Thou
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[[Image:Shakespeare.jpg|thumb|200px|Most modern English speakers encounter "thou" only in the works of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]] and other classical writers, and in the [[King James Bible]].<ref name=Columbia>[http://www.bartleby.com/68/42/6042.html "thou, thee, thine, thy (prons.)"], Kenneth G. Wilson, ''The Columbia Guide to Standard American English''. 1993. Online at [[Bartleby.com]], retrieved [[2007-09-12]].</ref>]]
The word '''''thou''''' ({{pronEng|ðaʊ}} in most dialects) is a [[grammatical person|second person]] [[grammatical number|singular]] [[pronoun]] in [[English language|English]]. It is now largely [[archaism|archaic]], having been replaced in almost all contexts by ''[[you]]''. ''Thou'' is the [[nominative case|nominative]] form; the [[oblique case|oblique]]/[[objective (grammar)|objective]] form is ''thee'' (functioning as both [[accusative case|accusative]] and [[dative case|dative]]), and the [[genitive|possessive]] is ''thy'' or ''thine''. Almost all [[verb]]s following ''thou'' have the endings ''-st'' or ''-est''; e.g., "thou goest". In [[Middle English]], ''thou'' was sometimes abbreviated by putting a small "u" over the letter [[Thorn (letter)|thorn]]: [[Image:ME thou.png]].
Originally, ''thou'' was simply the singular counterpart to the plural pronoun ''[[ye (pronoun)|ye]]'', derived from an ancient [[Proto-Indo-European language|Indo-European]] root. Following a process found in other Indo-European languages, ''thou'' was later used to express intimacy, familiarity, or even disrespect while another pronoun, ''you'', the oblique/objective form of ''ye'', was used for formal circumstances (see [[T-V distinction]]). In the 17th century, ''thou'' fell into disuse in the standard language but persisted, sometimes in altered form, in [[List of dialects of the English language#Europe|regional dialects]] of [[England]] and [[Scotland]].<ref>Shorrocks, 433–438.</ref>, as well as in the language of such religious groups as the [[Religious Society of Friends|Society of Friends]]. In standard [[modern English]], ''thou'' continues to be used only in formal religious contexts (and its use is discontinued in much of this), in literature that seeks to reproduce archaic language, and in certain fixed phrases such as "[[wikt:holier-than-thou|holier than thou]]" and "[[wikt:fare thee well|fare thee well]]". For this reason, many associate the pronoun with solemnity or formality, connotations at odds with the word's history. Many dialects have compensated for the lack of a singular-plural distinction caused by the disappearance of ''thou'' through the creation of new plural pronouns or pronominal constructions, such as ''[[y'all]]'', ''[[yinz]]'', ''youse'', ''you lot'', and ''you guys''. These vary regionally and are usually restricted to colloquial speech.
==Grammar==
Because ''thou'' has passed out of common use, its traditional forms are often confused by those attempting to imitate older manners of speech.
===Declension===
The English personal pronouns have standardised [[declension]] according to the following table:
{{Early Modern English personal pronouns (table)}}
===Conjugation===
Verb forms used after ''thou'' generally end in ''-st'' or ''-est'' in the [[indicative mood]] in both the [[present tense|present]] and the [[past tense|past]] [[grammatical tense|tenses]]. These forms are used for both [[strong verb|strong]] and [[weak verb]]s:
Typical examples of the standard present and past tense forms follow. The ''e'' in the ending is optional; early English spelling had not yet been standardized. In verse, the choice about whether to use the ''e'' often depended upon considerations of [[meter (poetry)|meter]].
