tutear

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: tu‧te‧ar

Verb

tutear (first-person singular present tuteio, first-person singular preterite tuteei, past participle tuteado)

1. to address someone informally, using the pronoun tu, to thou

Etymology

From tú +‎ -ear, with euphonic -t-. Compare French tutoyer and Romanian tutui.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuteˈaɾ/ [t̪u.t̪eˈaɾ]
• Rhymes: -aɾ
• Syllabification: tu‧te‧ar

Verb

tutear (first-person singular present tuteo, first-person singular preterite tuteé, past participle tuteado)

1. (transitive) to address someone informally with tú, rather than the formal usted or the informal pronoun vos used in certain countries; to thou
   • 2017 November 25, Jaime Rodríguez, “Vallejo y Varane, los 'chicos formales' [Vallejo and Varane, the "formal boys"]”, in El Mundo‎:

     […] se dio la vuelta para estrechar la mano de su guardaespaldas: «Gracias por acompañarme». El central no gasta tatuajes ni peinados atrevidos. Cursa estudios de INEF en la Universidad de Zaragoza, se acordó de su novia en el discurso de presentación en el Bernabéu y hay que insistirle para que rompa a tutear.

     […] he turned to give his bodyguard a handshake: "Thank you for accompanying me". The central defender doesn't wear tattoos or bold haircuts. He studies Exercise and Sport Sciences at the University of Zaragoza, he remembered [to thank] his girlfriend at his introductory speech at Bernabéu, and you have to insist that he start using tú.

Further reading

• “tutear”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10