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
- in Middle English, the second person plural form merged with the singular
Cases of "you" origins
2nd person case | Nominative
(subject) |
Indicative
(a command) |
Accusative
(also "objective" for direct object) |
Dative
(indirect object) |
Genetive
(possessive determiner) |
Possessive Pronoun | Reflexive | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
singular | plural | 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 | do it yourself | do it yourselves | ||||
your / yours | singular / plural | your book | [all] your book | yours | yours | ||||||||||
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 | thine own self | |||||||||||
ye | plural subjective
(or singular formal) |
Ye goeth
or My Lord, ye goeth |
Ye listen! | Hear ye! | youres |
- note: the Wikipedia chart on "Personal Pronouns in Middle English" distinguishes between:
- thy as "possessive determiner"
- possessive determiner = indicates possession or belonging
- I like your shoes
- possessive determiner = indicates possession or belonging
- and "thine" as "possessive pronoun
- Yours are as good as mine
- here, we keep "thine" as possessive determiner if the noun it possesses begins with a vowel, so,
- "thy" precedes consonant
- thy kingdom
- "thine" precedes a noun
- thine apple
- "thy" precedes consonant
- "thine" is otherwise, as per Wikipedia, a 2nd person singular possessive pronoun
- it is yours = it is thine
- thy as "possessive determiner"
Sources
- Thee vs. Thou vs. They vs. Ye (The Difference) (from all the differences.com)
- You (wikipedia)
- Ye (wikipedia)