*to know: ''thou knowest'', ''thou knewest''
*to drive: ''thou drivest'', ''thou drovest''
*to make: ''thou makest'', ''thou madest''
*to love: ''thou lovest'', ''thou lovedest''
A few verbs have irregular ''thou'' forms:
*to be: ''thou art'' (or ''thou beest''), ''thou wast'' (or ''thou wert''; originally ''thou were'')
*to have: ''thou hast'', ''thou hadst''
*to do: ''thou dost'' {{IPA|/dʌst/}} (or ''thou doest'', in non-[[auxiliary verb|auxiliary]] use) and ''thou didst''
*shall: ''thou shalt''
*will: ''thou wilt''
In Old English, the second-person singular verb inflection was -es. This came down unchanged from [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]] and can be seen in quite distantly related Indo-European languages: [[Russian language|Russian]] знаешь, ''znayesh'', thou knowest; [[Latin]] ''amas'', thou lovest. (This is parallel to the history of the third-person form, in Old English -eþ, Russian, знает, ''znayet'', he knoweth, Latin ''amat'' he loveth.) The anomalous development from -es to modern English -est, which took place separately at around the same time in the closely related [[German language|German]] and [[West Frisian language|Frisian]] languages, is understood to be caused by an assimilation of the [[consonant]] of the pronoun, which often followed the verb. This is most readily observed in German: liebes du > liebstu > liebst du (thou lovest). The three languages belong to the [[West Germanic languages|West Germanic branch]] of the Indo-European languages, of which Frisian is the closest to English.
==== Comparison ====
{|class="wikitable"
|-style="text-align:left"
! [[Early Modern English]]
! Modern [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]]
! [[New High German|Modern German]]
! [[Modern English]]
|-
| Thou hast
| {{lang|fy|Do hast}} <br /> {{IPA|[doː hast]}}
| {{lang|de|Du hast}} <br /> {{IPA|[du hast]}}
| You have <br /> {{IPA|/juː hæv/}}
|-
| She hath
| {{lang|fy|Sy hat}} <br /> {{IPA|[zɛi hat]}}
| {{lang|de|Sie hat}} <br /> {{IPA|[zi hat]}}
| She has <br /> {{IPA|/ʃiː hæz/}}
|-
| What hast thou?
| {{lang|fy|Wat hasto?}} <br /> {{IPA|[vat hast̬o]}}
| {{lang|de|Was hast du?}} <br /> {{IPA|[vas hast du]}}
| What do you have? <br /> {{IPA|/ʍɒt duː juː hæv/}}
|-
| What hath she?
| {{lang|fy|Wat hat sy?}} <br /> {{IPA|[vat hat zɛi]}}
| {{lang|de|Was hat sie?}} <br /> {{IPA|[vas hat zi]}}
| What does she have? <br /> {{IPA|/ʍɒt dʌz ʃiː hæv/}}
|-
| Thou goest
| {{lang|fy|Do giest}} <br /> {{IPA|[doː giəst]}}
| {{lang|de|Du gehst}} <br /> {{IPA|[du geːst]}}
| You go <br /> {{IPA|/juː gəʊ/}}
|-
| Thou dost
| {{lang|fy|Do dochst}} <br /> {{IPA|[doː doxst]}}
| {{lang|de|Du tust}} <br /> {{IPA|[du tust]}}
| You do <br /> {{IPA|/juː duː/}}
|-
| Thou be'st (variant of ''art'')
| {{lang|fy|Do bist}} <br /> {{IPA|[doː bɪst]}}
| {{lang|de|Du bist}} <br /> {{IPA|[du bɪst]}}
| You are <br /> {{IPA|/juː ɑr/}}
|}
In the [[subjunctive mood|subjunctive]] and [[Grammatical mood#Imperative|imperative moods]], the ending in ''-(e)st'' is dropped, although it is generally retained in ''thou wert'', the second-person singular past subjunctive of the verb "to be". The subjunctive forms are used when a statement is doubtful or contrary to fact; As such, they frequently occur after "if" and the poetic "and".
:If thou be Johan, I tell it thee, right with a good advice . . .;<ref>Middle English carol:
If thou be Johan, I tell it the<br />Ryght with a good aduyce<br />Thou may be glad Johan to be<br />It is a name of pryce.<br /></ref>
:Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart . . .<ref>Eleanor Hull, ''[[Be Thou My Vision]]'', 1912 translation of traditional Irish hymn, ''Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdi cride.''</ref>
:I do wish thou wert a dog, that I might love thee something . . .<ref>Shakespeare, ''[[Timon of Athens]]'', act IV, scene 3.</ref>
:And thou bring Alexander and his paramour before the Emperor, I'll be Actaeon . . .<ref>[[Christopher Marlowe]], ''[[Dr. Faustus]]'', act IV, scene 2.</ref>
:O WERT thou in the cauld blast, . . . I'd shelter thee . . .<ref>[[Robert Burns]], ''O Wert Thou in the Cauld Blast''(song), lines 1–4.</ref>
In modern regional English dialects that use ''thou'' or some variant, it often takes the third person form of the verb ''-s''. This comes from a merging of [[Early Modern English]] second person singular ending ''-st'' and third person singular ending ''-s'' into ''-s''.
