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'{{redirect|Your|words with various spellings pronounced the same|Ure}} {{otheruses}}DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD {{Wiktionary|you}} '''''You''''' (stressed {{IPA-en|ˈjuː|}}; unstressed {{IPA|/jə/}}) is the [[grammatical person|second-person]] [[personal pronoun]] in [[Modern English]]. ''Ye'' was the original [[nominative]] form; the oblique/objective form is ''you'' (functioning originally as both [[accusative]] and [[dative]]), and the possessive is ''your'' or ''yours''. {{Modern English personal pronouns (table)}} ==Usage== {{Wiktionary|yours}} {{Wiktionary|your}} {{Wiktionary|you're}} In standard [[English language|English]], ''you'' is both singular and plural; it always takes a [[verb]] form that originally marked the word as plural, such as ''you [[Copula (linguistics)|are]]''. This was not always so. Early Modern English distinguished between the plural ''you'' and the singular ''[[thou]]''. This distinction was lost in modern English due to the importation from France of a [[Romance languages|Romance]] linguistic feature which is commonly called the [[T-V distinction]]. This distinction made the plural forms more respectful and deferential; they were used to address strangers and social superiors. This distinction ultimately led to familiar ''thou'' becoming obsolete in standard English, although this did not happen in other languages such as [[French language|French]]. [[irony|Ironically]], because ''thou'' is now seen primarily in [[literature|literary]] sources such as [[King James Version|King James Bible]] (often directed to [[God]], who is traditionally addressed in the familiar) or [[Shakespeare]] (often in [[drama]]tic dialogs, e.g. "Wherefore art thou [[Romeo and Juliet|Romeo]]?"), many modern anglophones erroneously perceive it as more ''formal'', rather than familiar (case in point: in ''[[Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back]]'', [[Darth Vader]] addresses [[Emperor Palpatine|the Emperor]] saying, "What is thy bidding, my master?"). Because ''you'' is both singular and plural, various English [[dialect]]s have attempted to revive the distinction between a singular and plural ''you'' to avoid confusion between the two uses. This is typically done by adding a new plural form; examples of new plurals sometimes seen and heard are ''[[y'all]]'', or ''you-all'' (primarily in the southern [[United States]] and [[African American Vernacular English]]), ''you guys'' (in the U.S., particularly in Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast, in Canada, and in Australia), ''you lot'' (in the UK), ''youse'' (in Scotland), ''youse guys'' (in the U.S., particularly in New York City region, Philadelphia, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and rural Canada; also spelt without the E), and ''you-uns''/''[[yinz]]'' (Western Pennsylvania, The Appalachians). English spoken in [[Ireland]], known as [[Hiberno-English]], sometimes uses the word ''ye'' as the plural form, or ''yous'' (also used in Australia, however not the form ''ye''). Although these plurals are useful in daily speech, they are generally not found in [[Standard English]]. Among them, ''you guys'' is considered most neutral in the U.S.<ref>{{cite journal | last = Jochnowitz | first = George | year = 1983 | title = Another View of You Guys | journal = American Speech | volume = 58 | issue = 1 | pages = 68–70 | doi = 10.2307/454759 | accessdate = 2007-03-30 }}</ref> It is the most common plural form of ''you'' in the U.S. except in the dialects with ''y'all'', and has been used even in the [[White House]].<ref>{{cite news | last = Rios | first = Delia M | title = 'You-guys': It riles Miss Manners and other purists, but for most it adds color to language landscape | publisher = [[The Seattle Times]] | date = 2004-06-01 | url = http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=youguys01&date=20040601 | accessdate = 2007-03-30 }}</ref> ''You'' is also unusual in that, being both singular and plural, it has two [[reflexive pronoun|reflexive]] forms, ''yourself'' and ''yourselves.'' However, in recent years singular ''themself'' is sometimes seen (see ''[[singular they]]''). You is sometimes abbreviated as "u", particular when [[texting]] or [[instant messaging]]. ==Etymology== ''You'' is derived from [[Old English language|Old English]] ''ge'' or ''{{unicode|ȝe}}'' (both pronounced roughly like [[Modern English]] ''yea''), which was the old nominative case form of the pronoun, and ''eow'', which was the old [[accusative case]] form of the pronoun. In [[Middle English]] the nominative case became ''ye'', and the oblique case (formed by the merger of the accusative case and the former [[dative case]]) was ''you''. In early [[Modern English]] either the nominative or the accusative forms have been generalized in most [[dialect]]s. Most generalized ''you''; some dialects in the north of [[England]] and [[Scotland]] generalized ''ye'', or use ''ye'' as a clipped or [[clitic]] form of the pronoun. ''Ye'' and ''you'' are [[cognate]] with [[Dutch language|Dutch]] ''jij'' and ''jou'', [[German language|German]] ''ihr'', [[Gothic language|Gothic]] ''jus'' and [[Old Norse]] ''ér''. (Modern [[Icelandic (language)|Icelandic]] þér is a variant form due to alteration of phrases like ''háfiþ ér'' (you have) into ''háfi þér'' etc.) The specific form of this pronoun is unique to the [[Germanic languages]], but the Germanic forms ultimately do relate to the general [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] forms represented by [[Latin]] ''vos''. Note that in the early days of the [[printing press]], the letter ''[[y]]'' was used in place of the [[thorn (letter)|thorn]] (''þ''), so many modern instances of ''ye'' (such as in "Ye Olde Shoppe") are in fact examples of ''[[the]]'' and not of ''you''. It also possibly indirectly helped to contribute to the displacement of ''thou'' by ''you'', and the use of ''you'' in the nominative case. ===Plural forms in other Indo-European languages=== Similar to English, ''u'' in [[Dutch language|Dutch]] is taken as a polite form for both plural and singular, while ''jij'' (singular) and ''jullie'' (plural) are considered informal. (Dutch lost its original ''thou'' form, ''du'', just like English did; the forms ''U'', ''jij'', and ''jullie'' are more analogous to English ''you'', ''ye'', and ''y'all'' respectively). [[French language|French]] has kept the system intact. ''Vous'' is still used as formal and plural, while ''tu'' is used for informal singular. [[Russian language|Russian]] uses this system also: ''vy'' (вы) is formal/plural and ''ty'' (ты) is informal singular. In the [[Persian Language]] the same system is used: {{IPA|ʃomɒ}} is formal/plural and {{IPA|to}} is the informal singular. In modern [[Swedish language|Swedish]] though, the term ''ni'' (plural for you) is rarely used to address a single person, not even in formal circumstances. The term used is ''du'' (you, singular). While English, Dutch, French, Polish and Russian use or have used the plural forms as the polite forms, other European languages use forms deriving from the [[grammatical person|third person]]. [[German language|German]], for example, uses the third person plural pronoun ''sie'', capitalized ''Sie'', as its formal pronoun (in other words, ''Sie'' is grammatically identical to ''They''). [[Danish language|Danish]] and [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]] languages similarly have ''De''; however, this usage is generally outdated and replaced with the familiar form. <ref>{{cite web | last = Mills | first = Carl | title = In the Social Register: Pronoun Choice in Norwegian and English | url= http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=ED342263&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=ED342263 | accessdate = 2008-03-15 }}</ref> [[Italian language|Italian]] has separate forms for singular (''Lei'') and plural (''Loro''), which are derived from the Italian words for ''she'' and ''they'' respectively; a partial similarity to the German system (especially since the German word for ''she'' is '''also''' ''sie'', but conjugates differently from ''Sie''). However, sometimes the French system is also used in Italy, using the plural pronoun ''voi'' as singular. [[Spanish language|Spanish]] and [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] use pronouns derived from third person phrases which originally meant ''your mercy'', ''sir'' or ''madam'', along with their plural forms. For Spanish, they are ''usted'' (pl. ''ustedes''), and for Portuguese, ''você'' (pl. ''vocês''), ''o senhor'' (pl. ''os senhores'') and ''a senhora'' (pl. ''as senhoras''). ''Você'' is often employed informally in Brazil, though the original singular pronoun ''tu'' is more commonly used in the South, the Northeast and some rural regions (this may be due to foreign influence in some locations), but ''o senhor'', ''a senhora'' and their plurals are still used and always formal. In some Spanish speaking areas, the original second person singular pronoun ''tú'' has been dropped entirely and was replaced with an old form of the second person plural pronoun, ''vos'', now used as an informal counterpart to ''usted''. See [[voseo]]. Modified versions of ''vos'', ''vosotros'' and ''vosotras'', are still used in Spain as informal second person plural pronouns, while the singular is still ''tú'', used informally. Portuguese has moved farther away from the original paradigm; the plural pronoun ''vós'' has disappeared in [[Brazil]] and is no longer used in ordinary speech in [[Portugal]]. ==See also== *[[English personal pronouns]] *[[Thou]] *[[Generic you]] *[[Y'all]] *[[Yinz]] ==References== {{reflist}} {{Modern English personal pronouns}} [[Category:Modern English personal pronouns]] [[de:Du (Personalpronomen)]] [[es:Tuteo (gramática)]] [[fa:تو]] [[nl:Jij]] [[ja:あなた]] [[ce:Хьо]] [[pt:Você]] [[ru:Вы]] [[simple:You]] [[srn:Yu]] [[sv:Du]] [[wuu:侬]]'