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- Topic: Portuguese >
- "Tu és um homem."
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Hello! I'm a native speaker so I can enlighten you on this one. In Portugal "tu" is used in an informal way (as "tu" in French) while "você" would be used in a somewhat more formal situation - somewhere between "tu" and "vous" in French.
In Brazil you use "você" in all informal situations, "tu" is very rarely used, only in some areas of the country.
This was all explained in the 'Tu-Você' skill, the 9th one way way back near the beginning of this course. Here is an excerpt from the Tips:
" Você versus Tu Tu and você both mean you (singular). Você is the prevailing pronoun in Brazil, but tu is frequent in many regions. Você requires the 3rd-person verb form whereas tu requires the 2nd-person. Você é uma menina and Tu és uma menina. "
2488
'Tu - you' is the familiar, or friendly, form of 'você - you' and is very frequently used in Continental Portuguese between family, friends and people of a similar age.
Você fala - you speak - you are speaking - you do speak.
Tu falas - you speak - you are speaking - you do speak.
technically it's incorrect, but we still say it anyway. it's pretty much right and nobody will care should you say it. tu is used over você in rio de janeiro and rio grande do sul, você is used over tu in são paulo. most places use them interchangeably with no difference. the only real formals are "o senhor" and "a senhora"
I live in Piauí state (Located in Brazil's northeast region) and here people usually use "tu" while talking to relatives and friends (it doesn't matter if most of us use the third conjugation or not. I use "the correct" (grammatically speaking) conjugation. Whatever.). In the other hand, we use "você" when we are trying to speak in a formal way. As it was said by another member, in Portugal is the same (tu: informal/ você: formal).
However, in the southern part of Brazil (southeast especially) they generally use "você". Hardly you will hear "tu" in São Paulo, for example.
18
Is Tu & voce simmilar to tu and vu in French? Do you use tu for younger people or close friends & voce for older people and strangers?
Is there a "rule" for using tu or voce?
Você is a the more "polite" form. Você is used much more frequently in Brazilian Portuguese, Tu is used much more frequently in European Portuguese. It varies around different parts of Brazil but in general it seems like they would use "você" for even talking amongst friends whereas in Portugal "tu" would most definitely be used. That's what I've gathered from previous discussions anyway.