Archaic form of the word you

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Answer

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  • THOU

    Word composition

    the first letter is T, the second letter is H, the third letter is O, the last letter is U

    Other definitions

    • Biblical pronoun
    • Biblical «you»
    • Grand
    • Commandment start
    • It’s often seen beside art
    • The old you
    • G
    • Second person in the Bible
    • Holier-than-___
    • You, a long time ago
    • 10 benjamins

Similar answers

  • Biblical area east of Eden; the state of sleep (9 letters)
  • Part of the highway where you can pick up speed (8 letters)
  • Giant Biblical beast mentioned in the Book of Job (8 letters)
  • Target of the heckle «What game are you watching?!» (3 letters)
  • Subject of this puzzle, who once said «Fight for the things that you care about, but do it in a way that will lead others to join you» (15 letters)
  • Modern-day home of where the biblical Abraham was born (4 letters)
  • Fasteners … or, if you change the fourth letter to an S, what the fasteners might be made of (5 letters)
  • Biblical city on the plain of Jordan (5 letters)
  • Who said «If you’re not ready to die for it, put the word ‘freedom’ out of your vocabulary» (8 letters)
  • Language that becomes the name of where it’s spoken if you add an «s» (3 letters)

English[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • ye (archaic nominative, dialectal plural)
  • ya, yah, yer, yeh, y’, yo, yu, yuh (informal or eye dialect)
  • -cha (informal, after /t/)
  • -ja (informal, after /d/)
  • u (informal, internet)
  • yoo (eye dialect)
  • yew (obsolete or eye dialect)
  • youe, yow, yowe (obsolete)

Etymology[edit]

From Middle English you, yow, ȝow (object case of ye), from Old English ēow (you, dative case of ġē), from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz (you, dative case of *jīz), Western form of *izwiz (you, dative case of *jūz), from Proto-Indo-European *yūs (you, plural), *yū́.

Cognate with Scots you (you), Saterland Frisian jou (you), West Frisian jo (you), Low German jo, joe and oe (you), Dutch jou and u (you), Middle High German eu, iu (you, object pronoun), Latin vōs (you), Avestan 𐬬𐬋(, you), Ashkun yë̃́ (you), Kamkata-viri šó (you), Sanskrit यूयम् (yūyám, you)

See usage notes. Ye, you and your are cognate with Dutch jij/je, jou, jouw; Low German ji, jo/ju, jug and German ihr, euch and euer respectively. Ye is also cognate with archaic Swedish I.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • (stressed)
    • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /juː/ help,
    • (General American) enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /ju/ help
    • (General Australian) enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /jʉː/
    • Rhymes: -uː
  • (unstressed)
    • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /ju/
    • (General American, General Australian) enPR: , IPA(key): /jə/ help
  • Homophones: ewe, u, yew, yu, hew (in h-dropping dialects), hue (in h-dropping dialects)

When a word ending in /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/ is followed by you, these may coalesce with the /j/, resulting in /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, respectively. This is occasionally represented in writing, e.g. gotcha (from got you) or whatcha doin’? (more formally what are you doing?).

Pronoun[edit]

you (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective, possessive determiner your, possessive pronoun yours, singular reflexive yourself, plural reflexive yourselves)

  1. (object pronoun) The people spoken, or written to, as an object. [from 9th c.]

    Both of you should get ready now.

    • 1611, The Holy Bible, [] (King James Version), London: [] Robert Barker, [], →OCLC, Genesis 42:14, column 1:

      And Ioſeph ſaid vnto them, That is it that I ſpake vnto you, ſaying, Ye are ſpies.

  2. (reflexive, now US colloquial) (To) yourselves, (to) yourself. [from 9th c.]
    • c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: []”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies [] (First Folio), London: [] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

      If I may counsaile you, some day or two / Your Highnesse shall repose you at the Tower […].

    • 1611, The Holy Bible, [] (King James Version), London: [] Robert Barker, [], →OCLC, Genesis XIX::

      And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.

    • 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
      ‘Pull you up a chair,’ she offered.
    • 1975, Joseph Nazel, Death for Hire:

      You’d better get you a gun and kill him before he kills you or somebody.

  3. (object pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as an object. (Replacing thee; originally as a mark of respect.) [from 13th c.]
    • c. 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VIII:
      I charge you, as ye woll have my love, that ye warne your kynnesmen that ye woll beare that day the slyve of golde uppon your helmet.
  4. (subject pronoun) The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.) [from 14th c.]
    You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
    • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
      Are you excited? ― Yes, I am excited!

