to switch back & forth between the two forms - as the situation may require - and how much of a mental workout it is to recall both of the verb conjugations?

[Rusty]

I have no problem switching back and forth between the two forms. I speak with folks from different countries and am conversant in both.

[aleCcowaN]

I am native voseante and neither have problem to switch from one form to the other.

The only form of voseo that may carry some difficulties for non natives is the Chilean (including some small areas of Argentina and Perú).

Mainstream voseo is just taking the second plural from for Spain's vosotros and suppressing the i. This works with just a few exceptions. It's only considered literary in present simple and present subjunctive.

vosotros tenéis --> vos tenés
vosotros sois --> vos sos
que vosotros digáis que ---> que vos digás que

Most people also uses past simple, but it mimics a mistake made by uneducated speakers from no-voseante regions:

vosotros tuvisteis ---> vos tuvistes
Vosotros fuisteis ---> vos fuistes

No-voseante speakers who use forms like tuvistes and fuistes are adding an extra -s because they think it to be a second person mark:

eres
eras
serás
serías
fueras
fueses
fuistes

To be clear, a non-Oaxacan Mexican who says "fuistes" is undereducated. A Oaxacan or Nicaraguan who says "fuistes" is just using voseo.

Regarding Chilean voseo, it comes from Native American languages in the Southern Andes not having the vocal "u" and some of them not having neither "u" nor "e", so "tenés" was not pronounceable and became "tenís":

¿vos tenís dinero? ¿qué dicís?

[Glen]

Very interesting post, aleC and worthy of further study. El voseo is a topic I want to explore further and get good at, even though most of my contacts are from non-voseo regions of Mexico.
Would it sound strange for me as a non-native speaker to post in voseo form, just for practice?

[Aprendo]

To be clear, a non-Oaxacan Mexican who says "fuistes" is undereducated. A Oaxacan or Nicaraguan who says "fuistes" is just using voseo.

Thanks for the informative and helpful post, aleCcowaN.

You "Non-Oaxacan Mexican."

How is Oaxacan Mexican Spanish different than other parts of Mexico? (If you don't mind me asking.)

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Aprendo: Oaxaca and Chiapas are on the Central-American border, where "voseo" is used; some regions of these states also use it. :)

[Aprendo]

@Aprendo: Oaxaca and Chiapas are on the Central-American border, where "voseo" is used; some regions of these states also use it. :)

Gracias,

OK. I know where they are on the map, I just didn't know they were using Voseo that much.

P.S. - I'll be going to Nicaragua and Guatemala within 3-4 months to do lengthy Spanish study so I'm looking forward to improving my lingo.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

It's not widely used, both states are big and diverse, but there are regions where even the accents at both sides of the border sound similar. :)

Cool, have lots of fun! Learning a language in a country is an awesome experience.

[aleCcowaN]

Would it sound strange for me as a non-native speaker to post in voseo form, just for practice?

You may, if you like. I think it would be wonderful that you head those posts with "and now, a little bit of voseo". I for one avoid it, not because I think there's anything wrong with it -in fact, I think tú to be extremely old fashion, almost baroque- but to avoid stressing beginners and intermediate students with so many variations.

After all, no-one wants anyone to say "my goodness, this language is a nightmare ... I'll switch to Swahili" ;).

[poli]

Thanks! Beautifully spoken and with good information.