Vosotros/Ellos: How to differentiate them

We've got a quick one today!

It's not strange that students have trouble to see the difference between "vosotros" (you guys) and "ellos" (they).

They are right next to each other on the tenses grids and in Latin America they use the "they" form for both.

Let's see some tips and examples to help with this!

Vosotros

Translation: You guys

It's the plural of You (tú).

You talk to them:

You need to have them in front of close and be able to directly talk to them, you could take a picture of these people.

Ellos

Translation : They

That's the plural of the he/she/it form (él,ella).

You talk about them:

You don't have them in front, you don't talk directly to them, you actually talk about them when they are not in the room, you can't take a picture of them at the time you say the sentence. They can be far away.

Examples

1-

Vosotros/as

Os recomiendo ir al parque del Retiro - I recommend you guys to go to the Retiro park.

Situation: A group of people stops you in the street asking me for directions and I tell them that.

Ellos/as

Les recomendé ir al parque del Retiro - I recommended them to go to the Retiro park.

Situation: I came home that afternoon and I told my roommates about the encounter with the tourists.

2-

Vosotros/as

Vosotros deberíais practicar siempre con motivación - You guys should always practice with motivation.

Situation: A music teacher says this talking to her students.

Ellos/as

Los políticos de este país han cometido muchos errores - The politicians of this country have made lots of mistakes.

I hope if you ever had a doubt about this, you don't have it anymore :)

Feel free to leave a question down below in the comment's section if you need to!