vostede

Galician

Alternative forms

• Vde., vosté, usté

Etymology

Attested since 1671 (bosastede). Borrowed and adapted from Spanish vuesasted or some similar variant, from the addressing form vuestra merced (“your grace”). The expected result from the inherited equivalent vossa mercee would be *vocé, but it seems to never have developed, the usual form being vós until Spanish borrowings started replacing it. Compare Catalan vostè, Portuguese você, Spanish usted.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bosˈteðɪ/

Pronoun

vostede m or f or sg (plural vostedes)

1. (formal) you

   Synonym: (informal or neutral) ti

   De onde é vostede?

   Where are you from? (formal)

   • 1697, José Gil Taboada, Grande loita de luceiros:

     Señora may (os luceyros
     Din) vostede s'afrontou
     Sen causa, porque esta loyta
     Ll'a de dar mais relumbros.

     Lady mother -the luminaries
     Say- your grace took offense
     With no motive, because this fight
     Will give you more shine

Usage notes

• Although vostede is used as a second-person pronoun, it takes third-person verb forms and pronouns.

References

• Ernesto González Seoane, María Álvarez de la Granja, Ana Isabel Boullón Agrelo (2006–2022) “vossa merçede”, in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “uossa merçe”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• Xavier Varela Barreiro, Xavier Gómez Guinovart (2006–2018) “vosa merçed”, in Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval (in Galician), Santiago de Compostela: ILG
• “vostede” in Dicionario de Dicionarios da lingua galega, SLI - ILGA 2006–2013.
• “vostede” in Tesouro informatizado da lingua galega. Santiago: ILG.
• “vostede” in Álvarez, Rosario (coord.): Tesouro do léxico patrimonial galego e portugués, Santiago de Compostela: Instituto da Lingua Galega.