LINGUIST List 19.574
Tue Feb 19 2008
Disc: Language Pedagogy & “Vosotros” Form in Spanish
Editor for this issue: Ann Sawyer
<sawyerlinguistlist.org>
1. Brandon
Simpson,
Language Pedagogy & “Vosotros” Form in Spanish
Message 1: Language Pedagogy & “Vosotros” Form in Spanish
Date: 13-Feb-2008
From: Brandon Simpson <bwsimpsonfuse.net>
Subject: Language Pedagogy & “Vosotros” Form in Spanish
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Many teachers ignore the “vosotros” form completely when they teachSpanish. When Spanish students start studying Spanish in college, they’llbe completely lost when they see it. I think doing this is unjust, and itdoes the students a disservice.
Reason 1I think teachers ignore it because they believe that nobody uses itanymore. If that’s the reason, they are wrong. Spaniards use it on a dailybasis, a country with a population of 40 million people. By avoiding the“vosotros” form, you are limiting your communication abilities with a largepopulation of Spanish speakers. I can recall one Spanish teacher who said,“Only an idiot would teach the ‘vosotros’ forms. No one uses that anymore.” Still, every Spanish instructor I’ve had, from high school to college, hastaught the “vosotros” forms.
Reason 2Another reason for teaching the “vosotros” form is that it is very usefulfor verb charts. Look at the chart below:soy somoseres soises son
This is ser fully conjugated. As you can see, the “vosotros” form is sois.Now look at the chart below without it:soy somosereses son
Removing it makes the chart less effective because there is no pluralcounterpart to the “tú” form. Some teachers list the verb conjugations in asingle list like this:soyeresessomosson
This is far less effective than the two-column chart approach. And it alsothrows a monkey wrench into “shoe verb” charts. Singular Plural1 juego jugamos2 juegas jugáis3 juega jueganTry to imagine a shoe drawn around the singular forms and the 3rd personplural of this chart. The only two verb conjugations left are the“nosotros” and “vosotros” forms. If we used the one-column approach, a shoecould not be drawn.
Reason 3To my knowledge, all college professors teach their students the “vosotros”form. They may not stress it very much, but they still teach it. So if astudent didn’t learn the “vosotros” form in their high school Spanishclass, they will have to have a crash course in it when they go to college.That means that a student may have to learn several verb tense forms for“vosotros” and its pronoun “os” in a short amount of time.
Reason 4All works of Old Spanish literature have the “vosotros” form in it. If youread any piece of Old Spanish literature, you will have to be able torecognize it. It was never ignored; it was used by everybody.
Reason 5The “vosotros” form appears on the AP Spanish test. That should be a goodenough reason alone for high school Spanish students to learn it.
Reason 6If you tell a Spaniard that you know Spanish, they will assume that youknow the “vosotros” form. If you tell them that you were told it wasuseless, they will be shocked and possibly even offended. Spaniards willuse the “tú” form with you immediately. Therefore, they will use its pluralcounterpart with you and your friends: “vosotros.”
Reason 7Learning the “vosotros” form doesn’t require much more effort to learn. Bylearning it, you can avoid all the problems that you could encounter in thetop 6 reasons.
I could also make a case that knowing the “vos” forms are important toknow. However, Spaniards will assume that you know the “vosotros” forms.Any Spanish speaker from Argentina (where “vos” is used in place of “tú”)or any other “vos” users will not assume that you know “vos” forms. Infact, using “vos” in certain countries implies less formality than “tú.” Itis sometimes referred to as the intimate form. To form the “vos”conjugation of verbs, you have know what country you’re in first. If you’rein Argentina, take the “vosotros” form and remove the –i in –ar and –erverbs. If it’s an –ir verb, the two forms are identical. In othercountries, the “vos” and “vosotros” forms are exactly the same.
These reasons should compel you to study the “vosotros” form. It is usedregularly, taught in college courses, and doesn’t require much effort tolearn. If I taught a Spanish class, I would NEVER ignore the “vosotros” form.
Brandon Simpson,Author of “Learning Foreign Languages: Everything You Need To Know” and“Demystifying Spanish Grammar: Clarifying the Written Accents, Ser/Estar,Para/Por, Imperfect/Preterit, and the Dreaded Spanish Subjunctive”
Linguistic Field(s):
General Linguistics
Subject Language(s): Spanish (spa)
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