When you speak to someone, you often take an informal or formal
tone. If you have never met someone, you speak to them politely,
whereas when you talk to your friends or family you speak in a more
casual tone. In Spanish, we depend on more than just our tone. There are certain pronouns that must be used
to convey the formality of speaking to certain people.
We have the formal usted, versus the informal tú.
There also exists the formal ustedes and the informal vosotros.
The FORMAL pronouns are used to show RESPECT towards the person you are talking to.
When to use the formal usted/ustedes:
With elders
With someone you have never met
With teachers/bosses
When to use the informal tú/vosotros:
With family and friends
With someone whom you are very familiar/talk to a lot