pues

How it is used in Bolivia

A common, small, warm filler tacked on at the end of a sentence, often heard as 'pue': it softens and warms a sentence without adding a meaning of its own. It is a soft, warm marker of paceño speech ('tranquilo pues, hoy no corremos') and the little tail-word of highland, Andean Bolivian Spanish.

In Sucre it is very common and one of the surest signs you are hearing chuquisaqueño, the gentler, more formal highland cousin of Santa Cruz's cruceño voseo: 'ya pues', 'sí pues', 'andá pues', 'quédese pues', «pocas, pues». Paired with diminutives ('un ratito', 'aquicito') it is the warm, unhurried texture of chuquisaqueño usted; you will hear it in an owner's replies.

It softens requests, answers, advice and even a no, so they sound warm, not bossy or impatient: "pase, pues" is a kind come in, “se cierra tempranito, pues”, «mejor tempranito, pues», 'así nomás está, pues'.