túforms

Tú forms are the verb inflections used with the informal second-person singular pronoun tú in Spanish, and, more generally, the informal second-person singular forms found in some Romance languages. They address someone familiar or close in social distance and contrast with formal forms such as usted. In many regions, tú forms are the default for casual conversation, while otros forms exist for polite or formal address.

In Spanish, tú forms appear across moods and tenses. For regular verbs in the present indicative, -ar verbs take -as (hablas), -er verbs take -es (comes), and -ir verbs take -es (vives). The imperative mood uses the bare stem for informal commands (habla, come, escribe), with negative commands formed as no hables, no comas, no escribas. Irregular verbs and stem-changing verbs modify the endings or stems (for example, ser becomes eres, ir becomes vas). The tú form also interacts with subjunctive and compound tenses, where appropriate endings apply to the second-person singular.

Regional variation can affect the use and form of the informal address. In some dialects, especially in parts of Latin America, the pronoun vos is used instead of tú (voseo), with its own distinct verb endings. In Spain, tú is typically paired with the plural informal vosotros for addressing more than one person.

The concept of informal second-person forms appears in other languages with their own pronouns and conjugation patterns (for example, French tu versus vous). However, the term tú forms is most closely associated with Spanish grammar and its sociolinguistic contexts.

See also: Spanish conjugation, pronouns, voseo, usted, vosotros.