==Etymology==
''Thou'' originates from [[Old English language|Old English]] {{lang|ang|''þú''}}, and ultimately from the [[Proto-Indo-European language|Proto-Indo-European]] *''tu'', with the expected [[Germanic language|Germanic]] [[vowel]] lengthening in [[open syllable]]s. ''Thou'' is therefore [[cognate]] with [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]] and [[Old Norse]] {{lang|non|''þú''}}, [[New High German|modern German]], [[Norwegian language|Norwegian]], [[Swedish language|Swedish]] and [[Danish language|Danish]] {{lang|da|''du''}}, [[Latin]], [[Spanish language|Spanish]], [[French language|French]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan]], [[Italian language|Italian]], [[Irish language|Irish]], [[Lithuanian language|Lithuanian]], [[Latvian language|Latvian]] and [[Romanian language|Romanian]] {{lang|ro|''tu''}} or {{lang|es|''tú''}}, [[Greek language|Greek]] {{lang|el|σύ}}, ({{transl|el|''sy''}}), [[Slavic languages|Slavic]] ты / ''ty'' or ти / ''ti'', [[Armenian language|Armenian]] {{lang|hy|դու}} ({{transl|hy|''dow''}}), [[Hindi]] तू ({{transl|hi|''tū''}}), [[Bengali language|Bengali]]: তুই (''tui''), [[Persian language|Persian]] {{rtl-lang|fa|تُو}} ({{transl|fa|''to''}}), and [[Sanskrit]] त्वम् ({{lang|sa-Latn|''tvam''}}). A cognate form of this pronoun exists in almost every other Indo-European language.<ref>Entries for ''thou'' and *''tu'', in ''[[The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language]]''</ref>
==History==
[[Image:Adam and Eve, thou abbrev.jpg|thumb|right|''þ<sup>u</sup>'', abbreviation for ''thou'', from ''Adam and Eve'', [[circa]] 1415, England.]]
In [[Old English]], ''thou'' was governed by a fairly simple rule: ''thou'' addressed one person, and ''[[ye (pronoun)|ye]]'' more than one. After the [[Norman conquest of England|Norman Conquest]], which marks the beginning of the [[French language|French]] vocabulary influence that characterized the [[Middle English]] period, ''thou'' was gradually replaced by the plural ''ye'' as the form of address for a superior and later for an equal. For a long time, however, ''thou'' remained the most common form for addressing an inferior.
The practice of matching singular and plural forms with informal and formal connotations is called the [[T-V distinction]], and in English is largely due to the influence of French. This began with the practice of addressing [[monarch|kings]] and other [[aristocracy|aristocrats]] in the [[plural]]. Eventually, this was generalized, as in French, to address any social superior or stranger with a plural pronoun, which was felt to be more polite. In French, ''tu'' was eventually considered either intimate or condescending (and, to a stranger, potentially insulting), while the plural form ''vous'' was reserved and formal.
In the 18th century, [[Samuel Johnson]], in ''A Grammar of the English Tongue'', wrote: "...in the language of ceremony... the second person plural is used for the second person singular...", implying that the second person singular was still in everyday use. By contrast, ''[[Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage|The Merriam Webster Dictionary of English Usage]]'' says that for most speakers of [[Southern English English|southern British English]], ''thou'' had fallen out of everyday use, even in familiar speech, by sometime around 1650.<ref>Entry for ''thou'' in ''[[Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage]].''</ref> ''Thou'' persisted in a number of religious, literary, and regional contexts, and those pockets of continued use of the pronoun tended to undermine the T-V distinction.
