In many languages, we have two words for “you”, one for formal and the other one for informal conversation. English is actually an exception, because we say always “you”. Compare this:
Tú eres María. You are Mary.
Usted es María. You are Mary.
In the first case, María could be my friend or my sister. In the second case, it is an unknown person or a mere acquaintance, and I am showing respect and putting some distance using “usted”. If you know how to speak other languages, you will notice that this is a very common feature not only in Europe, but also in the East. In languages like Japanese or Korean, it is a serious insult to address some people informally, and in some European countries, like Germany, you need to ask for permission if you want to address a person using the informal equivalent to “you”.
Going back to Spanish, notice that we say “tú eres” but “usted es”, so you need to change the verbal form (this is called “conjugation”). Whenever you conjugate a verb, you do it in this way:
Yo soy
Tú eres
Él, ella, usted es
Nosotros, nosotras somos
Vosotros, vosotras sois
Ellos, ellas, ustedes son
As you can see, we have a form for “tú” and a different one for “él, ella, usted”. This happens with any verb. For example, “hablar” (to speak):
Yo hablo
Tú hablas
Él, ella, usted habla
Nosotros, nosotras hablamos
Vosotros, vosotras habláis
Ellos, ellas, ustedes hablan
Another thing to remember is that “tú” carries an accent, because if you write “tu” without an accent, it means “your”. Look at this example:
Tú y tu hermana. You and your sister.
Tú y tu perro. You and your dog.
Of course, I can switch the phrase and say:
Tu hermana y tú. Your sister and you.
Tu perro y tú. Your dog and you.
So, “tú” means “you” and it is a personal pronoun, whereas “tu” is a possessive adjective meaning “your”.
We also need to consider the plural, when we are talking with more than one person. In this case, the informal “you” is “vosotros, vosotras” and the formal one is “ustedes”, as you can see here:
YOU
singular informal: tú
singular formal: usted
plural informal: vosotros, vosotras
plural formal: ustedes
Notice the difference!
How are you? Talking to a friend ¿Cómo estás?
How are you? Talking to some friends ¿Cómo estáis?
How are you? Talking to a teacher ¿Cómo está?
How are you? Talking to some teachers ¿Cómo están?
But to do things a little more complicated, we use “vosotros, vosotras” only in some areas of Spain, but not in Andalucía, Canarias, and Latin America. In all these regions, we only use “ustedes”, either for formal and informal conversations.
Last but not least, remember that Spanish is the official language in 21 countries, so we speak in many ways. In some countries, like Argentina, nobody uses “tú”. They use an alternative form, “vos”. The good news is that they will understand you when you say “tú” anyway.
