What is vos and how do you use it in Latin America?

Are you familiar with the Spanish pronoun vos? Have you travelled to a Spanish-speaking country and heard people say phrases, like, ¿Cómo estás vos? Or ¿Vos cómo te llamás? Have you wondered what it is and how to use it? Some people may confuse vos with the Spanish pronoun vosotros initially, but in reality, vos is another pronoun that has the same meaning as tú. The use of vos in Spanish-speaking countries where it is used widely, either coexisting with tú or replacing it altogether, is called el voseo. Keep reading to learn more about how to use vos in Latin America!

If you need a quick refresher on informal and formal speech in Spanish, you can check this blog, which gives more examples of using usted & tú . Both tú and vos are used by Spanish speakers to say “you” in informal situations. Remember across Latin America, Spanish speakers use ustedes to mean y’all (or vosotros in Spain), and usted is for formal speech, saying “you” to someone in a formal situation. Let’s take a look at a few examples:

Informal: tú	Informal: vos	Formal: usted
¿Cómo te llamas tú?	¿Cómo te llamás vos?	¿Cómo se llama usted?
¿Cómo estás tú?	¿Cómo estás vos?	¿Cómo está usted?
¿De dónde eres tú?	¿De dónde sos vos?	¿De dónde es usted?

Across Latin America vos is widely spoken, much more so than many people imagine. According to this article by the BBC, more than 2/3 of Spanish speakers in Latin America use el voseo. Every year in the Winter and Summer, CGI travels to Costa Rica, offering Spanish immersion trips for high school students, families, adult learners, teachers and healthcare professionals. Upon arrival, many students pick up on exchanges between family members and teachers using vos. Costa Rica and Nicaragua are among the countries in Central America where el voseo is widely spoken and written, as well as in the Southern Cone countries of Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay. Check the map to see other regions where el voseo is used.

You may also notice, that in some countries vos and tú co-exist. The pronoun vos is reserved for close family and friends, and tú is for other situations of informality, like with peers or co-workers. In other countries, there are regional differences like in Colombia; in Medellín and Cali vos is widely used, but in Bogotá or Cartagena, it isn’t.

And stay tuned for our next blog to continue learning about el voseo!