• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Speaking Latino

Teach and Learn Real World Spanish

  • Spanish Teachers
    • Free Lesson Plans & Activities
    • Free Cultural Calendar
    • Free Song List
    • Class Guides for Teachers
    • Scaffolded Activities Set
    • Teaching Spanish
    • Professional Development
  • Spanish Slang
    • Slang Dictionaries
    • Word Comparisons
    • Slang by Country
  • Blog
  • Log In
  • Join Now

Humorous Example of TU and USTED: A Fun Spanish Lesson

Humorous Example of TU and USTED: A Fun Spanish Lesson

The TU and USTED Joke in Spanish

Un señor decide averiguar qué es lo que hace un empleado suyo que sale a la calle a las 11:00 a.m. y regresa a la 1 p.m. cada día. Contrata a un detective y a la semana éste le dice:

“Cada día a la misma hora coge su carro, va a su casa, hace el amor con su mujer, se fuma uno de sus puros y vuelve al trabajo.”

El señor le responde “Ah, menos mal, creía que podía estar haciendo algo malo en ese tiempo.”

El detective le aclara “Me parece que no me ha entendido asi que lo voy a tutear. Coge tu carro, va a tu casa…”

This joke highlights the ambiguity that may occur when using tu and usted. To explain it a bit better the word su may be used to mean you (formal) or his/hers. As it is written above there is no way to differentiate the two. So for a native Spanish speaker the automatic assumption is that the su refers to he, and not to the formal you.


For a bit more technical explanation, it is a play on words with the third person possessive pronoun su and the second person, formal possessive pronoun su. The clear meaning of the detective is only revealed when he switches to the second person, informal possessive pronoun tu.

As a quick footnote, translating this into English is not as simple as it first may appear. Any translation would then require an explanation of why it is funny, based on the confusion of tu and usted. As you can see above, my explanation is a bit convoluted for anyone that does not know the technical aspects of the language.

Check out these other articles about Spanish Lessons.

Featured photo credit: detective by olarte.ollie via flickr

Related

Search Speaking Latino

Navigation

About Us

Contact Us

Blog

Log In

Join the Community

Get your Spanish classes planned for the entire year with Access hundreds of Spanish lesson plans, scaffolded cultural activities, presentations, song activities, and more!

Take a Look

Contact Jared & Diana

Click here to contact us

Search Speaking Latino

Copyright © 2023 Speaking Latino | Privacy Policy | As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.