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)

(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.