Language

Things I've been thinking about... how Spanish helps me think about concepts differently, especially the concept of "you"... how I've learned since I got here that you don't always have to use the same "you" with people... In the past, I assumed "formal" or "familiar" was more of a ser kind of quality to the relationship, but now I see it's more of the estar quality of the interaction. I may get called usted, tú, and vos by the same person but in different contexts, or even as the same conversation progresses.

Just the idea of having these different ways of saying "you" makes me think about human interaction in a way I never had to before... and it's another thing to analyze about how people perceive me. I may get warm fuzzies when my host sister or a friend from church calls me vos... and wonder if when an older doña or don calls me tú if that's permission for reciprocity or if they're just allowed to use that form with me since I'm younger so I should still call them usted out of respect (I've been opting for the latter). I also wonder why my host parents never use tú or vos with me, even though they do with Valeria. Is it a lack of closeness they feel with me or is it just that they want to always be respectful when speaking to their host children?

Another thing, related but distinct, is how related/identical imperative/subjunctive conjugations represent or recognize a level of respect for someone's free will. And how the tú imperative conjugation is the same as the usted indicative represents to me a little more directness in asking someone to do something. That is, it's going to get done (indicative) rather than "better if it would get done" (subjunctive)... but you're still respecting the person you're addressing as tú by moving the command to a more indirect conjugation, that is to say, the usted.

For example:
Wash your clothes! // You wash your clothes.
(Tú) Lava tu ropa // Lavas tu ropa
(Usted) Lave su ropa // Lava su ropa

The form of lavar just shifts over... and likewise, lave as a command is the same as the subjunctive...

E.g.:
It's better that you [would] wash your clothes.
(Tú) Es mejor que laves tu ropa
(Usted) Es mejor que ud. lave su ropa

By "indirect" I'm referencing another thought I've had... that having the usted and ella/él conjugations be the same, it feels like there is a little more distance between the person you're talking to and yourself because it is [closer to] third person; that is, someone who might not even be physically present, so by definition, further away.

A corollary of that: when you talk about someone in the third person in their presence, it's almost like you're still addressing them, but with more respect.

Another related topic is how the language reflects this closeness. For example with fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fueron... if it's just me or I'm in the group, then it's fui-rooted, and in that way the tú/vos conjugation is closer to me than that of the usted because it's not "fueste" but fuiste. Similarly, the ser conjugations of soy, sos, eres, es, somos reflect this as well. The difference between sos and eres means that vos are closer to me than tú are. This argument doesn't really hold water if you consider "they son" (or vos usage in Colombian Spanish where vos is between tú and usted which is why I continue to use tú with Keyla), but just considering yo/vos/tú/usted/nosotros, I like thinking about it this way in the context of Honduran Spanish.

While we're on the topic of language, an update. My brain now calls coffee hour cafecito. Not sure when the shift happened exactly, but cafecito is definitely what comes to mind first now.