  5. (subject pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.) [from 15th c.]
    • c. 1395, Geoffrey Chaucer, «The Clerk’s Tale», Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere manuscript (c. 1410):
      certes lord / so wel vs liketh yow / And al youre werk / and euere han doon / þat we / Ne koude nat vs self deuysen how / We myghte lyuen / in moore felicitee […].
    • 1814 July, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Mansfield Park: [], volume II, London: [] T[homas] Egerton, [], →OCLC, page 208:

      You are right, Fanny, to protest against such an office, but you need not be afraid.

  6. (indefinite personal pronoun) Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object). [from 16th c.]
    • 2001, Polly Vernon, The Guardian, 5 May 2001:
      You can’t choose your family, your lovers are difficult and volatile, but, oh, you can choose your friends — so doesn’t it make much more sense to live and holiday with them instead?

Usage notes[edit]

  • Originally, you was specifically plural (indicating multiple people), and specifically the object form (serving as the object of a verb or preposition; like us as opposed to we). The subject pronoun was ye, and the corresponding singular pronouns were thee and thou, respectively. In some forms of (older) English, you and ye doubled as polite singular forms, e.g. used in addressing superiors, with thee and thou being the non-polite singular forms. In the 1600s, some writers objected to the use of «singular you»[1] (compare objections to the singular they), but in modern English thee and thou are archaic and all but nonexistent and you is used for both the singular and the plural.
  • Several forms of English now distinguish singular you from various marked plural forms, such as you guys, y’all, you-uns, or youse, though not all of these are completely equivalent or considered Standard English.
  • The pronoun you is usually, but not always, omitted in imperative sentences. In affirmatives, it may be included before the verb (You go right ahead; You stay out of it); in negative imperatives, it may be included either before the don’t, or (more commonly) after it (Don’t you dare go in there; Don’t you start now).
  • The pronoun you is also used in an indefinite sense: the generic you.
  • See Appendix:English parts of speech for other personal pronouns.

Synonyms[edit]

  • (subject pronoun: person spoken/written to):
    yer (UK eye dialect)
    plus the alternative forms listed above and at Appendix:English personal pronouns
  • (subject pronoun: persons spoken/written to; plural): See Thesaurus:y’all
  • (object pronoun: person spoken/written to): thee (singular, archaic), ye, to you, to thee, to ye
  • (object pronoun: persons spoken/written to): ye, to you, to ye, to you all
  • (one): one, people, they, them

Derived terms[edit]

  • as you sow, so shall you reap
  • because you touch yourself at night
  • believe you me
  • generic you
  • how are you
  • IOU
  • mind you
  • nice to meet you
  • see you in the funny papers
  • see you later
  • smell you later
  • thank you
  • what do you say
  • what say you
  • you know
  • you’d
  • you’ll
  • you’re
  • you’ve

Descendants[edit]

  • Belizean Creole: yu
  • Bislama: yu
  • Cameroon Pidgin: you
  • Jamaican Creole: yuh
  • Nigerian Pidgin: yu
  • Sranan Tongo: yu
  • Tok Pisin: yu
  • Torres Strait Creole: yu

Translations[edit]

See also[edit]

English personal pronouns

Determiner[edit]

you

  1. The individual or group spoken or written to.
    Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?
  2. Used before epithets, describing the person being addressed, for emphasis.
    You idiot!
    • 2015, Judi Curtin, Only Eva, The O’Brien Press, →ISBN:

      You genius!’ I shouted in Aretta’s ear. ‘You absolute genius! Why didn’t you tell us you were so good?’

Derived terms[edit]

  • y’all
  • you guys
  • you-uns

Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

you (third-person singular simple present yous, present participle youing, simple past and past participle youed)

  1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun you (in the past, especially to use you rather than thou, when you was considered more formal).
    • 1930, Barrington Hall, Modern Conversation, Brewer & Warren, page 239:
      Youing consists in relating everything in the conversation to the person you wish to flatter, and introducing the word “you” into your speech as often as possible.
    • 1992, Barbara Anderson, Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Victoria University Press, page 272:
      Now even Princess Anne had dropped it. Sarah had heard her youing away on television the other night just like the inhabitants of her mother’s dominions beyond the seas.
    • 2004, Ellen Miller, Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books, «Practicing»:
      But even having my very own personal pronoun was risky, because it’s pretty tough to keep stopped-hope stopped up when you are getting all youed up, when someone you really like keeps promising you scary, fun, exciting stuff—and even tougher for the of that moment to remain securely devoid of hope, to make smart, self-denying decisions with Dad youing me—the long ooo of it broad and extended, like a hand.

Translations[edit]

Noun[edit]

you (plural yous)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter U.
    • 2004 Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, p. 170
      It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, «Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh.»

