Formal word for you in english - Word и Excel - помощь в работе с программами

At one point there were formal and informal second person pronouns (informal: thou, thee, etc; formal: you, ye, etc.) However, «[b]y the late seventeenth century you had become normal in almost all contexts and thou and thee were limited to the Bible and religious use, the Quakers, and regional dialects» according to the OED Blog. (More on this can be found here.)

Thus, the most formal second person (singular and plural) pronoun is you (in contrast, there are currently several widely-used informal second person pronouns in different regions such as «y’all» and «you guys»). You can see you used in examples of letters/emails in pretty much any source you pick up. Here’s an example from a book (Technical Communication, page 369) I happen to own (emphasis added):

Dear Mr. Larsyn:

As steady customers of yours for over 15 years, we came to you first when we needed a quiet pile driver for a job near a residential area. On your recommendation, we bought your Vista 500 Quiet Driver[…]

Yours truly,
Jack Robbins, President

Use of «you» can create an informal tone in some types of writing, such as essay writing, documentation, or academic writing. In other words, writing which is not addressed to anyone where it would make sense to use «one» instead of «you» or rewrite things entirely.

And of course, there are other (unrelated) strategies to make writing more (or less formal), such as not using contractions.

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Formal and Informal Greetings in English: Every nation or culture has its unique greetings, which are a part of every discussion. Consider how you greet newcomers in your home country. There are many traditions to follow in English, just as there are different ways to say “hello” in your original language. It’s crucial to understand the most popular greetings and responses in English and use them correctly and confidently.

You’re probably already familiar with a few different ways to say “hello” in English, but you are yet to know and be surprised about how many types of greetings exist in a single language – far too numerous to mention here.

A well-chosen “hello” sets the tone for every discussion, whether you’re speaking with a close friend or a complete stranger, and hence here in this article, you will get to see such examples of greetings along with their meanings that will help you to choose the appropriate greeting for a formal or casual setting.

What are Greetings?
What are Formal Greetings?
Examples of Formal Greetings
What are Informal Greetings?
Examples of Informal Greetings
The Takeaway from the Article

What are Greetings?

Greeting is a kind of communication in which people make their presence known to one another to demonstrate interest and imply a type of connection or social status between individuals or groups of people who come into touch with one another.

Simply said, a greeting is a means of expressing hello to someone. This may be practised in various ways in the English language. Some greetings may be used in official contexts, as well as greetings that can be used in a more casual, friendly environment. It is crucial to be able to pick a suitable welcome for any circumstance.

What are Formal Greetings?

In more formal contexts, especially when respect and civility are required, some greetings are suitable. Business meetings, formal school, job presentations, and meeting a friend’s parents are examples of these situations.

When doing business at restaurants and stores, you may receive similar welcomes. If you’re ever in question about whether to give a formal or casual greeting, it’s usually best to go with the formal to avoid offending someone.

Examples of Formal Greetings

Formal settings and official situations demand greetings in a formal manner unless the other person greets in a casual way. Some of the most famous greetings for formal occasions are listed below.

Good morning, Good afternoon, Good evening, or Good day – These formal greetings are commonly used in a formal atmosphere and are used as a replacement for the word “hello.” Before 12 p.m., you should say ‘good morning,’ after 12 p.m., you should say ‘good afternoon,’ and after 6 p.m., you should say ‘good evening.’ The phrase “good day” can be used at any time throughout the morning or afternoon.
How are you doing? – Although this is an ancient greeting, it is still commonly used in formal circumstances. When you ask this question, you’re likely to get a response like “quite good, thank you.”
How have you been? Or How have you been doing lately? – Only those who have met before can ask this greeting question to each other. When someone asks, “How have you been?” they want to know if you’ve been doing fine since the last time you saw or met each other.
It’s nice meeting you or Pleased to meet you – When meeting someone for the first time, this is a common greeting. It is most commonly used in formal settings, although it may also be used in a less formal setting for a first encounter. Remember to use these pleasantries only when meeting someone for the first time. “It’s wonderful to see you again,” you might remark the next time you see the individual to convey that you remember him or her.
How are you doing? – This is a polite method of inquiring how someone is doing, and it’s frequently used with words like ‘hello’ or ‘good morning or afternoon or evening,’ etc.

What are Informal Greetings?

When it comes to informal greetings, you can use them while conversing with a neighbour or chit-chatting with co-workers during a coffee break. These greetings can be used in various informal contexts, such as when meeting friends and family or someone you encounter on the street.