One notable consequence of the decline in use of the second person singular pronouns ''thou'', ''thy'', and ''thee'' is the obfuscation of certain sociocultural elements of [[Early Modern English]] texts, such as many character interactions in [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s plays. In ''[[Richard III (play)|Richard III]]'', for instance, the conversation between the Duke of Clarence and the two murderers takes on a very different tone if it is read in light of the social connotations of the pronouns used by the characters.<ref>Shakespeare, William. [http://www.r3.org/bookcase/shaksper/act1.html#scene4 "The Tragedy of King Richard The Third".] Act 1 Scene 4, including the murder of Clarence. Richard III Society, American Branch, Online Library of Primary Texts and Secondary Sources. Retrieved on [[2007-09-12]].</ref>
===Use as a verb===
Many Indo-European languages contain verbs meaning "to address with the informal pronoun", such as Dutch ''jouen'', German ''duzen'', French ''tutoyer'' and Spanish ''tutear''. Although uncommon in English, the usage did appear, such as at the trial of Sir [[Walter Raleigh]] in 1603, when Sir [[Edward Coke]], prosecuting for the Crown, reportedly sought to insult Raleigh by saying,
:''I thou thee, thou traitor!''<ref>Reported, among many other places, in [[H. L. Mencken]], ''[[The American Language]]'' (1921), ch. 9, ss. 4., [http://www.bartleby.com/185/41.html "The pronoun"].</ref>
here using ''thou'' as a verb meaning "to call thou". Although the practice never took root in standard English, it occurs in dialectal speech in the north of England. A formerly common refrain in [[Yorkshire]], which admonished overly familiar children, declared:
:''Dun't thee tha them as tha's thee!''
===Religious uses===
As [[William Tyndale]] [[Tyndale Bible|translated the Bible]] into English in the early [[1500s]], he sought to preserve the singular and plural distinctions that he found in his [[Biblical Hebrew language|Hebrew]] and [[Koine Greek|Greek]] originals. Therefore, he consistently used ''thou'' for the singular and ''ye'' for the plural regardless of the relative status of the speaker and the [[addressee]]. By doing so, he probably saved ''thou'' from utter obscurity and gave it an air of solemnity that sharply distinguished it from its French counterpart. Tyndale's usage was imitated in the [[Authorized King James Version|King James Bible]], and remained familiar because of that translation.<ref>David Daniell, ''William Tyndale: A Biography''. (Yale, 1995) ISBN 0-300-06880-8. See also David Daniell, ''The Bible in English: Its History and Influence''. (Yale, 2003) ISBN 0-300-09930-4.</ref>
The 1662 [[Book of Common Prayer]], which is still an authorized form of worship in the [[Church of England]], retains the 17th-century language and uses the word ''thou'' to refer to the singular second person. The Book of Common Prayer is treasured among worshippers because of the beauty of its language, which is considered one of the greatest works in English.<ref>[http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/bcp/ The Book of Common Prayer.] The Church of England. Retrieved on [[2007-09-12]].</ref>
[[Religious Society of Friends|Quakers]] formerly used ''thee'' as an ordinary pronoun; the stereotype has them saying ''thee'' for both nominative and accusative cases.<ref>See, for example, [http://www.bartelby.net/248/456.html ''The Quaker Widow''] by [[Bayard Taylor]]</ref> This was started by [[George Fox]] at the beginning of the Quaker movement as an attempt to preserve the [[egalitarianism|egalitarian]] familiarity associated with the pronoun, who called it "plain speaking". Most Quakers have abandoned this usage. At its beginning, the Quaker movement was particularly strong in the northwestern areas of England, and particularly in the [[north Midlands]] area. The preservation of ''thee'' in Quaker speech may relate to this history.<ref>[[David Hackett Fischer]], ''[[Albion's Seed]]: Four British Folkways in America'' (Oxford, 1991). ISBN 0-19-506905-6</ref> Modern Quakers who choose to use this manner of "plain speaking" often use the "thee" form without any corresponding change in verb form, for example, ''is thee'' or ''were thee''.<ref>Ezra Kempton Maxfield, "Quaker "Thee" and Its History," ''American Speech'', Vol. 1, No. 12 (Sept. 1926), pp. 638-644.</ref>
In [[Latter-Day Saint]] prayer tradition, the terms "thee" and "thou" are always and exclusively used to address [[Deity]], as a mark of respect. <ref>[http://www.lds.org/ldsorg/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=2354fccf2b7db010VgnVCM1000004d82620aRCRD&locale=0&sourceId=2df19209df38b010VgnVCM1000004d82620a____&hideNav=1 Dallin H. Oaks, "The Language of Prayer," ''[[Ensign]]'', May 1983.]</ref>
The [[Revised Standard Version]] of the Bible, which first appeared in 1946, retained the pronoun ''thou'' exclusively to address [[God]], using ''you'' in other places. This was done to preserve the tone, at once intimate and reverent, that would be familiar to those who knew the King James Version and read the [[Psalms]] and similar text in devotional use.<ref>[http://www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/aboutrsv.html Preface to the ''Revised Standard Version''] 1971</ref> The [[New American Standard Bible]] (1971) made the same decision, but the revision of 1995 (New American Standard Bible, Updated edition) reversed it. The [[New Revised Standard Version]] (1989) omits ''thou'' entirely, and claims that it is incongruous and contrary to the original intent of the use of ''thou'' in [[Bible translations|Bible translation]] to adopt a distinctive pronoun to address the Deity.<ref>[http://www.ncccusa.org/newbtu/reader.html NRSV: To the Reader]</ref> When referring to God, "thou" is often capitalized for clarity and reverence. While Greek, Hebrew, and [[Aramaic language|Aramaic]] (the languages of the Bible) do not have a special orthography (such as [[capitalization]]) for indicating that the Deity is being referred to, their grammars are more successful than English in making noun/pronoun agreement unambiguous.
