# vos conjugation



## Jenawen22

Hello!

I would like to find a guide to conjugating verbs in the "vos" tense used instead of "tu" in many areas of South and Central America. I have looked in several places on the internet but have not found much information beyond the conjugations for "vos" in the present tense.  I am especially interested in seeing how "vos" is conjugated in the preterit tense. Can any one help?

Hola!
Me gustaria encontrar una guia a conjugar los verbos por "vos" (lo que se usa en lugar de tu en algunas partes del sur y central america).  He mirado muchos sitios de internet pero sin encontrar nada mas que el "vos" el tiempo presente.  Estoy especialmente interesada en ver como conjuega "vos" en el tiempo preterito.  Alguien me puede ayudar?

Muchas gracias!
Jenn


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## Chessia

Vos te morías por ella
Vos trabajabas para mí
Ayer que te ví, vos llevabas unos pantalones muy chéveres


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## Chessia

Vos has estado enfermo la semana entera, no podés ir
Vos has hecho eso antes, así que enseñáles cómo hacerlo
Si me hubiéras hecho caso, vos estarías riéndote de la vida


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## Jenawen22

Thanks for the help! Could you show me one in the preterit? For example, can you change this from tu into vos:
"Como te amaneciste hoy?"


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## Chessia

Es ¿cómo amaneciste hoy?
No metés el vos por ninguna parte, a menos que le estés preguntando a varias personas y digas ¿y vos, cómo amaneciste hoy?

En "tú" form, sería ¿y tú, cómo amaneciste hoy?


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## Jenawen22

As I understand, you conjugate the verb differently for vos than you would for tu. However I am not seeing this reflected in your answers.  I thought vos was more than just another word for tu?


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## Chessia

Lo que sucede es que vos me estás pidiendo  q te traduzca oraciones utilizando específicamente la palabra"vos", no el lenguaje completo de vos. Muchas cosas son comunes, por ejemplo, "poder", "mirar", "notar" etc., cambia.
Tú pedes ir por ese camino y si miras hacia la izquierda, puedes ver el horizonte...
Vos podés ir por ese camino y si mirás hacia la izquierda, podés ver el horizonte/notás que el horizonte......


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## Chessia

Cuando tú eras un niño, te asustaban las brujas
Cuando vos eras un niño, te asustaban las brujas
Podés omitir en ambos caso el tú/vos y siempre va a tener sentido. Muchas veces basta sustituir el tú por el vos, pero no siempre.


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## Jenawen22

That makes it a bit more clear. Thank you!


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## Chessia

You´re very welcome 
We speak using "vos" here in El Salvador. Feel free to ask me whatever you need by privet messages. Have a nice day


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## Tango2008

It is possible that the use of "vos" is not the same all over our countries. In my land (Buenos Aires - Argentina) we use it "almost" like the Spaniards would use it for Vosotros but without the last i.

Vos tenés (Vosotros tené*i*s)    Tu tienes
Vos tomás (Vosotros tomá*i*s)   Tu tomas
Vos vas (Vosotros vá*i*s)          Tu vas   

In fact Vos is the singular of Vosotros so it makes sense for them to have somehow related spelling. I'm pretty sure there will be some exception to this rule but for the most part you can follow it and be confident it is right. One exception I can tell you is for those verbs (3rd conjugation - regular verbs ending en "ir") where the vosotros conjugation ends in "consonant+is" (like Vostros salís). In that case both have the same conjugation (Vos salís)  

Pedir:  Vos Pedís - Vosotros Pedís
Parir:   Vos París  - Vosotras París  [It cannot be vosotros here, men cannot give birth  ]


I cannot tell you if in other places where the Vos is used, the same rule applies. 

Cheers,

Tango2008


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## Tango2008

To clarify: My previous post refers *only *to the Present Tense

Tango2008


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## bgiorno

Otra manera que te puede ayudar a entenderlo es quitando la *'r'* al verbo en infinitivo y colocando el acento en la última vocal seguida de una '*s'. *O sea:
Tomar: Tú tomas, vos tom*ás*
Tú temes, vos tem*és*
 Tú tienes, vos t*e*n*és (*la i desaparece)
           Tú sales, vos salís  (salir)
Command:
Al infinitivo le quitás la *'r"* del final y pones el acento en la última vocal.
Sal, sal*í*  (salir)
Corta, cort*á*
*Excepción, veerbo (ir)*
*Vete, andate (acentuado en la segunda 'a'*
Espero que te ayude a entender algo.  Saludos.


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## Tango2008

The rules for the "Vos" conjugation for the past tenses are different than those for the present. It is juts the same as the ones for Tu and maybe that explains why there is no much literature about it.