Although some of these statements appear to be queries or questions, the greeting is not necessarily expected to be responded by the greeted. In reality, as perplexing as it may seem, a question is occasionally answered with a question. These greetings can also be used in combination, as seen in the examples below.

Examples of Informal Greetings

Below are some informal greetings that you may use with English-speaking friends, relatives, or anybody else with whom you’re familiar.

Hi! – This is another term for ‘hello’ and is arguably the most widely used greeting in English. In everyday life, you’ll hear this greeting rather frequently.
Hiya – This is a variation of the above-mentioned ‘hi,’ and is often used in the United Kingdom.
Hey (there!) – A different take on the word “hello.” This is a cheerful and optimistic welcome.
Morning! – This is a more informal or casual way of greeting “Good morning” to someone you see frequently or on a regular basis.
How are things (with you)? Or How’s everything? Or How is life? – Instead of the more formal query, “How are you?”, often this less strict expression is used.
How’s your day? or How’s your day going? – These phrases simply mean “how are you?” not only now but throughout the day. These greetings are used later in the day and with someone you meet frequently.
What’s new? Or How’s it going? Or What’s going on? – This is an informal manner of asking someone how they are, and it is frequently substituted for “hello.”
How are you? – This is another method of inquiring how someone is doing, and it is often used in English.
What’s up? Or ‘Sup? – It is a slang phrase that means ‘what’s up?’ and is more prevalent in the United States. Many individuals use the phrase “what’s up,” however it is frequently reduced as “sup.
It’s great to see you again, or Long time, no see, or It’s been a while – When you run into someone you haven’t seen in a long time and meet them unexpectedly, you say this greeting.
Nice to see you or Good to see you – These informal greetings are used when you haven’t seen friends, co-workers, or family members in a long time.
Yo – This is another informal or casual greeting that is more popular in the United States, and it simply means ‘hello, what’s up?’
Howdy! – This is a very casual shorthand of “how do you do?” that is widespread in portions of Canada and the United States’ southern regions. Keep in mind that saying “howdy” outside of these areas will make you sound like a cowboy, which may make the other person chuckle.
Alright! – This is a fairly frequent greeting in the United Kingdom that is used to say hello to someone.
Are you OK? Or You alright? Or Alright, mate? – In Britain, this informal style of saying “hello” and “how are you?” is prevalent. “Yeah, fine,” or just “alright,” is an acceptable response for these greetings.
Alright, mate? or Alright? – This is a frequent slang technique of greeting a buddy in a relaxed manner. It’s a condensed form of “Are you okay?” “Not bad, mate, you?” is an appropriate and pleasant response as well.
G’day! – It’s a contraction of “Good day.” This informal greeting is an abbreviation for “good day” in Australia. Keep in mind that “ya” is frequently used instead of “you” in Australian greetings. “How are ya?” means “how are you?” and “how are ya going?” means “how’s it going?” “How are you doing?” or “How are you doing?”

The Takeaway from the Article

The phrases are simple to learn; the difficult part is knowing how to utilise them correctly. When you meet someone new, get together with your friends, or go shopping, try to use a different greeting each time. The type of greeting you choose will depend on whether the circumstance is formal or casual. There are so many to pick from that you can actually personalise and spice up your greetings. In no time, you’ll be a pro at English greetings!

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Hello!

Are there any other languages beside English that have only a single word for «you»?

The closest example I’ve found so far is Swedish, where as far as I know «du» is used universally.

Thank you!

MarX

Swedish has both «du» (informal), and «Ni» (formal). No language I know, besides English, has only one word.

Ähmm, I don’t know who changed the title, but what I meant was a language where no various forms of pronouns exist for «you», they may differ according to number (singular or plural), but without such opposition such as German du & Sie, Spanish tú & usted, Dutch jij & U, etc.

In English you say «you» to everybody. And it happens that you also do it to more than one person.

I hope you get my message conveyed.

If I understand you well, you wish to know which languages lack a distinction between a formal and an informal «you».

Irish is another language where this happens.

sam1978

In Italian we have the: «Tu» (informal) and «Lei» (formal).

Hello ;

For Arabic it’s انت /انتم Anta for singular and Antom for plural also in French we have tu for sungular and vous for plural.

Hakro

Also English has two words: thou and you, although the singular/informal word thou is not used anymore except when talking to God.

Norwegian has, strictly speaking, formal «you» pronouns, but they are outdated (fell out of use two-three decades ago). In other words, we use the same (informal) pronoun to each other: du.