Alternative forms[edit]

  • u

References[edit]

  1. ^ The British Friend (November 1st, 1861), notes: «In 1659, Thomas Ellwood, Milton’s friend and scoretary, thus expresses himself—“ The corrupt and unsound form of speaking in the plural number to a single person, you to one instead of thou, contrary to the pure, plain, and simple language …»

Cameroon Pidgin[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

  • yu

Etymology[edit]

From English you.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /ju/

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. thou, thee, 2nd person singular subject and object personal pronoun

See also[edit]

Cameroonian Pidgin personal pronouns

Subject personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person I we, wu
2nd person you wuna
3rd person i dey
Object and topic personal pronouns
1st person me we
2nd person you wuna
3rd person yi, -am dem, -am

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

you

  1. Rōmaji transcription of よう

See also[edit]

Karawa[edit]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. water

References[edit]

  • transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Leonese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Leonese yo, from Vulgar Latin eo (attested from the 6th century), from Latin ego, from Proto-Italic *egō; akin to Greek εγώ (egó), Sanskrit अहम् (aham), all from Proto-Indo-European *éǵh₂.

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. I

See also[edit]

Leonese personal pronouns

nominative disjunctive dative accusative
first person singular you min1 me
plural masculine nosoutros nos
feminine nosoutras
second person singular familiar tu ti1 te
formal3 vusté
plural familiar masculine2 vosoutros vos
feminine vosoutras
formal3 vustedes
third person singular4 masculine2 él ye lu
feminine eilla la
plural masculine2 eillos yes los
feminine eillas las
reflexive 1
  1. Not used with cun; cunmiéu, cuntiéu, and cunsiéu are used instead, respectively
  2. Masculine Leonese pronouns can be used when the gender of the subject is unknown or when the subject is plural and of mixed gender.
  3. Treated as if it were third-person for purposes of conjugation and reflexivity.
  4. A neuter form eillu exists too.

Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

you

  1. Nonstandard spelling of yōu.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of yóu.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of yǒu.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of yòu.

Usage notes[edit]

  • Transcriptions of Mandarin speech into the Roman alphabet often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Middle English[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. Alternative form of yow

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. (chiefly Northern and East Midland dialectal) Alternative form of þou

Mirandese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From Old Leonese you, from Vulgar Latin eo (attested from the 6th century), from Latin ego.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • IPA(key): /jow/

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. I (the first-person singular pronoun)
    • 2008, Picä Tumilho (band) (music), “Ai que cochino!!! (ver. II)”, in Faíçca: Ua stória d’amor i laboura:

      I you cun muita fuorça spetei bien la faca

      And I strongly skewered (with) the knife.

Pouye[edit]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. water

References[edit]

  • transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Takia[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Bargam yuw and Waskia yu.[1]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. water

References[edit]

  • Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, Meredith Osmond, The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The Culture and Environment (2007, →ISBN
  1. ^ Loanwords in Takia, in Loanwords in the World’s Languages: A Comparative Handbook (edited by Martin Haspelmath, Uri Tadmor), page 761

Terebu[edit]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. fire

Further reading[edit]

  • Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The English personal pronouns are a subset of English pronouns taking various forms according to number, person, case and natural gender. Modern English has very little inflection of nouns or adjectives, to the point where some authors describe it as an analytic language, but the Modern English system of personal pronouns has preserved some of the inflectional complexity of Old English and Middle English.

Forms[edit]

Unlike nouns, which are not inflected for case except for possession (woman/woman’s),[a] English personal pronouns have a number of forms, which are named according to their typical grammatical role in a sentence:[b]

  • objective (accusative) case (me, us, etc.), used as the object of a verb, complement of a preposition, and the subject of a verb in some constructions (see § Case usage below). The same forms are also used as disjunctive pronouns.
  • subjective (nominative) case (I, we, etc.), used as the subject of a verb (see also § Case usage below).
  • reflexive form (myself, ourselves, etc.). This typically refers back to a noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same clause (for example, She cut herself). This form is also sometimes used optionally in a non-reflexive function, as a substitute for a non-reflexive pronoun (for example, For someone like myself, . . ., This article was written by Professor Smith and myself),[2][3] though some style guides recommend avoiding such use.[4] The same reflexive forms also are used as intensive pronouns (for example, She made the dress herself).

Possessive pronouns (mine, ours, etc.) replace the entity that was referred to previously (as in I prefer mine) or serve as predicate adjectives (as in this book is mine). For details see English possessive. As they are pronouns they cannot precede any noun.

Basic[edit]

The basic personal pronouns of modern English are shown in the table below.

