Growing up, I went to a bilingual school. The curriculum was equally divided into English and Spanish lessons, which were taught in equal depth. I recall having my Spanish classes, like math or biology, in the morning. Then, after recess, the English teacher would cover grammar, spelling or vocabulary.
As an absolute nerd, I often approached the teacher, Miss Riley, with questions, out of sheer curiosity. One of them was how to use the word “usted” in English. Bewildered, she explained that respect was shown differently in English. The word “you” was used to address everyone, I remember her saying, from the elderly to your superiors at work.
I found that kind of disappointing. As someone born in a traditional Mexican household, I wanted to be able to show respect to her and anyone I felt needed it, just like I did in Spanish.
To further understand why we use “usted” in Mexico, I contacted Linguist Cristal Yeseidy Cepeda Ruíz. With a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Dr. Cepeda has dedicated decades to studying the use of usted in Mexico and other Latin American countries.
According to her research, in addition to being a sign of respect, the use of usted in Mexico implies social class relations. In some cases, it marks gender distance as well. Through decades of research into the linguistic origin of the word, these have been her findings.
Is the use of ‘usted’ a question of social class in Mexico, historically speaking?
“The origin of the pronoun usted,” Dr. Cepeda explained, “is associated with several social and linguistic factors.” According to her research, up until the 15th century “Castilian Spanish had two pronouns inherited from Latin: ‘tu’ (yes, without an accent) and ‘vos.'” The former was used “to address people who were close,” while the latter “was used to mark interpersonal distance and was used in exchanges among the bourgeoisie.”
This suggests that there was a social-class distinction in the way people referred to each other in Spanish. In other words, for family and friends, people already use tú. Whereas vos was reserved as a distinctive way to address those who belonged to a higher social status. Additionally, usted comes from the phrase “vuestra merced,” a way to suggest a higher hierarchy that was commonly used in Europe in the 15th century.
During the 16th and 17th centuries, during the colonial period in the Americas, “American Spanish (particularly that of the territories now occupied by Mexico, Peru, and Colombia) inherited the ternary pronominal system from Castilian Spanish (tú, vos, vuestra merced, usted),” Cepeda explained. Little has changed ever since.
Migrants from Europe — conquistadors, settlers, state officials and missionaries alike — began using these pronouns in the Americas too, which resulted in the use of “tú” for intimate relationships, and “vos” in “the treatment that Spaniards and Creoles used toward Indigenous populations
Is the use of ‘usted’ reverential in Mexico?
Before the Spanish invasion of the Americas, Cepeda said, people who spoke classical Náhuatl, the common tongue of the Mexica, used a “complex system of honorifics marked with suffixes.” In other words, social class was distinguished in the way you referred to others. During the Mexica empire, for example, one would have never spoken to the Huey Tlatoani, the emperor, in the same way as to a friend or a servant.
The social differences implied in classical Náhuatl were much more pronounced than in Castilian Spanish, Cepeda explained. It separated “interactions of utmost respect or reverence from others in which the main value is symmetry, reciprocity or affiliation between people.” Among them, the reverential use of the —tzin suffix was popular. At the time, it was used both as a diminutive and to imply reverence.
To date, however, there does not appear to be a link between “the use of ‘usted’ and the more reverential forms of address in native languages,” Cepeda said. What is certain, she pointed out, is that “the world’s languages reflect a regular pattern; the people who use them need to distinguish two clear planes [proximity, and that of social class].”
The use of usted in Mexico is not always reverential
After more than five centuries, the use of the usted has changed in Mexico. The ancient boundaries have become blurred in Mexico City. Although in some neighborhoods, as in the provinces, children address their parents and grandparents using the word usted, I don’t use it. No one in my close social group does. Are we leaving a centuries-old tradition behind? Not exactly.
Through her research, Cepeda and her colleagues have found that, in contemporary Mexican Spanish, “the most frequent, but not categorical, form of address in Mexico City is ‘tú.’ ‘Usted’ is employed in formal contexts,” the specialist wrote, “with older people and authority figures, especially outside the family context.”
Is the use of usted changing in the modern world?
Just as it was more than 500 years ago, the use of usted in Mexico stands out in situations where the value of asymmetry or differentiation between people predominates. Thinking in a contemporary, everyday example, whenever I go to the market to buy my groceries, I address my vegetable vendor with usted. Why? Because she is older than me, and I feel she deserves respect, otherwise, my interaction with her would be considered rude or even irreverent. The same goes for teachers, physicians or researchers.
That is not the only use it has today, however.
“A particular finding from Mexico City is that women prefer to use usted in situations where they feel vulnerable,” Cepeda said. “For example, with unknown men. This is a discursive strategy of autonomy that allows them to set boundaries.”
And yes, in case you’re wondering, I addressed Dr. Cepeda with usted in the interview for this article.
Andrea Fischer contributes to the features desk at Mexico News Daily. She has edited and written for National Geographic en Español and Muy Interesante México, and continues to be an advocate for anything that screams science. Or yoga. Or both.