However, the plural «you» is different, of course: dere.

elroy

Moderator: EHL, Arabic, Hebrew, German(-Spanish)

Arabic, like English, has no formality distinction, even though there are five different forms of «you» (masculine singular, feminine singular, dual, masculine plural, and feminine plural). As Arabic and English are the two languages I grew up with, using different forms of «you» depending on formality is still not entirely intuitive to me, even though I’ve learned several languages that have such a distinction.

Hello ;

For Arabic it’s انت /انتم Anta for singular and Antom for plural also in French we have tu for sungular and vous for plural.

But French also makes a distinction for formality there — vous is used as a formal/respectful singular pronoun as well, so it does not fit the criterion for this thread.

Mandarin:
你(ni3) and 您(nin2)

Cantonese:
你(nei3)
In Cantonese, we only use 你 in spoken language. Depends on the context, sometimes it can be a polite form. Also, due to the influence of Mandarin, 您 also exist, sometimes people write 您 when they write Cantonese(normally only informally on IM and blogs). The interesting thing is that 你 and 您 have the same pronunciation in Cantonese, so when spoken, they are the same. The conclusion is that Cantonese has only one ‘you’ when spoken.

sokol

In English you say «you» to everybody. And it happens that you also do it to more than one person.

But even though there’s only ‘you’ in English you can nevertheless be on ‘first name’ terms or not, with anyone.

In my experience, though, with business contacts on the ‘same level’ (hierarchically) usually (at least with the British) you are at first-name-terms right from the beginning.

As for Norvegian and Swedish: is there still a first-name-terms difference even though nowadays only informal ‘you’ is used?

In Austria there were (and to a degree, in certain regions, still are) three different forms of formality: the informal ‘you’ = ‘du’ (2nd singular), the formal ‘you’ = ‘sie’ (3rd plural), and then something ‘in between’ = ‘ihr’ (2nd plural), the latter still used especially in rural regions but sometimes even in cities.

And last but not least there seems to be a very young trend here in Vienna especially (and sometimes used by the media when interviewing VIP’s): the use of formal ‘sie’ but first-name-terms!
Most noticeably for example in a very popular show where it would always be: ‘Andrea, Sie haben …’ = ‘Andrea (first name), you (formal ‘you’) have …’ This seems to be modeled on English.

So in Austria nowadays there coexist four levels of formality.

Thank you, guys!

So, so far, the languages where one form is used for «you» are:

English
Irish
Arabic
Cantonese
Swedish*
Norwegian*

In Spain, «usted» is also rarely used.
When I was there, I noticed that everybody tú’ed each other, even the professor and students at the uni.

*Theoretically there are formal forms in these languages, but they (almost) got out of use.

Further input is welcome!

Grüsse,

MarK

Hakro

*Theoretically there are formal forms in these languages, but they (almost) got out of use.

As I said in post #7, English is one of those «*Theoretically» languages.

And in Finland’s Swedish the formal form is at least commonly accepted if not so commonly used anymore.

sokol

In Spain, «usted» is also rarely used.
When I was there, I noticed that everybody tú’ed each other, even the professor and students at the uni.

I don’t think it would be correct to list Spanish here.

Although in Spain tutear seems to be much more common than in Latin America, it is not at all common to tutear all the time.

Orreaga

In Basque there is one form that is 2nd person neutral/polite, «zu» (sing.), «zuek» (pl.), although there is a different «very familiar/intimate» form only in the singular, «hi«, which does not take 2nd person verb forms, but a modified 1st person form. At least that’s what my textbook says… I’d appreciate confirmation from a native speaker.

In Navajo there is only one form, «ni» (sing.), «nihí» (pl.).

As I said in post #7, English is one of those «*Theoretically» languages.

In the case of English, the informal form is the one that fell out of use.
But I got what you mean.

In Navajo there is only one form, «ni» (sing.), «nihí» (pl.).

Navajo added to the list!

Mjolnir

Hebrew has no formality distinction, and there are four different forms of «you» — masculine singular, feminine singular, masculine plural, and feminine plural.

The story about

Dutch

The Old Dutch 2SG personal pronoun was thu (like English thou) which became du in Middle Dutch. As in many languages, the 2PL pronoun ghi got to be used as a formal address for the singular. Du got lost which made ghi the pronoun for the second person without marking singular/plural or formal/informal. (An atonic form of du was retained as an enclitic to verbs though, as in hebde ‘have you’ or slaapte ‘sleep you’.) Later, the singular-plural distinction was made clear again by constructions like gij allen ‘you all’ and gij lieden ‘you guys’, the last of which resulted in jullie, which is the current 2PL form. (Compare the forms y’all and youguys as they are used in the States, and vosotros in Spanish, where at the time of vosotros‘s evolvement, vos was used in the same way as ghi / English you.) Gij got replaced by jij, and later the form u evolved as a formal second person pronoun, out of uwe edelheid ‘your nobility’, in which uwe is the possessive form of gij (compare Spanish again where usted came from vuestra merced.)