Tu amabas = Vos amabas
Tu tenías = Vos tenías
Tu ibas = Vos ibas

Tu cantaste = Vos cantaste
Tu perdiste = Vos perdiste
Tu pediste = Vos pediste

Tu habías pagado = Vos habías pagado
Tu habías comido = Vos habías comido
Tu habías fingido = Vos habías fingido

As for the future, we don't conjugate the main verb by itself but use what some linguistics call the future perifrastic (the verb ir (to go) plus the infinitive of the main verb)

Tu caminarás = Vos vas a caminar (you are going to walk)
Tu temerás = Vos vas a temer (you are going to be afraid)
Tu mediarás = Vos vas a medir  (you are going to measure)

The imperative is a complete different animal though

(tu) Sal de aquí = (vos) Salí de aquí
(tu) Come eso   = (vos) Comé eso
(tu) Limpia el cuarto = (vos) Limpiá el cuarto
(tu) Consigue dinero = (vos) Conseguí dinero
(tu) Conduce con cuidado = (vos) Conducí con cuidado

As you can see, in general, the imperative using Vos, leads to words accented in the last syllable (acute) while Tu uses mostly grave words.
So, what is the rule.?  I'm making this up right now but I can see a pattern here. 


(vos) Salí de aquí = (vosotros) Salid de aquí 
(vos) Comé eso =(vosotros) Comed eso
(vos) Limpiá el cuarto = (vosotros) Limpiad el cuarto
(vos) Conseguí dinero = (vosotros) Conseguid dinero
(vos) Conducí con cuidado = (vos) Conducid con cuidado

It seems like the imperative of Vos is the same as the one for Vosotros but without the ending "d" (the accent appears simply because of the Spanish rules regarding how and when to use them). As I said, I just saw this pattern and may not be "the" rule. 

Once again, bear in mind that I'm describing the way the Vos is used in Buenos Aires - Argentina. 

Cheers,

Tango2008


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## Marcela

The _Panhispánico de Dudas_, apéndice I, Modelos de conjugación verbal. 
You have them all there, regular and irregular. You'll find the vos between brackets after the tú.  
amas (amás)


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## Tango2008

Thanks Marcela!  

Una pregunta: Es común en Uruguay usar Tu con la conjugación de Vos? Yo recuerdo haber escuchado gente decir "tu tenés" o "tu salís" pero nunca supe si era una forma generalizada, si solo unos pocos lo usan o si es un "montevideanismo"

Gracias


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## Marcela

Sí, está muy generalizado. Es común usar tú como pronombre y el verbo conjugarlo con el vos. Creo que el uso no se limita solo a Montevideo. Y si de generaciones se trata, me animaría a decir que los más jóvenes lo usan todos así.


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## AlwaysLearning1

In case anyone is still looking, there are more sites available with information. wwwdotstudydashspanishdotcomforwardslashconjugatingdashvosdotcom.

I was doing the same search just now when I came across this discussion and the site above. Hope that helps.

-A.L.


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## clevermizo

It's interesting to see that in Argentina, even though typically you conjugate the present tense _vos_ more like the form for _vosotros_ (i.e., final s, stress shift, though loss of _i_), the past tenses are unaffected. My mother has consistently said _tu cantastes_ all her life (she's from the greater area of Bogotá) and I had to train it out of myself when I studied Spanish formally.

This addition of _-s_ in the preterite I can only assume has to do with a _voseo_-style conjugation, which is prevalent in parts of Colombia to my knowledge. It extends the conjugation prevalent in Argentina to the past tense as well. The _imperfecto_ is unaffected because there is no stress shift and loss of _i_ would result in the same form as tu:

_vosotros _cantasteis > _vos(tu?) _cantastes
_vosotoros _cantabais > _vos _cantabas (= _tu _cantabas)

Curious the variation this can take. Of course historically speaking all the _voseo_ forms should be identical to the _vosotros_ form anyway, because using _vos_ instead of _tu_ originated the same way that _vous_ is used for formal singular in French, despite the fact that _vos_ is no longer a formal conjugation (to my knowledge), and wherever it is used, it contrasts with _usted_.

Or is that the case? Does any part of the Spanish speaking world contrast _tu/vos_ for _familiar/formal_ instead of _tu,vos / usted_ ?


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## zumac

clevermizo said:


> It's interesting to see that in Argentina, even though typically you conjugate the present tense _vos_ more like the form for _vosotros_ (i.e., final s, stress shift, though loss of _i_), the past tenses are unaffected. My mother has consistently said _tu cantastes_ all her life (she's from the greater area of Bogotá) and I had to train it out of myself when I studied Spanish formally.
> 
> This addition of _-s_ in the preterite I can only assume has to do with a _voseo_-style conjugation, which is prevalent in parts of Colombia to my knowledge. It extends the conjugation prevalent in Argentina to the past tense as well. The _imperfecto_ is unaffected because there is no stress shift and loss of _i_ would result in the same form as tu:
> 
> _vosotros _cantasteis > _vos(tu?) _cantastes
> _vosotoros _cantabais > _vos _cantabas (= _tu _cantabas)
> 
> Curious the variation this can take. Of course historically speaking all the _voseo_ forms should be identical to the _vosotros_ form anyway, because using _vos_ instead of _tu_ originated the same way that _vous_ is used for formal singular in French, despite the fact that _vos_ is no longer a formal conjugation (to my knowledge), and wherever it is used, it contrasts with _usted_.
> 
> Or is that the case? Does any part of the Spanish speaking world contrast _tu/vos_ for _familiar/formal_ instead of _tu,vos / usted_ ?