Personal pronouns in standard Modern English

Person (gender) Subject Object Dependent possessive (determiner) Independent possessive Reflexive
Singular
First I me my mine myself
Second you your yours yourself
Second (poetic/dialect) thou thee thy thine thyself
Third Masculine he him his himself
Feminine she her hers herself
Neuter it its itself
Epicene they them their theirs themself
Plural
First we us our ours ourselves
Second you your yours yourselves
Third they them their theirs themselves

Other English pronouns which have distinct forms of the above types are the indefinite pronoun one, which has the reflexive oneself (the possessive form is written one’s, like a regular English possessive); and the interrogative and relative pronoun who, which has the objective form whom (now confined mostly to formal English) and the possessive whose (which in its relative use can also serve as the possessive for which).

Note that singular they is morphosyntactically plural: it is used with a plural verb form, as in «they laugh» or «they are». See the singular they section for more information.

Archaic and non-standard[edit]

Apart from the standard forms given above, English also has a number of non-standard, informal and archaic forms of personal pronouns.

  • An archaic set of second-person singular pronouns is thou, thee, thy, thine, thyself. In Anglo-Saxon times, these were strictly second person singular. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, they began to be used as a familiar form, like French tu and German du. They passed out of general use between 1600 and 1800, although they (or variants of them) survive in some English and Scottish dialects and in some Christian religious communities, and in many idioms. For details see thou.
Singular
Subject Object Dependent possessive Independent possessive Reflexive
Second thou thee thy thine thyself
  • In archaic language, mine and thine may be used in place of my and thy when followed by a vowel sound.
  • For the use of me instead of I, see I (pronoun)#Alternative use of nominative and accusative
  • An archaic form of plural you as a subject pronoun is ye. Some dialects now use ye in place of you, or as an apocopated or clitic form of you. See ye (pronoun).
  • A non-standard variant of my (particularly in British dialects) is me. (This may have its origins in the fact that in Middle English my before a consonant was pronounced [mi:], like modern English me, (while me was [me:], similar to modern may) and this was shortened to [mi] or [mɪ], as the pronouns he and we are nowadays; [hi wɒz] he was; versus [ɪt wɒz hi:] it was he. As this vowel was short, it was not subject to the Great Vowel Shift, and so emerged in modern English unchanged.)
  • Informal second-person plural forms (particularly in North American dialects) include you all, y’all, youse. Other variants include: yous, you/youse guys, you/youse gals, you-uns, yis, yinz. Possessives may include you(r) guys’s, you(r) gals’s, yous’s, y’all’s (or y’alls). Reflexives may be formed by adding selves after any of the possessive forms. See y’all, yinz, yous. Yous is common in Scotland, particularly in the Central Belt area (though in some parts of the country and in parts of Ireland, ye is used for the plural you).
  • In informal speech them is often replaced by ‘em, believed to be a survival of the late Old English form heom, which appears as hem in Chaucer, losing its aspiration due to being used as an unstressed form. (The forms they, them etc. are of Scandinavian origin.)[5]
  • Non-standard reflexive forms ourself and themself are sometimes used in contexts where we and they are used with singular meaning (see we and singular they).[citation needed]
  • Non-standard reflexive forms hisself and theirselves/theirself are sometimes used[6] (though would be considered incorrect in standard English).[citation needed]
  • In some parts of England, the pronoun «hoo» is used as a third person singular pronoun. The exact usage varies by location, as it can refer to a male creature, female creature, or be used as a genderless pronoun depending on where in England it is used.[7]

Complete table[edit]

A more complete table, including the standard forms and some of the above forms, is given below. Nonstandard, informal and archaic forms are in italics.

Subject Object Dependent
possessive
Independent
possessive
Reflexive
First-person Singular I me my
mine (before vowel)
me (esp. BrE)
mine myself
Plural we us our ours ourselves
ourself
Second-person Singular Standard (archaic plural and later formal) you* your* yours yourself*
Archaic informal thou thee thy
thine (before vowel)
thine thyself
Plural Standard you your yours yourselves
Archaic ye you your yours yourselves
Nonstandard ye
you all
y’all
youse
etc. (see above)
yeer
y’all’s (or y’alls)
yeers
y’all’s (or y’alls)
yeerselves
y’all’s (or y’alls) selves
Third-person Singular Masculine he* him* his* himself*
Feminine she* her* hers herself*
Neuter it its its itself
Epicene (see singular they) they them their theirs themselves
themself
Plural they them their theirs themselves
Generic Formal one one’s oneself
Informal you your yourself

*In religious usage, the pronouns He/She/You, Him/Her/You, His/Her/Your, and Himself/Herself/Yourself are often capitalized when referring to a deity.[8]

For further archaic forms, and information on the evolution of the personal pronouns of English, see Old English pronouns.