More recently, the philosopher [[Martin Buber]] has been translated into English as using the words ''[[I and Thou]]'' to describe our ideal familiar relationship with the Deity. Most languages which maintain both a formal and familiar second person pronoun address God with the familiar pronoun (the Dutch language is an exception here), since its usage derives from older times when the distinction between the pronouns was in number only, not in degree of familiarity. Because in current English usage ''thou'' is perceived, however wrongly, as more reserved and formal than ''you'', the translation does not convey the intended meaning well - a closer, colloquial translation of the idea would be ''Us'' or ''You and me'', or in [[Australian English]], "Mates".
===Literary uses===
====Shakespeare====
[[William Shakespeare]] occasionally seems to use ''thou'' in the intimate, French style sense, but he is by no means consistent in using the word that way, and friends and lovers sometimes call each other ''ye'' or ''you'' as often as they call each other ''thou''.<ref>{{cite web
| url=http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1993/0938.html
| author=Cook, Hardy M., et al.
| title=You/Thou in Shakespeare's Work
| publisher=SHAKSPER: The Global, Electronic Shakespeare Conference
| year=1993}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference
| first = Clara
| last = Calvo
| title = 'Too wise to woo peaceably': The Meanings of Thou in Shakespeare's Wooing-Scenes
| booktitle = Actas del III Congreso internacional de la Sociedad espanola de estudios renacentistas ingleses (SEDERI)/Proceedings of the III International Conference of the Spanish Society for English Renaissance studies
| pages = 49-59
| publisher = SEDERI
| year = 1992
| editor = Maria Luisa Danobeitia
| location = Granada
}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference
| first=Mazzon
| last=Gabriella
| title=Shakespearean 'thou' and 'you' Revisited, or Socio-Affective Networks on Stage
| booktitle = Early Modern English: Trends, Forms, and Texts
| editor = Carmela Nocera Avila et al.
| location = Fasano
| publisher = Schena
| year=1992
| pages = 121-36}}</ref> In ''[[Henry IV, part 1|Henry IV]]'', Shakespeare has [[Falstaff]] mix up the two forms speaking to [[Henry V of England|Prince Henry]], the heir apparent and Falstaff's commanding officer, in the same lines of dialog:
:'''PRINCE:''' Thou art so fat-witted with drinking of old sack, and unbuttoning thee after supper, and sleeping upon benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly which thou wouldest truly know. What a devil hast thou to do with the time of the day? …
:'''FALSTAFF:''' Indeed, you come near me now, Hal … And, I prithee, sweet wag, when thou art a king, as God save thy Grace – Majesty, I should say; for grace thou wilt have none –
====More recent uses====
Except where everyday use survives in some regions of England, the air of informal familiarity once suggested by the use of ''thou'' has disappeared; it is used in solemn [[ritual]] occasions, in readings from the King James Bible, in Shakespeare, and in formal literary compositions that intentionally seek to echo these older styles. Since becoming obsolete in most dialects of spoken English, it has nevertheless been used by more recent writers to address exalted beings such as [[God]],<ref>{{waybackdate|site=http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=RsvPsal.sgm&images=images/modeng&data=/texts/english/modeng/parsed&tag=public&part=90&division=div1|title=Psalm 90|date=20060218101017}} from the [[Revised Standard Version]]</ref> a [[skylark]],<ref>[http://www.ac.wwu.edu/~stephan/webstuff/poetry/Shelley-OdetoaSkylar.html ''Ode to a Skylark''] by [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]]</ref> [[Achilles]],<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/166/38.html ''The Iliad''], translated by E. H. Blakeney, 1921</ref> and even ''[[Thor (Marvel Comics)|The Mighty Thor]]''.<ref>{{waybackdate|site=http://paratime.ca/mv1/avengers/thor/thor528.html|title=''The Mighty Thor''|date=20060620123419}} 528</ref> In ''[[Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back|Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back]]'', [[Darth Vader]] addresses the [[Palpatine|Emperor]] with the words: "What is thy bidding, my master?" In Leonard Cohen's song [[Bird on a Wire]], he promises his beloved that he'll reform, saying "I will make it all up to thee." And in Diana Ross's song 'Upside Down' we hear the lyric "Respectfully I say to thee I'm aware that you're cheatin'." These recent uses of the pronoun suggest something far removed from intimate familiarity or condescension, while they could be seen as mirroring the mode of address used with the Deity in the Bible as discussed above.
