Intro to Argentinian Spanish & Voseo
Many websites cover some aspect of voseo, but very few cover what it is, how to conjugate it, the different conjugation types, and where it’s used. In addition, many forget that Argentinian Spanish isn’t uniform. I’ll try to cover all that in this post.
First, let’s do some mythbusting
In this post I’m going to tackle common myths related to Argentinian Spanish and voseo, while explaining them. You should get a good idea of how I approach the more slangy side of Spanish.
First, I’ll talk about how Argentinian Spanish isn’t uniform, and then about voseo. I’ll explain what voseo, where it’s used, and how you use it.
myth #1
All Argentinians talk like they do in the movies. In other words, Argentinian Spanish is uniform from Jujuy to Ushuaia.
No, Argentinian Spanish isn’t uniform. Only some regions of Argentina speak like in the movies. However, the movie dialect, rioplatense, has a wide range and high population.
Rioplatense also extends to Uruguay though it doesn’t show in this map. I do not know all the differences between all those dialects. I know some basics of the differences, but too few to explain here as I haven’t (yet!) been outside rioplatense’s range. Though even within its range it’s not uniform, either. Note the litoraleño and patagónico labels on the map. Hopefully I can tell you more about these other dialects as I visit those regions.
Then there’s also lunfardo and slang. Lunfardo is slang centered around CABA and its metroplex. I’m not sure how far outside CABA it goes. To me, slang is a subtype of regionalism. A regionalism is calling a strawberry frutilla and not fresa. Slang is the street lingo not used in formal conversations. I’ll cover some of this colorful lingo in future posts.
Because I live in Greater Buenos Aires, my posts related to regionalisms will be focused on the bonarense dialect. If you’re intending to move outside the bonarense region, I’m not sure how many of those will be applicable. Certainly, a lot will be applicable in the rioplatense area. Outside of that, I have no idea (yet). I’ll comment about what I learn about these varieties of Argentinian Spanish as I travel.
A common and understandable complaint of Spanish learners is that the Spanish in the destination is different from the Spanish they learned in class. This is exacerbated in Argentina, especially since voseo isn’t given its due respect. Also, Argentina’s regionalisms are often very different from Mexico’s or Spain’s. I’m going to try to alleviate that problem for you by talking about the differences you can expect. Next: voseo.
What exactly is voseo?
Voseo is using vos as the informal “you” pronoun instead of tú. Formally we’re talking about the 2nd person singular pronoun. As a result of not using tú, it has different conjugations. Conjugations are the verb forms that result from a combination of pronoun and tense. For example, in English we have I talk vs he talks vs I talked, etc. This is also not vosotros. Vosotros is Spain’s 2nd person plural pronoun (think you all, you guys or y’all). If you remember from your Spanish classes that ¿De dónde eres? means where are you from, general voseo changes that question to ¿De dónde sos?
Generally speaking, Spanish classes don’t teach it, even though it’s a very common pronoun in Latin America. Some people snub their noses at it as an improper way of speaking. But it’s totally legit and deserves more respect than it gets. After all, the three most populous Spanish-speaking countries (Mexico, Colombia, Argentina) all use it to some degree. And Argentina uses it universally. Next, we’ll go over where it’s used, and then I’ll make some comments on its conjugations.
myth #2
Voseo is only used in Argentina and there’s only one way to conjugate it. A quick brief on where it’s used and the different types
The Dark blue is oral and written voseo. The middle blue is oral voseo. The light blue is voseo coexisting with tú. In these places, there may be rules when to use tú, vos, and usted. The gray is Spanish-speaking countries that don’t use it at all.
general (ARG/URU)
We’ll go over this one further down this page. Aside from Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay, it’s used in Nicaragua. It could be used in more countries, but I am not sure where.
Use of Vosotros (the y'all form) for 2nd person singular (the you form)
If you’ve learned Spanish from Spain, you know how to conjugate vosotros. Some parts of Northern South America and the Caribbean use this in the singular you form.
Chile
Chile always seems to be an exception. I’m not going to dare explaining how to use it. It seems to use conjugations similar to Northern South America and some irregulars are a weird combination of tú and vosotros forms.
general voseo conjugations comments
This part intimates people, but it’s really pretty easy.
In fact, it’s easier than the tú conjugations you’re taught in Spanish classes. Like, really easy. Hardly any irregulars.
I’ve already covered present tense conjugations here so I’ll make some comments. There are two tenses that are different with vos from tú: the present tense and commands. Beyond that the pronoun is used in place of where you would use ti in phrases like gracias a vos or con vos in place of gracias a ti or contigo. So now let’s go over commands (these will also be added to a future grammar post).
Now for commands. All you do is accent the final vowel and take off the final r. So hablar becomes ¡Hablá!, meaning Speak! Vivir becomes ¡Viví! meaning live! Comer becomes ¡Comé! meaning eat! The only irregular is ir and andar is used in place of ir in the command form in Argentina. Like to tell someone to “Go!” is “¡Andá!”
(vos) hablá comé viví
¡Hablá castellano! Speak Spanish!
¡Comé! Eat!
¡Viví un poco! Live a little!
Stay tuned for more grammar tips!
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