Generic you[edit]

The pronoun you (and its other forms) can be used as a generic or indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general. A more formal equivalent is the indefinite pronoun one (reflexive oneself, possessive one’s). For example, you should keep your secrets to yourself may be used in place of the more formal one should keep one’s secrets to oneself.

Gender[edit]

Use of he, she and it[edit]

The masculine pronouns, he, him, and his are used to refer to male persons. The feminine pronouns she, her, and hers are used to refer to female persons. It and its are normally used to refer to an inanimate object or abstract concept; however, babies and young children may sometimes be referred to as it (e.g. a child needs its mother).[9][10] Outside of these very limited contexts, use of it as a pronoun for people is generally avoided, due to the feeling that it is dehumanizing.[11]

Traditionally, in English, if the gender of a person was not known or ambiguous, then the masculine pronouns were often used by default (e.g. a good student always does his homework). Increasingly, though, singular they is used in such cases (see below).[12]

Animals are often referred to as it, but he and she are sometimes used for animals when the animal’s sex is known and is of interest, particularly for higher animals, especially pets and other domesticated animals.[9] Inanimate objects with which humans have a close relationship, such as ships, cars and countries considered as political, rather than geographical, entities, are sometimes referred to using feminine pronouns such as she and her.[9] This may also be extended to other entities, such as towns.

Singular they[edit]

The singular they emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural they. Even when used with singular meaning, they takes a plural verb: If attacked, the victim should remain exactly where they are. Due to this supposed grammatical inconsistency, use of singular they was discouraged by some grammarians during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries in favor of using generic he. Since the 1970s, however, this trend has reversed,[13] and singular they now enjoys widespread acceptance.[14][15]

In the early 21st century, use of singular they with known individuals emerged for some non-binary people, or when the sex or social gender of a person is unknown or unspecified. This is a way of producing gender-neutral language while avoiding other pronouns like he or she, he/she, or s/he.[16]

Gender agreement of genitives[edit]

In English, genitive pronouns agree with the gender of the antecedent or referent. This is in contrast to many languages in which such pronouns agree with the gender of the head noun of the NP in which they appear. For example, in She saw her brother, the genitive pronoun her agrees with antecedent she. Both are feminine. In Italian, in contrast, the same sentences is Lei ha visto suo fratello. Here suo is a third-person, singular, masculine genitive pronoun. It agrees with fratello (brother), not with the feminine antecedent lei.[citation needed]

Case usage[edit]

As noted above, most of the personal pronouns have distinct case forms[1][17] – a subjective (nominative) form and an objective (oblique, accusative) form.[b] In certain instances variation arises in the use of these forms.

As a general rule, the subjective form is used when the pronoun is the subject of a verb, as in he kicked the ball, whereas the objective form is used as the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object (complement) of a preposition.[1][17] For example: Sue kicked him, someone gave him the ball, Mary was with him.

When used as a predicative expression, i.e. as the complement of a form of the copula verb be, the subjective form was traditionally regarded as more correct (as in this is I, it was he), but nowadays the objective form is used predominantly (this is me, it was him), and the use of the subjective in such instances is normally regarded as very formal[1][17] or pedantic; it is more likely (in formal English) when followed by a relative clause (it is we who sent them to die). In some cases the subjective may even appear ungrammatical, as in *is that we in the photograph? (where us would be expected).

When a pronoun is linked to other nouns or pronouns by a coordinating conjunction such as and or or, traditional grammar prescribes that the pronoun should appear in the same form as it would take if it were used alone in the same position: Jay and I will arrive later (since I is used for the subject of a verb), but between you and me (since me is used for the object of a preposition). However, in informal and less careful usage this rule may not be consistently followed;[18] it is common to hear Jay and me will arrive… and between you and I. The latter type (use of the subjective form in object position) is seen as an example of hypercorrection, resulting from an awareness that many instances of and me (like that in the first example) are considered to require correction to and I.[1][17]

Similar deviations from the grammatical norm are quite common in other examples where the pronoun does not stand alone as the subject or object, as in Who said us Yorkshiremen [grammatical: we Yorkshiremen] are tight?

When a pronoun stands alone without an explicit verb or preposition, the objective form is commonly used, even when traditional grammarians might prefer the subjective: Who’s sitting here? Me. (Here I might be regarded as grammatically correct, since it is short for I am (sitting here), but it would sound formal and pedantic, unless followed by am.)

A particular case of this type occurs when a pronoun stands alone following the word than. Here the objective form is again predominant in informal usage[1] (they are older than us), as would be expected if than were analyzed as a preposition. However traditionally than is considered a conjunction, and so in formal and grammatically careful English the pronoun often takes the form that would appear if than were followed by a clause: they are older than we (by analogy with …than we are), but she likes him better than me (if the intended meaning is «…than she likes me»).