Most modern writers have no experience using ''thou'' in daily speech; they are therefore vulnerable to confusion of the traditional [[Grammatical conjugation|verb forms]]. The most common mistake in artificially archaic modern writing is the use of the old third person singular ending ''-eth'' with ''thou'', for example ''thou thinketh''. The converse—the use of the second person singular ending ''-est'' for the third person—also occurs ("So sayest Thor!"—spoken by Thor). This usage often shows up in modern [[parody]] and [[pastiche]]<ref>See, for example, [[Rob Liefeld]], "Awaken the Thunder" (Marvel Comics, ''[[Avengers (comics)|Avengers]]'', vol. 2, issue 1, cover date Nov. 1996, part of the ''[[Heroes Reborn]]'' storyline.)</ref> in an attempt to make speech appear either archaic or formal. The latter is ironic as ''thou'' was historically informal, ''you'' being the formal form. The forms ''thou'' and ''thee'' are often transposed (as in [[Wallace Stegner]]'s ''[[Angle of Repose]]'').
In the fictional teenage [[ideolect]] [[nadsat]], invented for [[Anthony Burgess]]' novel ''[[A Clockwork Orange]]'' (and the [[A Clockwork Orange (film)|film adaptation]]), [[Alex (A Clockwork Orange)|Alex]] and his ''droogs'' regularly use "thou", which fits in with their semi-Edwardian clothing. For example, when fighting a rival gang, Alex addresses them thus (note the mixing of "you" and "thou" for the second person):
:''Well, well, well! Well if it isn't fat stinking Billy goat Billy Boy in poison! [i.e., in person] How art thou, thou globby bottle of cheap stinking [[french fries|chip]] oil? Come and get one in the [[testicles|yarbles]], if you have any yarbles, you [[eunuch]] [[jello|jelly]] thou!''<ref>[http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=UBka0bITZWMC&oi=fnd&pg=PA13&dq=fat+stinking+Billy+goat+Billy+Boy+in+poison&ots=oDU4fN7AOW&sig=FJKHyd0A7_M0IR8YGwdV61-qHC4#PPA15,M1 A Clockwork Orange.] Google books. Retrieved on [[2007-09-12]].</ref>
Some translators render the T-V distinction in English with "thou" and "you", particularly in places where ''you'' appears in the place of expected ''thou'', or vice versa. This practice has largely fallen out of use. [[Ernest Hemingway]], in his novel ''[[For Whom the Bell Tolls]]'', uses the forms "thou" and "you" in order to reflect the relationships between his Spanish-speaking characters.
''Thou'' is often falsely interpreted as having been formal; its use today can give an impression of stiltedness. In reading passages with ''thou'' and ''thee'', many modern readers stress the pronouns and the verb endings. Traditionally, however, the ''e'' in ''-est'' ought to be unstressed, and ''thou'' and ''thee'' should be no more stressed than ''you''.
