My name is Chris and I'm a recent college grad who is currently
planning a year abroad in Spain to teach English. I've created this blog to document my experience both before leaving and while abroad. I hope you enjoy my site, and don't forget to 
¡Ayudadme! That darn “vosotros” verb form.....
Ok, you may be wondering why I've decided to upload a picture of John Paul II to this post. After all, this isn't a Catholic blog - it's a Spain blog. Well, my loyal readers, the reason is simple. You see, this image illustrates a point. The image came from a popular pamphlet distributed by the Catholic Church in Spain and the caption of the image proves that the vosotros verb form is used quite often in Spain ("venid" and "veréis" are both verbs conjugated for vosotros). Many Americans (including myself) struggle with the vosotros form of verbs in Spanish because in the United States it is typical to teach Latin American Spanish rather than the Spanish of Spain. Since vosotros does not exist in Latin American Spanish, many students of Spanish from the USA do not learn how to conjugate verbs in the vosotros form. That's why I've decided to put together this little summary of how to conjugate verbs in the vosotros form. I figure that other Americans like myself are probably interested in studying in Spain and need to know how to conjugate verbs for vosotros in order to communicate in Spain successfully.
First, I should mention here that vosotros is the informal version of ustedes (just like tú is the informal version of usted). In other words, you would want to use vosotros when you're talking to a group of friends. Also remember that vosotros is only used in Spain (not Latin America). Now that we have that straight, I'd like to list a summary of the conjugation of vosotros below along with some simple examples of how the verb is used....
The conjugation of verbs with Vosotros as the subject:
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Vosotros vendéis (You all sell) Vosotros vivís (You all live) |
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Vosotros vendíais (You all were selling) Vosotros vivíais (You all were living) |
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Vosotros vendisteis (You all sold) Vosotros vivistes (You all lived) |
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Vosotros venderéis (You all will sell) Vosotros viviréis (You all will live) |
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Vosotros venderíais (You all would sell) Vosotros viviríais (You all would live) |
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Vosotros habléis (I want you all to talk) Vosotros vendáis (I want you all to sell) Vosotros viváis (I want you all to live) |
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OR -aseis |
OR -ieseis |
OR -ieseis |
Vosotros hablarais (I wanted you all to talk) Vosotros vendierais (I wanted you all to sell) Vosotros vivierais (I wanted you all to live) |
For simplicity's sake, I haven't included the compound tenses or irregularities above; however, you should be able to derive those tenses from the chart without much difficulty. Now, before ending this post, I also want to mention something about vosotros commands....
Vosotros commands:
Affirmative vosotros commands: These are very simple to form. You simply replace the -r of any infinitive with a -d. For example:
Hablar --> Hablad (Talk!)
Vivir --> Vivid (Live!)
Negative vosotros commands: These commands are formed by using the same endings as used in the present subjunctive (see the chart above). For example:
No habléis (Don't talk)
No vivéis (Don't live)
Ok, I know that this was a bit of a long post; but, it had to be long to give you a good review of the vosotros verb form. I hope that my chart has been helpful to someone out there... stay tuned for more!
Hasta luego,
--Chris
http://www.abroadinspain.com
Hey, I stumbled upon your website. I just got accepted for the Andalucia region this coming schoo-year. i've been thinking alot about the vosotros. Have you ever heard of the vos form? I believe it's singular (as compared to plural). Let me know what you thin. Thanks.
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Valentin - Thanks for visiting my site! To answer your questions, Vosotros is used a lot in the Central/Northern Region of Spain but I'm not sure if you'll run into it quite as much in Andalucia.... The vos form is used instead of the tú form in Argentina. It's not really used at all in Spain so I wouldn't worry about that as much if I were you. Good luck in Andalucia! --Chris
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Gracias Chris!
This list is extremely helpful. I myself was a little confused with the Vosotros when I got to Spain, because as you said, we Americans tend not to even learn it. My teachers told me to “disregard” this tense, as we “didn’t need to use it”. So, even though we knew what it was, we had been unfamiliar with practicing its usage.
If you are planning to study abroad in Spain however, it is extremely imperative to learn the Vosotros. Learning it beforehand is definitely a good way to begin your Spanish immersion.
Buena suerte!
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Jessica - You're right! Vosotros is very popular in Spain. The first time I was there I was a little "lost" too. Now I use vosotros more or less with ease... there are still times that I have to think a bit before I blurt out the right form though.... I'm sure with time I'll get used to it! Thanks for visiting my site and for your comment!
--Chris
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Hola again, Chris
Yes, the first time I was in Spain I had to think a little bit before I blurted out anything, let alone Vosotros.
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Hey Jessica,
Honestly, I don't get as much practice now that I'm back home as I would like; however, I have A LOT of good friends still in Spain and I call Spain probably three or four times a week (I use Skype, it's great). I had a Spanish girlfriend for a while so I used it all the time then... I wish I could find some type of intercambio as well! My university tried to set something like that up but it was a total bust.
Good luck to you and thanks again for visiting my site!
--Chris
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I almost forgot... I found a pretty good Spanish Grammar Review book that may help you brush up on some of the more detailed grammar points that you don't use too often. It's called "The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice". I'm sure Amazon has it... I'll post a review of it on the site in the next few days when I get a free moment.
Chris
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Hi Chris,
I'd enjoy that review, when you do find time for it
I just remembered the conjugation book that I took to Spain, it was GIGANTIC, but it did help me (and my classmates) out a lot during my studies. It’s called “The Big Red Book of Spanish Verbs”. It has 55 conjugated verbs, so it helped out with all of those irregularities that mixed me up.
I know it’s quite big, so it is not the kind of book that you want to carry around during your travels (I brought it to 3 cities, and to and from my home state) but it is quite good as a reference to leave say, on your desk at home.
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Hey Jessica,
Sorry it's taken me SOOOO long to reply... I've had a busy week and haven't had much time to update my site. I now have that book review I told you about online and you can see it HERE. I hope you, and others, find the review I wrote helpful.
Thanks for mentioning the conjugation book. I think I own the same one. It really is a great reference! (And you're right -- it's too big to carry around haha).
Thanks again for visiting my site!
--Chris
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