Your mother was correct. Somehow you have picked up some strange ideas while studying Spanish formally. Example:

_vosotros _cantabais > _vos _cantabas (= _tu _cantabas)

Vosotros, only used in Spain, is the *plural* of "tu." Therefore, there cannot be an equivalent using "vos", which is strictly singular.

You also said that the voseo form should be identical to the vosotros form. Again, because voseo is singular and vosotros is plural, these forms cannot be identical.

Some food for thought. In countries that use the voseo form exclusively, do they ever, and under what circcumstances, use "tu"?

Saludos.


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## slazenger14

También se utiliza el pronombre "vos" en vez de "ti". 
Ella se enamora de vos. 
Tengo que trabajar por vos.


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## VivaReggaeton88

slazenger14 said:


> También se utiliza el pronombre "vos" en vez de "ti".
> Ella se enamora de vos.
> Tengo que trabajar por vos.



Tenés razón, es un concepto muy importante.


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## clevermizo

zumac said:


> Your mother was correct. Somehow you have picked up some strange ideas while studying Spanish formally.



I don't know about correct, but "tu cantaste" and not "tu cantastes" is the formal conjugation for tu, is it not? My mother says, "tu cantastes" and she never uses the pronoun _vos_.  I said I thought this was related to "vos" used in parts of Colombia, but I'm not sure. Anyway, "tu cantastes" is not standard Spanish, to my knowledge. When studying Spanish formally, I had to learn to say "cantaste" and "hablaste" because I was so used to saying "tu cantastes" and "tu hablastes." I doubt you would say that is "standard" Spanish.



> Vosotros, only used in Spain, is the *plural* of "tu." Therefore, there cannot be an equivalent using "vos", which is strictly singular.
> 
> You also said that the voseo form should be identical to the vosotros form. Again, because voseo is singular and vosotros is plural, these forms cannot be identical.


You again, misunderstand. _Vos_ conjugation descends from the same verb form as _vosotros_, historically speaking. Originally there was no pronoun "vosotros". The original plural of _tu_ in Spanish was simply _Vos_ (cognate with _vous_ in French). Similar to French, _voseo_ began using the _vos_ form (plural) to mean the singular in formal situations. 

Eventually _vos_ became so commonly used as a singular, that _vosotros_ was invented (organically of course) to become a new plural for _tu_ or _vos_. The origin of the word _vosotros_ is analogous to the creation of dialect English forms like _yous(e), y'all, etc._ Most cognates in Romance languages do not have this complex form (vous, voi, &c., though Catalan has vosaltres).

My whole point is the conjugation of _voseo_ was originally the same as the conjugation of _vosotros_, only as far as I can tell the -i vowel is always dropped, probably as a natural consequence of rapid speech.


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## VivaReggaeton88

clevermizo said:


> I don't know about correct, but "tu cantaste" and not "tu cantastes" is the formal conjugation for tu, is it not? My mother says, "tu cantastes" and she never uses the pronoun _vos_.  I said I thought this was related to "vos" used in parts of Colombia, but I'm not sure. Anyway, "tu cantastes" is not standard Spanish, to my knowledge. When studying Spanish formally, I had to learn to say "cantaste" and "hablaste" because I was so used to saying "tu cantastes" and "tu hablastes." I doubt you would say that is "standard" Spanish.
> 
> You again, misunderstand. _Vos_ conjugation descends from the same verb form as _vosotros_, historically speaking. Originally there was no pronoun "vosotros". The original plural of _tu_ in Spanish was simply _Vos_ (cognate with _vous_ in French). Similar to French, _voseo_ began using the _vos_ form (plural) to mean the singular in formal situations.
> 
> Eventually _vos_ became so commonly used as a singular, that _vosotros_ was invented (organically of course) to become a new plural for _tu_ or _vos_. The origin of the word _vosotros_ is analogous to the creation of dialect English forms like _yous(e), y'all, etc._ Most cognates in Romance languages do not have this complex form (vous, voi, &c., though Catalan has vosaltres).
> 
> My whole point is the conjugation of _voseo_ was originally the same as the conjugation of _vosotros_, only as far as I can tell the -i vowel is always dropped, probably as a natural consequence of rapid speech.



