Vos vs Vosotros and Vosotras: Spanish in Argentina and Spain
I recently had a conversation with someone who’d learned Spanish in Spain and was quite familiar with vosotros and vosotras. I was telling them about arriving in Argentina and realising, within days, that I needed to learn vos.
I already spoke Spanish. I could get by with what I’d learned elsewhere, but I wanted to blend in: understand people without mentally translating their conjugations, and speak the same everyday Spanish they did. That meant learning how vos sounded, how its verbs changed, and how people used it in ordinary expressions.
The similar-looking words prompted an obvious question: is Argentine vos related to Spain’s vosotros? Yes, historically. Today, though, vos addresses one person; vosotros and vosotras address a group.
Here’s how they fit together, with the conjugations and phrases I’d practise first. The Argentine examples follow the widespread Rioplatense pattern, especially associated with Buenos Aires; Argentina has regional variation too.
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Vos vs vosotros and vosotras at a glance
| Form | Who you’re addressing | Typical everyday use |
|---|---|---|
| tú | One person, any gender | Familiar singular in Spain and many other Spanish-speaking regions |
| vos | One person, any gender | Normal familiar singular in Argentina |
| vosotros | A group | Familiar plural in most of Spain; traditionally masculine or mixed groups |
| vosotras | A group of women | Same familiar plural function and verb forms as vosotros |
| usted | One person, any gender | Formal or respectful singular; still used in Argentina |
| ustedes | A group, any gender | Everyday plural in Argentina; formal plural in much of Spain |
In Argentina, the plural of vos in everyday speech is ustedes: vos tenés becomes ustedes tienen. There isn’t a feminine version of vos. You say vos sos argentino or vos sos argentina, changing the adjective to match the person.
In Spain, vosotros and vosotras share every verb form: vosotros habláis, vosotras habláis. The RAE’s entry on vosotros also notes the regional exceptions: the Canary Islands and parts of western Andalusia use ustedes for familiar groups.
Is Argentine vos formal or informal?
Argentine vos fills the familiar singular role that tú fills in much of Spain. It doesn’t occupy a fixed middle position between tú and usted. You’ll hear it with friends, family and in many ordinary interactions, including situations where you’re being polite.
Politeness doesn’t always require a formal pronoun. ¿Me podés ayudar, por favor? means “Can you help me, please?” and can be a perfectly polite request using vos.
Usted still exists for more formal or respectful address. Age, relationship, setting and the speaker’s preferences affect the choice. Listen to how people address each other, rather than assuming everyone in Argentina wants vos. The RAE describes vos as familiar or informal address.
Likewise, learning Spanish in Spain usually teaches you tú and vosotros/vosotras, not modern Argentine vos. A Spanish speaker may recognise vos from Argentine media or older literature, but it’s not the ordinary singular pronoun in Spain.
How vos and vosotros are historically related
Older Spanish used vos as a plural “you” and also as respectful address to one person. Vosotros developed from vos plus otros, with vosotras as the feminine form. Their histories overlap, although modern Argentine vos isn’t an abbreviation of vosotros.
Over time, Spanish-speaking regions developed different systems of address. Spain mostly settled on familiar singular tú and plural vosotros, alongside usted/ustedes. Argentina kept vos as familiar singular and uses ustedes for groups. The historical account hosted by Instituto Cervantes explains why treating vos as shortened vosotros gets the history wrong.
The shared ancestry also explains why some verb forms look so close: habláis / hablás, coméis / comés, vivís / vivís. That last pair even looks identical, although one addresses a group and the other a single person.
