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
- 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.
Synonyms
- ti (informal or neutral)
References
- “vossa merçede” in Dicionario de Dicionarios do galego medieval, SLI - ILGA 2006–2022.
- “vosa merçe” in Xavier Varela Barreiro & Xavier Gómez Guinovart: Corpus Xelmírez - Corpus lingüístico da Galicia medieval. SLI / Grupo TALG / ILG, 2006–2018.
- “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.