Ocasionally I go on answers.fr and converse with other francophones, what puzzles me is why they use "tu" and not "vous". Initially I adressed them with vous and they corrected me, I don't get this I don't know them personally, so why informal?
2006-10-28 08:14:54 · 5 answers · asked by alex e 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
thanks I geuss I'm just too traditional with mon français.
2006-10-28 08:20:40 · update #1
Because you're all percieved as kind of the same age and also young people don't use 'vous' for people the same age as them. and also the word vous is falling out of uses amoung the younger generation. : )
2006-10-28 08:18:09 · answer #1 · answered by Kaela 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that this is perceived as a forum for young people. I know very well that if I were face to face with the majority of these people we'd be using "vous", but I don't want to stand out from the crowd as the old stick-in-the-mud who insists on keeping at a distance by using the polite form. It's really a sort of class feeling of "we're all in this together". By the way, on the Spanish forum people would think you were distinctly odd if you used the formal "Usted"; even the instructions address you as "tu". I'm so glad that we don't have this problem in English. If indeed it is a problem! By the way, I have just been to the German forum, just to check. They're using the intimate form there too!
2006-10-28 16:16:59 · answer #2 · answered by Doethineb 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The pronoum "tu" is use when you know the person well like a friend or a relative. If you use this with other people, it's considered like you familliar with the person and, can be seen has a sign of impolite behavior that's why when you're not sure it's more convinient to use the "vous" form.
2006-10-28 20:42:44 · answer #3 · answered by babarox1998 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, we don't have this in english, but you use vous when you want to be polite and talk to an older person or say you work at a store you say vous. its like showing respect. you use tu when you're talking to someone you know very well or someone that you dont respect as much. like to your friends you would be saying tu. also you can use vous whan you are talking to many people at once.
2006-10-28 15:24:58 · answer #4 · answered by fukuoka 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi,
Yes, you're right, you normally use "tu" for ppl you know well.
However, it's a tendency of French forums; we suppose that we are approximately of the same age, so we instinctively use "tu".
Nothing really personal, as you guess...
2006-11-01 07:11:11 · answer #5 · answered by wizzie 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