Present-tense conjugations: tú, vos and vosotros
For regular verbs, Argentine vos uses -ás, -és and -ís. Spain’s vosotros/vosotras uses -áis, -éis and -ís. Here’s the comparison with the familiar singular tú you may already know.
| Verb | Tú: one person | Vos: one person | Vosotros/vosotras: a group |
|---|---|---|---|
| hablar — speak | hablas | hablás | habláis |
| comer — eat | comes | comés | coméis |
| vivir — live | vives | vivís | vivís |
| tener — have | tienes | tenés | tenéis |
| querer — want | quieres | querés | queréis |
| poder — be able to | puedes | podés | podéis |
| venir — come | vienes | venís | venís |
| hacer — do/make | haces | hacés | hacéis |
| decir — say | dices | decís | decís |
| ser — be | eres | sos | sois |
| estar — be | estás | estás | estáis |
| ir — go | vas | vas | vais |
Many verbs that change their stem with tú don’t do so with Rioplatense vos: tienes → tenés, quieres → querés, puedes → podés. This makes the pattern easier to learn once you hear where the stress falls.
Learn sos and vas separately. And don’t assume every verb changes: tú estás / vos estás and tú vas / vos vas are identical.
Pronunciation: put the stress in the right place
The accent marks in hablás, comés and vivís tell you to stress the final syllable: ha-BLÁS, co-MÉS, vi-VÍS. Compare that with tú hablas: HA-blas.
Spain’s habláis and coméis keep two vowel sounds together in the final syllable. Argentine hablás and comés have a single vowel there. Practise the whole question: ¿Qué querés?, ¿De dónde sos?, ¿Cómo te llamás?.
Spanish b and v represent the same consonant sound, so don’t give vos an English “v”. Also, vos and sos don’t take written accents; they’re single-syllable words.
People often leave out the subject pronoun because the verb and context already identify the person: ¿Querés un café?, rather than repeating vos in every sentence. The same applies to ¿Queréis un café? in Spain.
Commands: vení, decime and sentate
Affirmative commands are the other change you’ll hear constantly in Argentina. For the usual Rioplatense pattern, remove the infinitive’s final r and stress the last vowel: hablar → hablá, comer → comé, venir → vení.
| Meaning | Tú | Vos | Vosotros/vosotras |
|---|---|---|---|
| Speak | habla | hablá | hablad |
| Eat | come | comé | comed |
| Come | ven | vení | venid |
| Tell me | dime | decime | decidme |
| Do it | hazlo | hacelo | hacedlo |
| Sit down | siéntate | sentate | sentaos |
| Go | ve | andá | id |
Adding a pronoun changes the spelling under the normal accent rules: decí + me → decime, sentá + te → sentate. Keep the stress on CI in de-CI-me and TA in sen-TA-te. Neither needs a written accent. Decímelo does.
With vosotros, a reflexive command usually drops its final d before os: sentad + os → sentaos. So the two systems differ in their pronouns too.
For “go”, Argentina commonly uses andá; learn that separately rather than inventing a command from ir.
Negative commands and other tenses
Don’t build a negative command by putting no in front of the affirmative form. Vení becomes no vengas in a widely used Argentine pattern. You’ll also hear voseo subjunctive forms such as no vengás, depending on speaker and context.
| Meaning | Argentina: one person | Spain: a familiar group |
|---|---|---|
| Don’t worry | No te preocupes | No os preocupéis |
| Don’t do that | No hagas eso | No hagáis eso |
| I hope you can come | Espero que puedas venir | Espero que podáis venir |
| You spoke | Vos hablaste | Vosotros hablasteis |
| You used to speak | Vos hablabas | Vosotros hablabais |
| You would speak | Vos hablarías | Vosotros hablaríais |
| You’re going to speak | Vos vas a hablar | Vosotros vais a hablar |
Much of what you know from tú carries across to Argentine vos, especially in past tenses and the conditional. Learn hablaste and comiste without an extra final s. For the present subjunctive, forms such as puedas and hagas are a sound starting point; recognise podás and hagás when you hear them.
The RAE’s voseo guide documents that variation. For the situations that call for the subjunctive, see my Spanish subjunctive guide.