There are however still some dialects that use du, like in Limburg. And in most of Belgium, gij is still the usual form for the second person singular, jij actually being considered quite formal and distant, as it is Standard Dutch.

Compare the forms y’all and youguys as they are used in the States

That’s a good point and in fact, now that I think of it, I do have an informal vs. formal distinction in my spoken English but only in the plural forms where you guys is definitely informal — I couldn’t imagine for example giving a presentation and addressing the audience as anything other than you, but if it’s a group of friends, it will automatically be you guys.

Thank you very much for your info upon Dutch, Ioannes!! I never knew the history of Dutch you’s.

Apparently it’s usual that the second person plural pronoun became used as singular.
You is an example. Then there is vos, and gij, and in Indonesian the word kamu was originally plural. I never knew this until I looked closer in the Bible, where kamu is always used in a plural context, whereas (eng)kau is the singular form.

Indonesian is far from having only one form of «you». In the singular there are at least three ways of saying «you».

Orreaga

there’s even a thread here in this forum about why Argentinos se tutean en los foros — and if you read in the Spanish sections of this forum you will quickly learn that vos(ostros) (the LA form of usted and formal form of ‘you’) is widely used here.

Unless I’ve misundertood you, you seem to be saying vos is the formal form of you in Argentina, which is not the case. Vos in Argentina (and certain other places in Latin America) is the familiar form, used instead of tú, and the discussion about why Argentines se tutean en los foros is about why they use the tú form instead of vos in the forum. In places where voseo is the norm, usted is still used for formal speech (and ustedes for both formal and familiar plural, not vosotros).

In any case, Wikipedia has an article called T-V distinction which could be of use. It appears that this has been a widespread distinction in European languages for several centuries, stemming from issues of royalty, nobility and class distinctions, but not much is said about other language groups, even though the article makes use of annoying generalizations like «most languages…». I don’t believe they’re including African languages or indigenous languages of the Americas when they talk about «most languages».

It appears that this has been a widespread distinction in European languages for several centuries, stemming from issues of royalty, nobility and class distinctions, but not much is said about other language groups […] I don’t believe they’re including African languages or indigenous languages of the Americas when they talk about «most languages».

They mention also:

Amharic
Bengali
Chinese
Filipino
Indonesian
Japanese
Kannada
Kazakh
!Kung-ekoka (an African language)
Kurdish
Kyrgyz
Malay
Nepali
Oriya
Somali (another African language)
Tagalog
Tajik
Tamil
Telugu
Turkish
Ubykh
Urdu
Uyghur

T-V distinction article.

sokol

Unless I’ve misundertood you, you seem to be saying vos is the formal form of you in Argentina, which is not the case. Vos in Argentina (and certain other places in Latin America) is the familiar form (…)

I’m sorry — I only browsed the thread about Argentines’ usage of ‘vos’: and no, I didn’t know that this is an informal form. Thank you for clarification and for correcting my mistake. I’ll correct my post at once!

Orreaga

They mention also:

Amharic Bengali Chinese Filipino Indonesian Japanese Kannada Kazakh !Kung-ekoka (an African language) Kurdish Kyrgyz Malay Nepali Oriya Somali (another African language) Tagalog Tajik Tamil Telugu Turkish Ubykh Urdu Uyghur

T-V distinction article.

In the list given, yes, there are several non-European languages mentioned (2 African languages out of 2000, no Native American languages), but in the article above the list there is the problematic phrase: «most languages use formal speech more frequently, and/or in different circumstances than English.» I think you have to be careful when saying anything about «most languages» unless you’ve done a survey of the 600+ indigenous languages of the Americas, approximately 2000 languages of Africa, not to mention the 800 or so languages of Papua New Guinea alone and languages spoken in other parts of the globe.

