Español — Voseo
In Rioplatense and Central American Spanish, the second-person singular is vos, not tú. It has its own present-tense forms (vos tenés, sos, querés, vivís) and its own affirmative imperative (tené, vení, andá).
How it works
The vos present is built by stressing the final syllable of the ending, with no diphthong and no stem change: -ar → -ás (hablás), -er → -és (tenés, querés), -ir → -ís (vivís). The only strongly irregular present form is sos (ser). The affirmative imperative drops the -r of the infinitive and stresses the last vowel: tener → tené, venir → vení, andar → andá.
Paradigm
| Infinitive | Present (vos) | Affirmative imperative |
|---|---|---|
| tener | tenés | tené |
| querer | querés | queré |
| vivir | vivís | viví |
| venir | venís | vení |
| andar | andás | andá |
| hablar | hablás | hablá |
| ser | sos | sé |
Good to know
The special forms cover only the present indicative and the affirmative imperative. Everywhere else vos borrows the tú forms: the object/possessive pronouns are te and tu/tuyo (vos tenés tu libro), and the negative imperative uses the tú subjunctive — no tengás, but no tengas, no vengas, no vayas. A frequent learner error is applying vos endings outside these two tenses.