Vos uses te and tu; vosotros uses os and vuestro
Changing tú to vos doesn’t mean changing every small word around it. Argentine vos uses te for object and reflexive pronouns, and tu/tus or tuyo for possession. After a preposition, use vos: para vos, con vos.
| Meaning | Argentina: one person | Spain: a familiar group |
|---|---|---|
| What’s your name / what are your names? | ¿Cómo te llamás? | ¿Cómo os llamáis? |
| I’ll give you the book | Te doy el libro | Os doy el libro |
| Your house | Tu casa | Vuestra casa |
| It’s yours | Es tuyo | Es vuestro |
| For you | Para vos | Para vosotros/vosotras |
| With you | Con vos | Con vosotros/vosotras |
You can say Vos te llevás tu libro — “You take your book with you.” All three forms belong together. For a familiar group in Spain, it’s Vosotros os lleváis vuestro libro. Possessives agree with the thing owned: vuestra casa has a feminine ending because casa is feminine.
Everyday Argentine phrases to practise
These are the kinds of complete phrases I’d learn before drilling an entire conjugation chart. Some are ordinary questions; others are colloquial expressions. The pronoun often stays unstated.
| Phrase | Meaning | When you’d say it |
|---|---|---|
| ¿Cómo andás? | How are you doing? | A casual greeting |
| ¿De dónde sos? | Where are you from? | Getting to know someone |
| ¿Qué hacés? | What are you doing? / What do you do? | Context tells you whether you’re asking about now or their work |
| ¿Querés un café? | Do you want a coffee? | Offering something |
| ¿Me podés dar una mano? | Can you give me a hand? | Asking for help |
| Che, ¿venís? | Hey, are you coming? | Casual speech; che gets someone’s attention |
| Dale, vení | Come on, come over | An invitation or encouragement |
| Decime | Tell me | Inviting someone to explain |
| Fijate | Have a look / check | Drawing attention to something |
| Hacé lo que quieras | Do whatever you want | A voseo command with a common tú-shaped subjunctive |
| ¡No te hagas drama! | Don’t stress about it! | Casual reassurance |
Dale has several conversational meanings, including “OK”, “go ahead” and “come on”. Its ending doesn’t make it an example of a special vos conjugation. Learn it as an expression in context.
Everyday vosotros and vosotras phrases in Spain
These examples address more than one person. If you’re speaking to a single friend in Spain, use tú forms instead.
| Phrase | Meaning | When you’d say it |
|---|---|---|
| ¿Qué tal estáis? | How are you all? | Greeting a group |
| ¿De dónde sois? | Where are you all from? | Meeting people |
| ¿Os apetece tomar algo? | Do you feel like getting something to drink? | A casual invitation |
| ¿Os venís? | Are you coming along? | Inviting a group to join |
| ¿Me echáis una mano? | Can you give me a hand? | Asking a group for help |
| Venga, animaos | Come on, go for it | Encouraging a group |
| Pasad, pasad | Come in, come in | Welcoming visitors |
| ¿Vosotras estáis listas? | Are you ready? | Addressing a group of women |
| Que lo paséis bien | Have a good time | Wishing a group well |
The matching Argentine group forms use ustedes: ¿De dónde son?, ¿Me dan una mano?, Que lo pasen bien. Changing countries doesn’t turn a group into a singular vos.
How I’d make the forms feel natural
If you’re heading to Argentina and already know tú, practise the forms that keep appearing in daily life: sos, tenés, querés, podés, vení and decime. Put them in real questions and requests, then get an Argentine teacher or conversation partner to check your stress and phrasing.
For Spain, practise talking to a group: ¿Qué queréis hacer?, ¿Os apetece salir?, ¿Venís con nosotros?. Switch to singular tú when you’re addressing one person. My Spanish-learning resources guide explains how I’d combine listening with conversation practice.
You can communicate in Argentina with Spanish learned elsewhere. But if your goal is to feel at home in everyday conversation, start using the forms people around you use. Take five sentences you already say often and practise their local versions until you can say them without stopping to conjugate.