For more examples of some of these points, see Disjunctive pronoun.

See also[edit]

  • Generic antecedents
  • Gender-specific and gender-neutral pronouns
  • Inanimate whose
  • One (pronoun)
  • Who (pronoun)
  • Reverential capitalization
  • Wiktionary table of personal pronouns
  • Wiktionary list of English pronouns (comprehensive)

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ As well as number (singular and plural), nouns normally inflect for case (plain case and possessive). Some authorities talk of a genitive case, the inflected word being the last word in a phrasal genitive construction; others regard the genitive marker as a clitic.[1]
  2. ^ a b Terminological note:
    Authorities use different terms for the inflectional (case) forms of the personal pronouns, such as the oblique-case form me, which is used as a direct object, indirect object, oblique object, or object of a preposition, as well as other uses. For instance, one standard work on English grammar, A Comprehensive Grammar of the English Language, uses the term objective case, while another, The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language, uses the term accusative case. Similarly, some use the term nominative for the form I, while others use the term subjective. It is stressed that case is here used to refer to an inflectional category, not the abstract case (the case roles) used in some formal grammars.

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f
    Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 455–483. ISBN 978-0-521-43146-0.
  2. ^ Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; Svartvik, Jan (2008) [1985]. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English language. Index by David Crystal. Longman. pp. 355–361. ISBN 978-0-582-51734-9.
  3. ^
    Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 1483–1499. ISBN 978-0-521-43146-0.
  4. ^
    Gowers, Ernest (1973) [1954]. The Complete Plain Words. revised by Sir Bruce Fraser (2 ed.). HMSO. p. 138. ISBN 0-11-700340-9.
  5. ^ Morse-Gagne, Elise E. 2003. Viking pronouns in England: Charting the course of THEY, THEIR, and THEM. University of Pennsylvania doctoral dissertation. University Microfilms International. The conclusion that these pronouns are of Scandinavian origin had earlier been published by Kluge in Geschichte der Englischen Sprache in 1899 and by Bjorkman in Scandinavian loan-words in Middle English in 1900, although some scholars have disputed it.
  6. ^ «hisself». Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  7. ^ «hoo». Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  8. ^ The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge. The New York Times. 25 October 2011. ISBN 9780312643027. Retrieved 27 December 2011. Pronoun references to a deity worshiped by people in the present are sometimes capitalized, although some writers use capitals only to prevent confusion: God helped Abraham carry out His law.
  9. ^ a b c Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; Svartvik, Jan (2008) [1985]. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English language. Index by David Crystal. Longman. pp. 314–318. ISBN 978-0-582-51734-9.
  10. ^ Miller, Casey; Swift, Kate (2001). The Handbook of Nonsexist Writing (2nd ed.). Lincoln, Nebraska: IUniverse.com, Inc. p. 55. ISBN 0595159214.
  11. ^ Nadal, Kevin L. (2017). The SAGE Encyclopedia of Psychology and Gender. SAGE Publications. p. 702. ISBN 978-1483384283.
  12. ^
    Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge University Press. pp. 493–494. ISBN 978-0-521-43146-0.
  13. ^ Pauwels, Anne (2003). «Linguistic sexism and feminist linguistic activism». In Holmes, Janet; Meyerhoff Miriam (eds.). The Handbook of Language and Gender. Malden, MA: Blackwell. pp. 563–564. ISBN 978-0-631-22502-7.
  14. ^ Miller, Casey; Swift, Kate (1995) [1981]. Kate Mosse (ed.). The Handbook of Non-Sexist Writing for Writers, Editors and Speakers (3rd British ed.). The Women’s Press. pp. 1–9. ISBN 07043-44424.
  15. ^ Baranowski, Maciej (2002). «Current usage of the epicene pronoun in written English». Journal of Sociolinguistics. 6 (3): 378–397. doi:10.1111/1467-9481.00193.
  16. ^ «They». Merriam-Webster dictionary. The use of they, their, them, and themselves as pronouns of indefinite gender and indefinite number is well established in speech and writing, even in literary and formal contexts.
  17. ^ a b c d Quirk, Randolph; Greenbaum, Sidney; Leech, Geoffrey; Svartvik, Jan (2008) [1985]. A Comprehensive Grammar of the English language. Index by David Crystal. Longman. pp. 336–339. ISBN 978-0-582-51734-9.
  18. ^
    Pinker, Steven (1994). The Language Instinct. Penguin. pp. 390–392. ISBN 0-14-017529-6.