==Current usage==
''You'' is now the standard English second-person pronoun and encompasses both the singular and plural senses. In some dialects, however, "thou" has persisted,<ref name="northern_england">{{cite journal | title='You' and 'Thou' in Northern England | first=William | last=Evans | journal=South Atlantic Bulletin | volume=34 | issue=4 | date=November 1969 | pages=17–21 | doi=10.2307/3196963}}</ref> and in others the vacuum created by the loss of a distinction has led to the creation of new forms of the second-person plural. The forms vary across the English-speaking world and between literature and the spoken language.<ref>{{cite book
| title=From Elfland to Poughkeepsie
| author=Le Guin, Ursula K.
| authorlink = Ursula K. Le Guin
| publisher = Pendragon Press
| date=June 1973
| ISBN=091401000X}}</ref>
===British Isles===
====Persistence of second-person singular====
In traditional dialects, ''thou'' is used in the counties of [[Westmorland]], [[Durham]], [[Lancashire]], [[Yorkshire]], [[Cheshire]], [[Staffordshire]], [[Derbyshire]] and some western parts of [[Nottinghamshire]].<ref>Peter Trudgill, ''The Dialects of England'', p.93</ref>Such dialects normally also preserve distinct verb forms for the singular second person, for example ''thee coost'' (standard English: ''you could'', archaic: ''thou couldest'') in northern Staffordshire. Throughout rural Yorkshire, the old distinction between nominative and objective is preserved. The possessive is often written as ''thy'' in local dialect writings, but is pronounced as an unstressed ''tha'', and the possessive form of ''tha'' has in modern usage almost exclusively followed other English dialects in becoming ''yours'' or the local word ''your'n'' (from ''your one''):
{| width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="5" style="margin:0em auto 0em auto"
!
||
!Nominative
!Objective
!Genitive
!Possessive
|-
!2nd Person
||''singular''
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" |tha
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" |thee
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" |thy (''tha'')
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" |yours / your'n
|}
The apparent incongruity between the archaic nominative, objective and genitive forms of this pronoun on the one hand and the modern possessive form on the other may be a signal that the linguistic drift of Yorkshire dialect is causing ''tha'' to fall into disuse; however, a measure of local pride in the dialect may be counteracting this.
There are some other variants that are specific to certain areas. In [[Sheffield]], the pronunciation of the word was somewhere in between a /d/ and a /th/ sound, with the tongue at the bottom of the mouth; this led to the nickname of the "dee-dahs" for Sheffield folk. In Lancashire and West Yorkshire, ''ta'' was used as an unstressed shortening of ''thou'', which can be found in the song ''[[On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at]]''. These variants are no longer in use.
The use of the word "thee" in the hit song ''[[I Predict a Riot]]'' by [[Leeds]] band [[Kaiser Chiefs]] ("Watching the people get lairy / is not very pretty, I tell thee") caused some comment<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/totp/news/top5/2005/09/29/25044.shtml BBC ''Top of the Pops'' web page]</ref> by people who were unaware that the word is still in use in the [[Yorkshire dialect and accent|Yorkshire dialect]].
The use persists somewhat in the [[West Country dialects]], albeit somewhat affected. Some of [[the Wurzels]] songs include: ''[[Drink up Thy Cider]]'' & ''Sniff Up Thy Snuff''.<ref> [http://www.wurzelmania.co.uk/ Wurzelmania.] somersetmade ltd. Retrieved on [[2007-09-12]].</ref>
''Thoo'' has also been used in the [[Orcadian dialect|Orcadian]] [[Scots language|Scots]] dialect in place of the singular informal ''thou''. In [[Shetlandic]], the other form of [[Insular Scots]], ''du'' is used.
====Loss of second person plural====
English once drew a clear distinction between the singular and plural forms of the second person pronoun. As discussed above, ''thou'' and ''thee'' were the subjective and objective forms of the singular second person. With some important exceptions, ''thou'' is no longer used in the modern language. ''Ye'' and ''you'' were the plural subjective and objective forms of the second person pronoun. Perhaps even more than ''thou'', ''ye'' is almost completely dead as a linguistic expression. It survives in archaisms such as "what say ye" and "hear ye," and in deliberate efforts at humour, such as in the film [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]], in which the knights are warned by an enchanter:
{{cquote| Follow! But! follow only if ye be men of valor, for the entrance to this cave is guarded by a creature so foul, so cruel that no man yet has fought with it and lived! Bones of four fifty men lie strewn about its lair. So, brave knights, if you do doubt your courage or your strength, come no further, for death awaits you all with nasty big pointy teeth.|}}
These lines present an interesting mixture of old and new styles. To establish the antiquity of the scene, the actor ([[John Cleese]]) uses the ancient form ("if ''ye'' be men of valor"), then, having accomplished this with one ''ye'', he switches back to the modern forms, saying "if ''you'' do doubt your courage" and "death awaits ''you all''"). The lack of a modern distinction between singular and plural ''you'' created a need for ''you all'' to make it clear that the actor is addressing the entire company of knights.