I think that they’re referring to the languages that have a T-V distinction. But you have a point that it can be misread. :cool:

Mandarin:
你(ni3) and 您(nin2)

Cantonese:
你(nei3)
In Cantonese, we only use 你 in spoken language. Depends on the context, sometimes it can be a polite form. Also, due to the influence of Mandarin, 您 also exist, sometimes people write 您 when they write Cantonese(normally only informally on IM and blogs). The interesting thing is that 你 and 您 have the same pronunciation in Cantonese, so when spoken, they are the same. The conclusion is that Cantonese has only one ‘you’ when spoken.

MR

It’s worth mentioning that even in formal Chinese Mandarin the polite form 您 [nín] is not so often used, 你 [nǐ] is used much more often, without being rude, also 您 doesn’t have a plural form.

Russian, like French, German, etc has ты/вы (ty/vy) (IPA:[tɨ], [vɨ]), which are very common, the latter one is also the plural form of «you». Other Slavic languages have a similar feature.

Polish, unlike other Slavic languages has «ty» and words Pan (m), Pani (f), Panna (seldom for «Miss»), Państwo (plural) — these words may differ in the vocative case. The words derive from nouns and are used in 3rd person. «wy» is a plural form and is seldom used as the Russian «вы» in modern Polish.

Japanese usage of personal pronouns is restricted, names are preferred instead but there are a number of pronouns, which may be used. The most neutral, common and polite enough is 貴方 / あなた [anata], which can be used to address a single person you don’t know. Besides, pronouns are too often omitted, if the context is known. Most Japanese pronouns are derived from some nouns and may have other meanings and usages. I would add Japanese to French/German group or make a separate one.

Hello! I can’t see Spanish so sorry if it’s repeated.
In Spain, we use «tú» (informal) and «usted» (formal).

I saw something about the word «tutear»: it’s the way of calling each other «tú».

Hope it helped and sorry for my English mistakes. I’m only a learner!

Nanon

Surprisingly Brazilian Portuguese (at least some variants) has not been mentioned yet if I am not wrong. This is one of the ever-lasting topics of the Portuguese forum. Here is one of the related threads (I selected one with several posts in English).

Surprisingly Brazilian Portuguese (at least some variants) has not been mentioned yet if I am not wrong. This is one of the ever-lasting topics of the Portuguese forum.

That’s because in Brazilian Portuguese there are separate words for formal and informal «you»:

informal sg.: você
formal sg.: o senhor / a senhora

That’s because in Brazilian Portuguese there are separate words for formal and informal «you»:

informal sg.: você
formal sg.: o senhor / a senhora

What I am going to say is the exact opposite of the question asked. I have yet to grasp the true nuances underlying the multi-tiered forms of addressing someone in Portugal:
Tu very, very informal (not even between parents and their children and viceversa, as in some cases I have often witnessed)
Você loosely informal
O António, a Maria ???
O senhor/a senhora vaguely formal
O senhor António, a dona Maria a little more formal, perhaps?
O senhor engenheiro/ a senhora doutora to underpin social class distinction, I wonder?

Help me, Outsider!
O

Topsie

But even though there’s only ‘you’ in English you can nevertheless be on ‘first name’ terms or not, with anyone.
….
Most noticeably for example in a very popular show where it would always be: ‘Andrea, Sie haben …’ = ‘Andrea (first name), you (formal ‘you’) have …’ This seems to be modeled on English.

So in Austria nowadays there coexist four levels of formality.

In French too, you can call people by their first names and still say «vous» — it is less formal than giving them «Madame» or «Monsieur», but more formal than saying «tu». (I’ve often come across it in business environments)

English had a formal and an informal ‘you.’ You was the formal form and Thou was the informal form. Thou and associate words died out in the transition from Early Modern English to Modern English.

Japanese usage of personal pronouns is restricted, names are preferred instead but there are a number of pronouns, which may be used. The most neutral, common and polite enough is 貴方 / あなた [anata], which can be used to address a single person you don’t know. Besides, pronouns are too often omitted, if the context is known. Most Japanese pronouns are derived from some nouns and may have other meanings and usages.

That’s very similar to the case in Indonesian. We have many ways to say «you», and many are derived from nouns, yet we often omit the pronoun if it’s obvious from the context.

In Brazilian portuguese, we say usually «Você» (informal) and «o senhor/a senhora» (formal). There is also in some areas of Brazil «tu», but this is also informal, and is only another word for «você». It is good to note that in Brazil we conjugate the verb as if «tu», «o senhor/a senhora» and «você» were third person. There is a second person conjugation, but nobody uses it anymore. I think that is not the case in Portugal, where the second person conjugation is used.

One more for the list: in Latin, there is only one form: «tu». It doesn’t matter if you are talking to a child or to a god.

