vostè
“vostè” — you (polite) in Valencian. Pronoun, level A0, topic — pronouns. The polite you, for strangers and elders. The verb with it is third person: vostè és — literally you is he. In a live sentence: “Vostè és el pare de la Marta?” — Are you Marta's father? One of 27 words in the set “pronouns” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | vostè |
| Translation | you (polite) |
| Part of speech | pronoun |
| Level | A0 |
Why it looks that way
The polite you, for strangers and elders. The verb with it is third person: vostè és — literally you is he
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.
- Vostè és el pare de la 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.
- joISpeakers usually drop it: the verb ending already says who acts. Jo appears for emphasis
- tuyou (informal)People switch to tu quickly here — even with a shopkeeper. Moving to vostè signals distance, not default politeness
- ellheWorks for things too when they are masculine — grammar follows the noun's gender, not its animateness
- ellasheThe plural elles is for women only; ells covers men and mixed company
- nosaltresweNo gender: one we for men and women alike — simpler here than in Spanish
- ellstheyells covers men and mixed company; elles is women only. One man is enough to pick ells
- el meumyThe masculine form; before a feminine noun it turns into la meva. Articles come with it, as with every noun
- el teuyour (informal)The tu counterpart. For a feminine thing: la teua — with the Valencian -ua ending
- el nostreourOurs, masculine. Feminine: la nostra. No extra article is needed before it
- el vostreyour (plural)The you-plural possessive. Feminine: la vostra
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 (polite)” in Valencian?
The polite you, for strangers and elders. The verb with it is third person: vostè és — literally you is he
- How do you say “my” in Valencian?
The masculine form; before a feminine noun it turns into la meva. Articles come with it, as with every noun
- How do you say “he” in Valencian?
Works for things too when they are masculine — grammar follows the noun's gender, not its animateness
- How do you say “your (plural)” in Valencian?
The you-plural possessive. Feminine: la vostra
- How do you say “they” in Valencian?
ells covers men and mixed company; elles is women only. One man is enough to pick ells
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 (polite)” in Valencian?
«vostè». In a live sentence: “Vostè és el pare de la Marta?” — Are you Marta's father? Pronoun, level A0, from the set “pronouns”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The polite you, for strangers and elders. The verb with it is third person: vostè és — literally you is he. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.