2nd Person in Mexican Spanish

[Tyrn]

Hi,

I keep on reading It by Stephen King translated by an Argentinian translator. 3/4 is under my belt . os, -éis, vosotros is used just as you might expect according to the mainstream grammar books.

I asked already something tangential: Refrénese, hijo. This is very much intuitive (for a Russian speaker, come to think of it ).

Is there a geography about where they use 2nd person and where they don't? The grammar books make me scary, they make a lot of warnings, but the texts I read don't

What about Mexico lindo I hope to visit some day?

[wrholt]

There is a good amount of regional variation in whether or not native speakers use both formal and informal 2nd-person pronouns and which pronouns they use.

Most people in Spain use "usted" and 3rd-person singular verbs when they talk with one person and they must be respectful toward that person, and they use "ustedes" and 3rd-person plural verbs when they talk with a group of people and the must be respectful toward them. The rest of the time they use "tú" and its associated 2nd-person singular verbs when talking with one person and use "vosotros/vosotras" and its associated 2nd-person plural verbs when talking with a group of people.

In the rest of the Spanish-speaking countries almost everyone uses only "ustedes" and 3rd-person plural verbs when they talk to a group of people. There are regional differences when talking to only one person.

The most common way to talk to only one person is the same as in Spain: use "usted" when one must be respectful, and use "tú" with everyone else. Everyone understand this usage, and it is acceptable everywhere. However, as a non-native visitor, it is safest to start by using "usted", and change to using "tú" if the other person starts using "tú" towards you OR wait until that person asks whether to use "tú".

In some places many people prefer to use the pronoun "vos" and vos-specific verb forms instead of using "tú". However, everyone in these places understands "tú" and its verb forms, and everyone expects that non-native speakers will use "tú" unless they have spent a lot of time living or visiting that area.

In a few places some people always use "usted" when they talk with one person, even their closest friends, children and pets. They always understand "tú" and its verb forms, and they expect non-native speakers and native speakers from other regions or other families to use "tú" when there is no requirement to be respectful.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I agree with Wrholt.

In Mexican Spanish, we only use "tú"/"ustedes" for people we don't speak formally, and "usted"/"ustedes" for people we speak formally.

- ¿Me puedes decir qué hora es? / ¿Me puede (usted)* qué hora es? / ¿Me pueden decir qué hora es?

*In singular we often ask with an explicit pronoun, because it's more polite when talking formally, and also to avoid ambiguity with the third person singular.
Also, to be even more polite, we add "por favor" in the middle of the sentence in all cases: "¿Me puedes/puede/pueden decir, por favor, qué hora es?"

- ¿Cómo te llamas? / ¿Cómo se llama (usted) / ¿Cómo se llaman (ustedes)?
- Dame un abrazo. / Déme (usted) un abrazo. / Denme un abrazo.
- Tú no eres de fiar. / Usted no es de fiar. / Ustedes no son de fiar. (You can't be trusted.)
- Ya sé que a ti te gusta la coca-cola. / Ya sé que a usted le gusta la coca-cola. / Ya sé que a ustedes les gusta la coca-cola. (I already know you like coca-cola.)