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tú and usted
Spanish makes you choose how close you are before you finish the first sentence.
tú is for friends, family, children and peers. usted is for strangers, older people and anyone whose job puts them in front of you. The usted verb form is always the same as the he and she form, which means it costs you nothing extra to learn.
Examples
¿cómo estás?how are you?tú
¿cómo está?how are you?usted, and it matches él está
¿nos tuteamos?shall we use tú?the actual phrase people use to drop formality
ustedesyou, pluralthe only plural you in Latin America. Spain also has vosotros
The mistake this causes
Assuming usted is cold. In Colombia, Costa Rica and much of the Andes it is used between family.