Further reading[edit]

  • Baron, Dennis (2020), What’s Your Pronoun?: Beyond He and She, Liveright, ISBN 978-1-63149-604-2
  • Bouissac, Paul (2019), The Social Dynamics of Pronominal Systems: A Comparative Approach, John Benjamins, ISBN 978-90-272-0316-8
  • they
  • we
  • I
  • he
  • she
  • it
  • they
  • ve
  • xe
  • ze
  • zie
  • sie
  • me
  • him
  • her
  • it
  • them
  • ver
  • xem
  • hir
  • zir
  • us
  • them
  • anyone
  • one

Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

On this page you’ll find 47 synonyms, antonyms, and words related to you, such as: we, and they.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

What is a synonym for you?

We don’t traditionally think of you as having synonyms, but there are several situations in which it can replace—or be replaced with—another word, phrase, or series of words.

yourself

In some cases, the word yourself (plural, yourselves) is used as another way of saying you. For example, it’s common to say things like You should think for yourself (which avoids using it twice, as in You should think for you). Yourself is also sometimes used in place of you after the words as, than, and but, as in I was a girl no older than yourself

one

You is sometimes used not to refer to the listener or reader but to any person in general, much like how the word one is sometimes used, as in You never know what might happen. A more formal way of saying this is One never knows what might happen

y’all and you-all

There are a few alternative ways of saying you when it’s plural. The term y’all—a popular shortening of you-all—can be used when referring to multiple people, as in Y’all are my favorite people, or to a person who represents a group or organization, as in Are y’all going to be open on Saturday? These terms (and similar ones like you guys) are typically used in informal communication. 

yous and youse

A plural form of you that is considered nonstandard is yous (or youse) as in Where are yous going?

ye and thou

Archaic forms of the word you include ye and thou

u

You might use the letter u as a substitute for you in very informal communications, such as text messages or online posts, as in i miss u!

What can you use instead of the word you?

What kind of pronoun is you?

TRY USING you

See how your sentence looks with different synonyms.

How to use you in a sentence

«I wish t’ hell, stranger, you-all hadn’t edged off south,» chattered Alfred.

BLAZED TRAIL STORIESSTEWART EDWARD WHITE

But wildcats is purty heavy, an’ you-all can hit ’em with a shotgun.

THE GHOST BREAKERCHARLES GODDARD

«I just stepped over to inquire what you-all’d like for breakfast this mornin’,» he said with a grin.

HIDDEN GOLDWILDER ANTHONY

Has you-all done cided to do wid out yo suppers dis yer night?

THREE LITTLE WOMENGABRIELLE E. JACKSON

Too late, my royal eyas?You shall strike this deer yourself at gaze ere long—She has no mind to slip to cover.

THE SAINT’S TRAGEDYCHARLES KINGSLEY

Nothin’, only you‘re a white-livered stinker, an’ I’m jest a-spoilin’ foh a fight with you-all.

TRAMPING ON LIFEHARRY KEMP

You have seen a mesmerist or biologist, or whatever-you-call-him-ist, communicate with a man under his spell without speech.

DUFFELSEDWARD EGGLESTON

«You-all didn’t ‘low I’d need my rifle-gun no more,» he repeated slowly, with forced restraint.

THE CODE OF THE MOUNTAINSCHARLES NEVILLE BUCK

SYNONYM OF THE DAY

OCTOBER 26, 1985

WORDS RELATED TO YOU

  • he
  • it
  • she
  • sie
  • they
  • ve
  • xe
  • you
  • ze
  • zie
  • a person
  • all
  • any of
  • any person
  • anybody
  • anybody at all
  • each and every one
  • everybody
  • everyone
  • masses
  • one
  • public
  • whole world
  • you
  • I
  • it
  • she
  • sie
  • they
  • ve
  • xe
  • you
  • ze
  • zie
  • him
  • hir
  • it
  • me
  • them
  • ver
  • xem
  • you
  • zir
  • her
  • hir
  • it
  • me
  • them
  • ver
  • xem
  • you
  • zir
  • her
  • him
  • it
  • me
  • them
  • ver
  • xem
  • you
  • zir

Roget’s 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.

Table of Contents

  1. What does archaic mean in English?
  2. What is an archaic person?
  3. Why is there no formal you in English?
  4. How do you use archaic?
  5. Does thy mean my?
  6. Is Thy same as my?
  7. How do you properly use thy?
  8. Does thine mean my?
  9. How do you use the word thine?
  10. What is thine in modern English?
  11. Why did we stop using Thou?
  12. What is thou thy thee mean?
  13. What does thine eyes mean?
  14. What does Drink to Me with Thine Eyes?
  15. When to use thy or thine?
  16. How do you use thy thou thee thine?
  17. What does thy mean in slang?
  18. What is another word for thy?
  19. What is the opposite of thy?
  20. What does hath mean in modern English?
  21. What is Haveth?
  22. What does dimmed mean?
  23. Is dimmed one syllable?

