You origins (2nd person pronoun)

Origins of the 2nd person pronoun "you"

• thee, thou, thy, thine, ye
• useful for Shakespeare "you" translations

"You" origins

• Old English origin of "you"
  • from Old English "thou" (dative and accusative cases)
  • or "ye" (objective case)
• PIE origin of "you"
  • second person singular: *tege- (from which "thou" and "tu" are derived)
  • second person plural: *yu
• transition from "thee" to "you"
  • in Middle English, the second person plural form merged with the singular
    • 2nd person plural was original used for both plural "you" and out of respect to a superior "(thy")
    • 2nd person plural came to be used to show equal status, thus as a courtesy

Cases of "you" origins

	2nd person case	Nominative (subject)		Indicative (a command)		Accusative (also "objective" for direct object)		Dative (indirect object)		Genetive (possessive)		Reflexive
		singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural	singular	plural
you	singular or plural	you go	you [all] go	You listen!	You [all] listen!	he spoke to you	he speaks to you [all]	he gives you a horse	he gives you (all) a horse	your book	[all] your book	do it yourself	do it yourselves
thou	singular subjective (informal)	thou goest
thee	singular objective					he speeketh to thee		he givest thee a horse
thy	singular possessive									thy kingdom		doest it thy self
thine	singular possessive of words that begin w/ a vowel									thine apple		thine own self
ye	plural subjective (or singular formal)		Ye goeth or My Lord, ye goeth	Ye listen!	Hear ye!

Sources

• Thee vs. Thou vs. They vs. Ye (The Difference) (from all the differences.com)
• You (wikipedia)