A second informal pronoun used instead of tú in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and much of Central America. It has its own verb forms: vos tenés, vos podés, vos sos. Tú is understood everywhere, so you can get by without producing vos, but you will hear it constantly in those countries.

How does this compare with French tu and vous?

The social logic is similar, but the grammar is not. French vous takes its own second-person plural forms; Spanish usted takes third-person forms, which feels stranger. And Spanish varies far more by country than French does.

How do I ask to switch to tú?

¿Nos podemos tutear? or ¿Me puedes tutear? Spanish has the verb tutear for exactly this, as French has tutoyer. As with French, the older or more senior person conventionally offers, and accepting is expected.

Which one to useA2

Tú vs usted

The short answer

Usted is the polite form for someone you have just met, someone older, or anyone in a professional role, and it takes third-person verb endings. Tú is for friends, family and peers. How readily people switch to tú varies enormously by country.

At a glance

Tú or Usted?

Compare	TúFamiliar. Second-person verbs.	UstedPolite. Third-person verbs.
Verb form	hablas, tienes, eres	habla, tiene, es
Who it is for	Friends, family, peers, children	Strangers, elders, professional contexts
Plural in Spain	vosotros: informal	ustedes: formal
Plural in Latin America	ustedes: for everyone	ustedes: for everyone
Possessive	tu casa	su casa
Object pronoun	te	le / lo / la

How to choose

Ask these, in order

1
Have you just met this adult, or are they noticeably older?
Usted. It is never rude, and it is easy to switch down later.
¿Cómo está usted?
How are you?
2
Are they a friend, a peer, or a child?
Tú.
¿Tienes un momento?
Have you got a minute?
3
Are you addressing more than one person?
In Spain, vosotros for informal and ustedes for formal. In Latin America, ustedes for both.
¿Vosotros venís? ¿Ustedes vienen?
Are you coming? Spain first, then Latin America.
4
Which country are you in?
It matters more here than in French. Colombia and Costa Rica use usted very widely; Spain and Argentina switch to tú quickly.
In Bogotá, usted is common even between friends.
Regional norms outweigh the textbook rule.

Side by side

Each one, in full

Tú

When to use usted

Familiar. Second-person verbs.

Usted is the default with anyone you do not know, anyone significantly older, and in shops, offices and any professional setting. It takes third-person singular verb forms, which is the part learners find hardest: usted habla, not usted hablas.

Its possessive is su and its object pronoun is le, which means the whole sentence shifts, not just the pronoun. ¿Le puedo ayudar? and ¿Puedo ayudarle? are both standard ways to offer help formally.

¿Podría usted repetir eso, por favor?

Could you repeat that, please?

Perdone, ¿sabe dónde está la estación?

Excuse me, do you know where the station is?

¿Cuál es su nombre?

What’s your name?

NBSu, not tu, the possessive follows the pronoun choice.

Usted

When to use tú, and the plural question

Polite. Third-person verbs.

Tú covers friends, family, colleagues you know, and children. It takes ordinary second-person endings, and its possessive is tu: without an accent, unlike the pronoun tú, which has one.

The plural is where Spanish varies most. Spain keeps a full four-way system: tú, vosotros, usted, ustedes. Latin America has dropped vosotros entirely and uses ustedes for every plural, formal or not, which means a learner of Latin American Spanish never needs the vosotros forms at all.

¿Vienes con nosotros?

Are you coming with us?

¿Vosotros habéis comido?

Have you eaten? Spain, informal plural.

¿Ustedes han comido?

Have you eaten? Latin America, any register.

Mistakes to avoid

What learners actually get wrong

¿Usted tienes tiempo?
¿Usted tiene tiempo?
Usted takes third-person verb forms. Choosing the right pronoun and then keeping the tú conjugation is the most common error, and it is more noticeable than getting the pronoun wrong in the first place.
¿Cuál es tu nombre, señor?
¿Cuál es su nombre, señor?
The possessive has to match the pronoun. Señor sets a formal register and tu contradicts it, which makes the mismatch stand out.
¿Vosotros venís esta noche?
¿Ustedes vienen esta noche?
Vosotros exists only in Spain. In Latin America it sounds archaic or biblical, and the verb forms that go with it are not used at all outside Spain.
¿Podría usted pasarme la sal?
¿Me pasas la sal?
Said to a friend at dinner, usted creates distance rather than showing respect. It is never rude, but it is not neutral either, and in Argentina or among younger Spaniards it will be noticed. Listening to how you are addressed beats applying a rule.

Questions

Asked and answered

What is vos?: A second informal pronoun used instead of tú in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and much of Central America. It has its own verb forms: vos tenés, vos podés, vos sos. Tú is understood everywhere, so you can get by without producing vos, but you will hear it constantly in those countries.
How does this compare with French tu and vous?: The social logic is similar, but the grammar is not. French vous takes its own second-person plural forms; Spanish usted takes third-person forms, which feels stranger. And Spanish varies far more by country than French does.
How do I ask to switch to tú?: ¿Nos podemos tutear? or ¿Me puedes tutear? Spanish has the verb tutear for exactly this, as French has tutoyer. As with French, the older or more senior person conventionally offers, and accepting is expected.

Keep going

Ser vs estarA2Ser says what something is: identity, origin, profession, material, time.