Thy and thine are archaic forms corresponding to your and yours respectively. Use thy where you would use your (but see note at end of answer) and thine where you would use yours.

What does archaic mean in English?

1 : having the characteristics of the language of the past and surviving chiefly in specialized uses an archaic word. Note: In this dictionary the label archaic is affixed to words and senses relatively common in earlier times but infrequently used in present-day English.

What is an archaic person?

marked by the characteristics of an earlier period; antiquated: an archaic manner; an archaic notion. (of a linguistic form) commonly used in an earlier time but rare in present-day usage except to suggest the older time, as in religious rituals or historical novels.

Why is there no formal you in English?

Why Doesn’t English Have Formal Pronouns? English is a Germanic language, meaning it evolved from the same language as German. Going all the way back to Old English, there were two second-person pronouns: þū for the singular “you” and ge for the plural “you.” Over time, these evolved into thou and ye, respectively.

Archaic sentence example

  1. The walls are often covered with paintings in a very simple archaic style, in red and black.
  2. Amongst Conifers the archaic genera, Ginkgo and Araucarus still persist.

Does thy mean my?

“Thy” is an English word that means “your” in the second person singular. English used to have a distinction between singular and plural in the second person, such that we had the following: Singular: thou, thee, thy. Plural: ye, you, your.

Is Thy same as my?

3 Answers. Thy and thine are archaic forms corresponding to your and yours respectively. Use thy where you would use your (but see note at end of answer) and thine where you would use yours.

How do you properly use thy?

Thy is used as a possessive determiner and is used before words beginning with consonant sounds. Thine is used as a possessive determiner and is used before words beginning with a vowel sound. Thine is also used as a possessive pronoun.

Does thine mean my?

(ðaɪn ) pronoun. Thine is an old-fashioned, poetic, or religious word for ‘yours’ when you are talking to only one person.

How do you use the word thine?

the possessive case of thou1 used as an attributive adjective before a noun beginning with a vowel or vowel sound: thine eyes; thine honor. Compare thy. that which belongs to thee: Thine is the power and the glory.

What is thine in modern English?

: that which belongs to thee —used without a following noun as a pronoun equivalent in meaning to the adjective thy —used especially in ecclesiastical or literary language and still surviving in the speech of Friends especially among themselves.

Why did we stop using Thou?

Why did people stop using thou? Well, in some cases it could be because they were beaten when they said it. Thee was used in the objective or oblique case (when referring to the object of a verb or preposition), and thou was used in the nominative (when indicating the subject of a verb).

What is thou thy thee mean?

“Thou” and “thee” are subject and object pronouns respectively and both mean “you”. “Thy” is possessive and means “your”. There is also the possessive pronoun “thine”, which means “yours”. To most modern speakers of English “thee” sounds very formal (contrary to how it was used) and archaic.

What does thine eyes mean?

Archaic. a preceding a vowel of, belonging to, or associated in some way with you (thou) thine eyes. b (as pronoun) thine is the greatest burden (Compare) → thy.

What does Drink to Me with Thine Eyes?

Save This Word! A line from a love poem by the seventeenth-century English poet Ben Jonson. He suggests that lovers find each other’s glances so intoxicating that they have no need to drink wine.

When to use thy or thine?

We use thy and thine to mean your. Use thy before words that begin with consonant sounds and thine before words that begin with vowel sounds.

How do you use thy thou thee thine?

Thou is the nominative form; the oblique/objective form is thee (functioning as both accusative and dative), the possessive is thy (adjective) or thine (as an adjective before a vowel or as a pronoun) and the reflexive is thyself.

What does thy mean in slang?

Thank You

What is another word for thy?

In this page you can discover 16 synonyms, antonyms, idiomatic expressions, and related words for thy, like: thee, my, thine, that, thou, for, but, doth, which, whate-er and i.

What is the opposite of thy?

What is the opposite of thy?

not yours someone else’s
hers his
its mine
theirs

What does hath mean in modern English?

(hæθ ) Hath is an old-fashioned third person singular form of the verb ‘have. ‘

What is Haveth?

/hæθ/ /həθ / in the past, the third person singular form of the present tense of “have”: he/she/it hath (= he/she/it has)

What does dimmed mean?

1 : to reduce the light from dim the headlights. 2 : to make dim or lusterless dimmed their hopes of an early settlement. intransitive verb. : to become dim the lights dimmed their beauty had dimmed.

Is dimmed one syllable?

Wondering why dimmed is 1 syllable?

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