Tu vs Ud.

>Spain

It was VERY important a lot of years ago, not so much nowadays.

Usually, you use the formal way for people you don't know and there's certain "status", such waiters (You usuarlly use Usted, but nobody is going to kill you if you use Tu.

To avoid any doubt, use Ud. for people you have no relation with, strangers (Unless they tell you "Tutéame/Trátame de tu"); and Tu with people you have certain relation with.

always use usted

t. knower

>>77583029
You should also use usted in situations when you would use sir in english like in addressing your boss right?

Cause I was watching this telenovela from Mexico and some seemstress kept calling her boss usted until he asked her not to because they became romantically involved

>>77583252
Actually in the US we almost never use Sir anymore, it's way too formal and is usually used mockingly. The only situation it's really used is when an employee is talking to a customer. Besides that everyone just uses Mister

Good info though! You too >>77583029. I appreciate it.

>>77583252
Hmmm... I haven't thought about that, but yes; use Usted when you'd use Sir/Lady in english.

>>77582624
Flag
Semi-important
Use usted with the waitress
Use tú with the friend of a friend

>>77583340
Come to Pakistan, people say sir every other word if they think the situation merits it at all. In Urdu we have a similar thing except we have 3 yous; Aap (formal/respectful) Tum (informal) and even another step below it Tu (very informal). It's confusing keeping track of all the yous.

>>77583252
Most people in english speaking country adress their boss by its first name.
Anyway OP should use it to people he doesn't know except if they're roughly the same age or younger.

>>77582624
>What country are you from?
Flag

>Is the distinction between formal (usted) and informal (tu) really important where you are?
No, it is not.

But from some time up to now, the use of "tu" has became somewhat popular among a subset of the population, particularly among young people (and I cringe every time I hear "tu" being pronounced)

In contrast to this, there are areas where the pronoun "tu" is the first choice, where people use both pronouns "usted" and "tu" or where people use "usted" and "vos".

>>77584450
*has become

>>77583064
This one knows

I túteo everyone
The only time I use usted is to talk to my boss/job interviews

>>77583064
>t. knower

You know your place, that's for sure

>>77582624
It is very important. If you say tu to me I will fuck you up. I'm a gentleman and scholar

>>77582624
1. Flag
2. I use "usted" as the standard, but in modern times it has more to do with age than anything else. As a rule of thumb, you address older people than you with "usted" and younger people with "tú". In some way, "usted" has changed from "I respect your status" to "I acknowledge your old age". It won't be long until your conversation partner demands "tú" to feel less old.

Something similar happened to me in Hungary, they have like 3 levels of formality in Hungarian (te - maga - ön) and my dictionary told me to use "maga" as the standard, but irl Hungarians told me that "te" is fine.

>>77590846
>It won't be long until your conversation partner demands "tú" to feel less old.

They already do. I've almost entirely stopped using usted because most people get butthurt if you do.