Frequency of Ustedes form being identical to Ellos/Ellas in Latam

Question

At a general level, should I expect that the Ustedes form of a conjugation will be identical to the Ellos/Ellas forms in Latam conjugation? Can I expect this similarity to only apply to certain tenses?

Silvia Píriz · Accepted Answer

Hi,
Yes, in Latin American Spanish, you can generally expect the ustedes forms to be identical to the ellos/ellas forms across all tenses.
For example:
ustedes tienen = ellos tienen
ustedes hablaron = ellos hablaron
ustedes comerían = ellos comerían
This applies broadly to verb conjugations in standard LatAm Spanish. The difference is not in the verb ending itself, but in the pronoun and meaning:

ustedes = “you all”

ellos/ellas = “they”

In contrast, Spain commonly uses vosotros/vosotras for “you all”, which has its own separate conjugations (vosotros tenéis, vosotros habláis, etc.).
Saludos
Silvia