It is difficult but not impossible to distinguish two separate questions:
1) Does a language have multiple forms for the personal pronoun in 2nd person singular (some times using formally 3rd person or plural forms), based on social distance or subjugation. This is the question of the thread.
2) Does the language provide for marking socially distance or subjugation?

In the case of Hebrew the language provides the possibilty to adress somebody socially respected as «adoni hanikhbad» (my respected mister) or «gvirti hanikhbedet» (my respected lady) but it does not make use of pronouns here.

In the case of Swedish and Finnish, the original system for showing respect and sometimes social distance was a third person singular with a noun based subject. «Magistern är så god och…»/ «Maisteri on niin hyvä ja…..» or «Fröken är så snäll och…»/ «Neiti on nin hyvä ja…» or even to your own parents: «Kan pappa räcka mej brödet…».
This system is practically dead. Instead the remnants of a system marking distance originally based on superiority and sometime disrespect (2nd person plural Sw. «Ni» Fi. «Te») is still in existence and was for some time used to substitute for the death of the previous system. Thus most people in Finland today would think it is polite to use the 2nd person plural (Ni/Te) to a stranger, but for old people this sounds very rude: originally the 2nd person plural was only used from a superior social position and to show respect the third person singular was used with a noun describing the addressed person as a subject.

This effectively corresponds to the Portuguese polite form: «O senhor…».

Last edited: Apr 2, 2009

In Turkish, we use plural forms to make pronouns formal. There was formal forms of third singular person formerly, but it’s very very rare now. So, we use plural form of you (siz) to make the singular you (sen) formal.

Hello!

Are there any other languages beside English that have only a single word for «you»?

The closest example I’ve found so far is Swedish, where as far as I know «du» is used universally.

Thank you!

MarX

Costa Rican Spanish:
Usted (both formal and informal) you
Ustedes (both formal and informal) you (pl)
—
Some dialects use vos along with usted.

Most (I’d say 75%) Brazilian dialects:
você (both formal and informal) you
vocês (both formal and informal) you (pl.)
—
Você is replacing the forms of respect like o senhor, or o cavalheiro...
It’s not unusual to use você instead of these forms, even in a
formal setting. People don’t like being adressed to with o senhor
because they think o senhor should be used with (very) old people only
and will answer you: O senhor está no Céu! (The Almighty is in Heaven).
So, in Brazilian Portuguese, o senhor is becoming more or less like sir in English…

Last edited: Oct 13, 2010

apmoy70

Greek has a peculiarity. While in its Classical/Koine period, it formed different forms of informal and formal «you»—>
You (informal): «Σὺ» (su; Doric, tu) from PIE base *tu, thou.
You (plural/formal): «Ὑμεῖς» (hu’meis; Aeolic «ὕμμε», hummĕ) from PIE base *(y)us-(s)me, you.
In its Byzantine/Modern period uses the same «you»—>
You (informal): «Συ» or «εσύ» (si, or e’si)
You (plural/formal): «Σεις» or «εσείς» (sis, or e’sis); formed quite logically, it’s the plural of «συ»

Costa Rican Spanish:
Usted (both formal and informal) you

Yep, also found in many speakers in Guatemala and Colombia.

(Which strikes me as very odd, how come ustedeo would be found in these three unconnected countries? I understand why it isn’t found in (at least Urban) Panama due to the large influence of Caribbean Spanish there, but why haven’t I ever heard it in El Salvador or Honduras?)

In Colombia (except for the Atlantic Coast where the »classical» usage is observed: tú = informal, Vd. = formal; vos = not used) people seem to use all three tú, vos, Vd informally, but tú is unheard of in some places like Santiago de Cali where only vos and Vd are used as informal pronouns. I believe that in Medellín and Bogotá they use all three pronouns informally: vos, tú and Vd with no difference.

