/usˈteð/
Translation
you (formal singular)
Word origin
A contraction of the old courtesy form vuestra merced ('your grace'), from Latin vester ('your') and merces, mercedis ('reward, favour'). The polite address worn down to a single pronoun.
- Origin
- Latin
- Root
- vuestra merced
- English cognates
- mercy, merchant
Examples
¿ , ?
Could you sign here, please?
, .
You are absolutely right, madam.
¿ España ?
Have you been to Spain before?
.
You should not worry about this.
ruego .
I beg you to excuse me for a moment.
Used in
Stories
(7)Grammar articles
(35)Spanish Advanced Grammar (C1-C2): The Constructions That Sound Native
Spanish Grammar Cheatsheet: The Essentials, One Page
Spanish Text Cohesion and Style: signposting, avoiding repetition, en resumen
Spanish Compound Tenses: the Future Perfect and Past Anterior (habré hablado, hube hablado)
Spanish Conditional: the 'Would' Tense, me gustaría and Polite Requests
Conjugating Spanish -ar Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating Spanish -er Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating Spanish -ir Verbs in the Present Tense
Conjugating Spanish Reflexive Verbs in the Present Tense
Spanish Verb Conjugation: The Complete Rules with Examples
Spanish Formal Commands: usted and ustedes
Spanish Future Tense: ir a + Infinitive and the Inflectional Future
Spanish Imperative: Affirmative Tú Commands and the Eight Irregulars
The Spanish Imperfect Subjunctive: How to Form It (the -ra and -se Endings)
Spanish Imperfect: hablaba, comía, vivía and Only Three Irregulars
Spanish Slang and Chat: decoding tio, guay, o sea, xq (the informal register)
Spanish Negative Commands: Why no hables Borrows the Subjunctive
Spanish Nosotros Commands: the 'Let's...' Form
The Spanish Perfect Subjunctive (haya hablado)
The Spanish Pluperfect Subjunctive and Conditional Perfect (hubiera hablado, habría hablado)
The Spanish Pluperfect (había hablado)
Spanish Politeness: Softening Requests (¿Podría...?, ¿Te importaría...?, quisiera)
Spanish Possessive Pronouns: el mío, el tuyo, el suyo and the Long Possessives
Spanish Possessives: mi, tu, su and Why Agreement Trips Beginners
Spanish Prepositional Pronouns (para mí, conmigo, entre tú y yo)
Spanish Present Perfect: he hablado, ha vivido, hemos visto
The Spanish Present Subjunctive: How to Form It (the Opposite-Vowel Rule)
Spanish Preterite: hablé, comí, viví and the Big Irregular Group
Spanish Punctuation and Capitalisation: the opening ¿ and ¡, lowercase lunes and español
Spanish Reflexive Verbs: levantarse, llamarse, lavarse and the Pronoun Position
Spanish Regional Grammar: voseo (vos tenés), ustedes, and preterite vs perfect
Spanish Register: tu vs usted, vosotros vs ustedes (and how formal to be)
Saber vs Conocer: The Two Spanish Verbs for 'To Know'
Ser vs Estar: The Two Spanish 'To Be' Verbs and When to Use Each
Spanish Word Order: SVO, Pro-Drop and the Five Rules That Cover 90% of Sentences
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Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 2.