usted
“usted” — you (formal) in Spanish. Pronoun, level A0, topic — pronouns. The polite 'you', for strangers and elders. Its verb goes in the third person: usted es is literally 'you is'. In a live sentence: “¿Usted es el padre de Marta?” — Are you Marta's father? You can hear how it sounds right here. One of 27 words in the set “pronouns” in the Spanish course.
In short
| Written in Spanish | usted |
| Translation | you (formal) |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A0 |
- ustedyou (formal)
Why it looks that way
The polite 'you', for strangers and elders. Its verb goes in the third person: usted es is literally 'you is'
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- ¿Usted es el padre de Marta?Are you Marta's father?
Nearby words: pronouns
I, you, we, they. There is a handful of them, they turn up in every sentence, and politeness rides on them: most of these languages keep a formal “you” apart from a familiar one, and choosing the wrong one is noticed faster than a mispronounced word.
- yoISpanish speakers usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Yo is kept for emphasis
- túyou (informal)Tú with the accent is 'you'; tu without it is 'your'. Same trick as sí and si
- élheÉl with the accent is 'he'; el without it is the article 'the'. The same pair as tú and tu
- ellasheThe plural ellas is for women only; ellos covers men and any mixed group
- nosotrosweWe has a feminine form: a group of only women is nosotras. One man shows up and it's nosotros again
- ellostheyEllos for men and mixed groups, ellas only for women. A single man is enough to switch to ellos
- mimyIt doesn't change for gender: mi padre and mi madre alike. In the plural it's mis
- tuyourNo accent means 'your'; the accented tú means 'you'. One little mark changes the whole word
- nuestroourThe one possessive that changes for gender: nuestra casa, but nuestro coche
- vuestroyour (plural)Alive only in Spain. In Latin America 'your' is su — the same word as 'his' and 'her'
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “pronouns”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “you (formal)” in Spanish?
The polite 'you', for strangers and elders. Its verb goes in the third person: usted es is literally 'you is'
- How do you say “my” in Spanish?
It doesn't change for gender: mi padre and mi madre alike. In the plural it's mis
- How do you say “he” in Spanish?
Él with the accent is 'he'; el without it is the article 'the'. The same pair as tú and tu
- How do you say “your (plural)” in Spanish?
Alive only in Spain. In Latin America 'your' is su — the same word as 'his' and 'her'
- How do you say “they” in Spanish?
Ellos for men and mixed groups, ellas only for women. A single man is enough to switch to ellos
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “you (formal)” in Spanish?
«usted». In a live sentence: “¿Usted es el padre de Marta?” — Are you Marta's father? You can hear how it sounds right on this page. Pronoun, level A0, from the set “pronouns”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The polite 'you', for strangers and elders. Its verb goes in the third person: usted es is literally 'you is'. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
Can I hear how it sounds?
Yes, right on this page: click the word and it will play. The sound works on any phone, and nothing needs to be installed.