Very true. Just because a language may have different formalities of «you» doesn’t mean regional usage always follows the prescribed rules.
In Medellín, at least, ustedeo is very common. While I was there, my friend’s family usually all referred to each other this way. Even their puppy was usted. At first it was baffling to hear things like, «¡Venga!» or «¡No me muerda o le pegue!» (Don’t bite me or I’ll spank you!») when talking to a dog. It almost sounded to me like there was an implied «sir» or «mister» in there. As in, «I’ll spank you, sir»!
As a speaker of modern English, I find the concept of different levels of formality of «you» stressful to deal with. When speaking Spanish, I find myself trying hard to find a balance between sounding educated and polite (unless with close friends), local usage, and my own level of comfort/understanding. Also in the US, schools tend to teach a neutral/Mexican Spanish which has more «classical» tú/usted usage. El voseo is practically never even mentioned. So while I understand the difference I think if I were in Spain, I’d be uncomfortable tuteando everyone, but in Bogotá, I’d feel awkward always using usted.
Istriano is correct. In Medellín, vos, tú, and usted all are used seemingly at random. At times I’ve been referred to by all three in the same conversation! When I asked my Paisa friend why, he attributed it to the fact that some usted forms just «sound better» to him. So, except in stricly formal situations, it’s completely subjective. Use whichever you’d like! However in Botogá, I don’t believe vos is common. They use the tú/usted system except that usted is used faaaar more often. It’s also worth noting that in Botogá, you will most likely never hear two males refer to each other as tú, because it sounds «too initimate». That’s also true of Medellín, but there two good male friends could also use vos in addition to usted. I don’t have any first hand knowledge how it works in the coastal or southern regions though.

Well, in Polish the story is even more complicated because you have to use Pan/Pani Sir/Madam in even not very formal situation, if you do not know the person and he or she is an adult. In Lithuanian there is also ponas and ponia but it is used differently only in certain contexts, otherwise the second person formal form is used. Is Madame and Monsieur still used in French?

…Is Madame and Monsieur still used in French?

Hello,
Madame & Monsieur are both still widely used in French. (However I’m not entirely sure I’ve understood you question correctly.)

Also English has two words: thou and you, although the singular/informal word thou is not used anymore except when talking to God.

Several people have mentioned that thou is no longer used. While it’s true that the formal «you» is almost uniquely used now-a-days ; several regional dialects in England & Scotland still use the informal thou (though it’s form is altered in some of those dialects) in everyday speech. So the original post was some what flawed, to begin with.

If I understand you well, you wish to know which languages lack a distinction between a formal and an informal «you».

Irish is another language where this happens.

It’s not so much that Irish lacks a distinction between formal and informal, rather that this distinction is little used today. In modern day Irish we have retained the informal «Conas atá tú?» (How are you?) rather than the polite Classical Irish «Conas atá sibh?» So «sibh» is now used only as a plural in Irish. However Scottish Gaelic (a dialect) has retained the formal usage in some areas of Scotland.

Hi. Thank you. Do you have to refer to people in French as Madam and Monsieur each time you say something to them, if you do not know them well. This is the case in Polish, although some people do not agree with me and apparently the rules are less strict now which is a pity. Do you have to repeat the Madam and Monsieur almost in every sentence or only when you address them.

Although technically one would have the include the female form(妳) which differs only in writing.
More technically the «divine» form (祢) which is quite creative I would say.

Swedish has both «du» (informal), and «Ni» (formal). No language I know, besides English, has only one word.

For many Swedes, especially those of the baby boom generation and older that made the change from Ni to du, the formal «Ni» in second person singular is not seen as a polite address but rather as a dismissive form of address.

The story about

Dutch

:

The Old Dutch 2SG personal pronoun was thu (like English thou) which became du in Middle Dutch. As in many languages, the 2PL pronoun ghi got to be used as a formal address for the singular. Du got lost which made ghi the pronoun for the second person without marking singular/plural or formal/informal. (An atonic form of du was retained as an enclitic to verbs though, as in hebde ‘have you’ or slaapte ‘sleep you’.) Later, the singular-plural distinction was made clear again by constructions like gij allen ‘you all’ and gij lieden ‘you guys’, the last of which resulted in jullie, which is the current 2PL form. Gij got replaced by jij, and later the form u evolved as a formal second person pronoun, out of uwe edelheid ‘your nobility’, in which uwe is the possessive form of gij.

There are however still some dialects that use du, like in Limburg. And in most of Belgium, gij is still the usual form for the second person singular, jij actually being considered quite formal and distant, as it is Standard Dutch.

Very interesting information, Joannes, giving an good summary of the origin of most pronouns. I’d add that in my dialect we use an u form as a possessive pronoun and as an object form as well. I’d also like to point out that dialects probably do not have polite pronouns; I think politeness is marked lexically (I could not do it otherwise). Maybe in one particular form of Dutch (verkavelingsvlaams) gij is some kind of in-between form, I think, not too direct and too formal. The jij is often considered unnatural indeed.

