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If you speak a language that has a formal 'you', when do you use it? (lemmy.world)
submitted 10 months ago by to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world
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And what language and region is it?

I've noticed my language teacher uses the informal you in one language and the formal one in the other.

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[–] 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I would think this needs the regional classification. There are big chunks of Brazil where tu may as well not exist as a pronoun. I also wouldn't necessarily say that addressing someone by their name would be universally taken as a sign of respect. Plenty of people will just use names like that in informal speech, like "Você não vai acreditar o que falou o João ontem."

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    When I lived in São Paulo, "você" was pretty much it. The only people who used "tu" were tourists.

    However, using the "tu" form of verbs with friends, family, et al, was common. Just almost nobody used the actual pronoun.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Yeah, and you get all sorts of weird pronoun use in Brazil, anyway, once you branch off from formal speech. I've heard people using tu with the você conjugations, people trying to act like gangsters using nós instead of a gente, Brazil is a weird place. On the plus side, it makes it a bit easier for non-natives, since you can mess up most things in terms of pronunciation and conjugations, and still find someone that will go "Ai, meu deus, mas você fala igual às pessoas da minha cidade."

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