Vos
"You" (informal singular) — Argentina’s replacement for tú, with its own verb forms.
Related lesson: Argentine Spanish — A Survival Guide.
Hear it in context
¿Vos de dónde sos?
Where are you from?
¿Qué querés hacer hoy?
What do you want to do today?
Vení cuando puedas.
Come whenever you can.
What It Actually Means
Vos is the informal second-person singular pronoun used across Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and parts of Central America, replacing tú entirely in everyday speech. This is called voseo, and it’s not slang or an accent quirk — it’s the standard, correct way to say “you” in these countries.
How the Verbs Change
Voseo present-tense verbs drop the stem change that tú forms have, and the stress shifts to the final syllable:
- tú hablas → vos hablás (you speak)
- tú tienes → vos tenés (you have)
- tú quieres → vos querés (you want)
The imperative shifts too: ven → vení, habla → hablá, haz → hacé.
Where Textbooks Get It Wrong
Most introductory Spanish courses teach only the tú forms and treat vos as an optional regional footnote, if they mention it at all — yet it’s the default form for tens of millions of speakers, not a minor variant.
Common Pitfall
Don’t mix vos conjugations with tú pronouns or vice versa (“vos tienes” or “tú tenés” both sound off) — pick one system per sentence and stay consistent within it.