In Tagalog , You= Ikaw commonlly used in most grammars. It is informal form. If you knew the person very well and you heard his/her speech, you may say » Ikaw ba yang nagsasalitang iyan?(Are you the one speaking?)* When you are talking to someone, a stranger and you are not sure his status/position/rank, the word «You» here is «Kayo»= Kayo po ba ang natawag kanina?(Are you the one calling a while ago?)** But if you found someone mystical, the «you» here is «Sila»= Sino po Sila? (who are you/they?)

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Formal and Informal words list in English

Formal English:

Formal Language is like a formal dress, in a formal language you have to be careful with words, you have to choose words with respect. We use it when writing essays for school, cover letters to apply for jobs, or emails and letters at work.

Informal English:

Informal Language is the language you speak in your friend’s circle. It is used in conversation with your family and friends, informal words are also respectful words, but they are less polite as compare to formal words.

Here are Formal and Informal words List in English

1. Verbs – Informal & Formal

INFORMAL	FORMAL
a lot of	numerous
anyways	nevertheless
block	undermine
break down	fail/collapse
break up	disintegrate
bring in	introduce
can	is capable of
come back	return
come/go in	enter
deal with	handle
enjoyment	gratification
faithfulness	fidelity
find out	discover
from (company)	on the behalf of
get	obtain
get in touch with	contact
give in	yield
give the go-ahead	authorize
give/bring back	return
go against	oppose
go ahead	proceed
go away	leave/depart
go before	precede
go down	decrease
go out of	exit
go up	increase
hopeless	futile
house	residence
hungry	famished
it’s about	it concerns, it’s in regards to
keep	retain
keep up	maintain properly
lead to	cause
leave out	omit
let	permit
link up	connect
lively	energetic
look at	examine
look for	seek
look into	investigate
look like	resemble
lots of/ a lot of	much, many
make out	discern
makeup	fabricate
mend	repair
need to	required
plus/also	moreover/furthermore
point out	indicate
put in	insert
put off	postpone
put up	tolerate
put up with	tolerate
put/set down	deposit
rack up	accumulate
really big	considerable
refer to	consult
ring up	call
seem	appear
set out	display
set up	establish
settle for	choose
show	demonstrate, illustrate, portray
show up	arrive
speak to	address
stand for	represent
start	commence
take away	remove
take out	remove
talk about	discuss/consider
thanks	gratitude
think about	consider/ponder
think of	conceive
throw away	discard
throw out	eject
tired Formal and Informal words list in English Pdf	fatigued
tons of, heaps of	large quantities of, a number of
try out	test
wait for	await
whole	entire/complete
worse	inferior
say sorry	apologize, apologise

2. Transitions – Informal & Formal

Informal	Formal
Anyways	Nevertheless
Plus/Also	Moreover/ Furthermore
But	However
So	Therefore/Thus
Also	In addition, Additionally
ASAP	as soon as possible/at your earliest convenience
Okay, OK	acceptable
In the meantime	In the interim
I think	In my opinion,
In the end,	Finally
To sum up	In conclusion,
In a nutshell/Basically	To summarize,
Anyway,	Notwithstanding
All right	Acceptable
Well,
To top it all off,
On top of it all,
	In order to

3. Emphasis Words – Informal & Formal

Informal	Formal
lots of/ a lot of	much, many
tons of, heaps of	large quantities of, a number of
totally	completely, strongly
really, very	definitely

4. Letter Expressions – Informal & Formal

Informal	Formal
Hi Robert,	Dear Sir or Madam
Just wanted to let you know…	I am writing to inform you…
Love,	Yours sincerely, Yours faithfully,
Cheers,
Yours Truly, Best regards, kind regards
Hope to hear from you soon	I look forward to hearing from you
You can call me if you need anything	Please do not hesitate to contact me

5. Abbreviations – Informal & Formal

Informal	Formal
ASAP	as soon as possible
T.V.	television
photo	photograph
cell	cell phone
net	Internet

6. Slang – Informal & Formal

Informal	Formal
kids	children
bad	negative
good	positive
really big	considerable
right	correct
wrong	incorrect
smart	intelligent
cheap	inexpensive
loaded	rich

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Formal and Informal words list in English Pdf!

What are formal and informal Words?

Formal Language is like formal dress, in the formal language you have to be careful with words, and you have to choose words with respect. You cannot use the word ‘Ask’ in formal language because it is an informal word. You have to be a bit polite in formal language and vocabulary words, rather you can use ‘Inquire’ which is more formal than ‘ask’.

Informal Language is the language you speak with your friend’s circle. It is used in conversation with your family and friends, informal words are also respectful words, but they are less polite as compared to formal words.

Related: List of Formal Words in English