In Venezuela the conjugation is the same as Vosotros.


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## zumac

clevermizo said:


> I don't know about correct, but "tu cantaste" and not "tu cantastes" is the formal conjugation for tu, is it not? My mother says, "tu cantastes" and she never uses the pronoun _vos_. I said I thought this was related to "vos" used in parts of Colombia, but I'm not sure. Anyway, "tu cantastes" is not standard Spanish, to my knowledge. When studying Spanish formally, I had to learn to say "cantaste" and "hablaste" because I was so used to saying "tu cantastes" and "tu hablastes." I doubt you would say that is "standard" Spanish.
> 
> You again, misunderstand. _Vos_ conjugation descends from the same verb form as _vosotros_, historically speaking. Originally there was no pronoun "vosotros". The original plural of _tu_ in Spanish was simply _Vos_ (cognate with _vous_ in French). Similar to French, _voseo_ began using the _vos_ form (plural) to mean the singular in formal situations.
> 
> Eventually _vos_ became so commonly used as a singular, that _vosotros_ was invented (organically of course) to become a new plural for _tu_ or _vos_. The origin of the word _vosotros_ is analogous to the creation of dialect English forms like _yous(e), y'all, etc._ Most cognates in Romance languages do not have this complex form (vous, voi, &c., though Catalan has vosaltres).
> 
> My whole point is the conjugation of _voseo_ was originally the same as the conjugation of _vosotros_, only as far as I can tell the -i vowel is always dropped, probably as a natural consequence of rapid speech.


Clevermizo,
When your mother says "tu cantastes", she is wrong, and so am I for saying that she was correct. However, she is very close to being correct, because according to the RAE, the voseo used in Colombia has these variations:
1) vos cantastes
2) tu cantaste (alternate tuteo form)

According to this, cantastes is correct when used with vos, and cantaste is correct when used with tu.

The rest of your dissertation about the origins of vosotros, is over my head, and actually sounds a bit like folklore. 

Saludos.


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## VivaReggaeton88

zumac said:


> Clevermizo,
> When your mother says "tu cantastes", she is wrong, and so am I for saying that she was correct. However, she is very close to being correct, because according to the RAE, the voseo used in Colombia has these variations:
> 1) vos cantastes
> 2) tu cantaste (alternate tuteo form)
> 
> According to this, cantastes is correct when used with vos, and cantaste is correct when used with tu.
> 
> The rest of your dissertation about the origins of vosotros, is over my head, and actually sounds a bit like folklore.
> 
> Saludos.



The correct preterite tense for tú would be "cantaste", and for vos would be "cantastes". However, even with the vos pronoun, cantastes is rarely heard. It is however a *very common error* for native speakers to say "¿A dónde fuiste*s *tú?" and "¿Qué comistes?".


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## ElAjedrezEsLaVida

He aprendido el español ibérico y es posible que tenga planes de irme de vacaciones a Chile, ¿se me aconsejaría que aprenda las conjugaciones y los usos del "vos" chileño para mi visita?


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## fizzy_soda

Regardless of_ tú _or _vos_, many native speakers will say (_tú/vos_) _cantastes_ instead of _cantaste _because it is the only conjugation in the second-person singular form without a final _-s_. Let's look at the conjugations of _hablar_.
hablas - hables (subj.)
hablaste_
hablabas - hablaras (subj.)
hablarás
hablarías
has hablado - hayas hablado (subj.)
habías hablado - hubieras hablado (subj.)

Therefore, the morpheme _-s _holds a lot of meaning for Spanish speakers and it is indicative in all of these cases for the second-person singular form. Therefore, it is not surprising that the rule has been overgeneralized and used with the _tú_ and _vos_​ preterit conjugations.


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## roxcyn

Se ofrece la forma "vos" en el diccionario WR.  Ejemplo, "cantar": http://www.wordreference.com/conj/EsVerbs.aspx?v=cantar 
La forma "vos" normalmente cambia en la forma presente "*Vos sos*..."  y con los mandatos "*decime*".  Las otras formas son iguales a las de "tú".  

Saludos.


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## Aviador

roxcyn said:


> Se ofrece la forma "vos" en el diccionario WR.  Ejemplo, "cantar": http://www.wordreference.com/conj/EsVerbs.aspx?v=cantar
> La forma "vos" normalmente cambia en la forma presente "*Vos sos*..."  y con los mandatos "*decíme*".  Las otras formas son iguales a las de "tú".
> 
> Saludos.


El diccionario de la RAE también contiene las conjugaciones de todos los verbos, incluso las del voseo y del ustedeo: Ser; Decir.

El imperativo _decime _no debe llevar tilde de acuerdo con la regla de acentuación: Las palabras llanas terminadas en vocal, ene o ese no llevan tilde.


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