====Neologisms for second-person plural====
In the dialect of English spoken in [[Northern Ireland]], ''yous'' or ''yousuns'' is frequently heard for the informal nominative plural and accusative plural, while either ''your'' or ''yousuns'' is the possessive adjective.<ref>{{cite web | title=Second Person Pronouns in Contemporary English: The End of a Story or Just the Beginning? | author=Wales, Katie | publisher=University of Leeds | url=http://cvc.cervantes.es/obref/coloquio_paris/ponencias/pdf/cvc_wales.pdf}} Note that this document also contains an extensive references section for further research.</ref>
* Have yousuns heard the racket that your dog is making? (Very informal speech)
* Have yous heard the racket that yousuns' dog is making? (Very informal speech)
* Have youse heard the racket that your dog is making? (Ordinary speech, most dialects)
* Have you heard the racket that your dog is making? (Formal speech; ordinary speech in some dialects)
The case is similar in Scotland (and [[North East England]]), where ''youse'' (and most often written with that spelling) is used in informal speech in some southern Scottish and northern English dialects.
In much of provincial [[Ireland]] ''ye'' or ''yez'' is used as the nominative and accusative plural with ''yeer'' as the possessive. In [[Dublin]], ''youse'' and ''yiz'' are used in the nominative and accusative plural, with ''yer'' or ''yizzer''<ref>[http://forum.electricpicnic.ie/viewtopic.php?t=19712&view=next&sid=37b6e6b87bb5f214e2b6cc1637e14c99 "What are yiz havin for yizzer dinners?]: [[Electric Picnic]] 2007 forum</ref> as the possessive.
===North America===
In [[Southern American English]] and in [[African American English]] throughout the US, ''[[y'all]]'' is a widely accepted form of second-person plural.<ref>Bernstein, Cynthia: "Grammatical Features of Southern speech: Yall, Might could, and fixin to". English in the Southern United States, 2003, pp. 106 Cambridge University Press</ref> In rural [[Appalachia]], ''yenz'' and ''yunz'' are common in casual speech. In [[Pennsylvania]], ''you'uns'' or ''[[yinz]]'' is sometimes used around [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania|Pittsburgh]].<ref>{{cite journal | author=Johnstone, Barbara and Baumgardt, Dan | title='Pittsburghese' Online: Vernacular Norming in Conversation | journal=American Speech | volume=79 | issue=2 | date=Summer 2004 | pages=115–145 | doi=10.1215/00031283-79-2-115}}</ref> In the north, ''yous'', ''youse'', or ''you guys'' is sometimes used, especially in much of [[Lower Peninsula of Michigan|lower Michigan]] and around [[New York]], though in [[New York Dialect]], "youse guys/youse guys's" are more common objective and possessive forms, although these are probably minority usages, and are highly stigmatized, ''your guys'' or ''your guys's'' being more common. These usages may be the American variants of Irish and British coinages noted above. ''You guys'' is widespread throughout English-speaking [[North America]] as a means of indicating the plural (this term is used to address both men and women). However, these grammatical expressions are considered [[colloquialism]]s and are not used in formal speech or writing. The table below shows standardised second-person pronouns of today, with informal regional usage shown in brackets.
{|width="90%" border="0" cellpadding="5" style="margin:0em auto 0em auto"
! !! !!Nominative!!Accusative!!Genitive/Possessive
|-
!2nd Person
||''singular''
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" | You
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" | You
| style="background-color:#CCCCCC" | Your / Yours
|-
|
||''plural
|style="background-color:#CCCCCC" |You [Y'all, Yenz, Yous, Yinz, You guys, Yous guys]
|style="background-color:#CCCCCC" |You [Y'all, Yunz, Yous, Yinz, You guys]
|style="background-color:#CCCCCC" | Your / Yours [Y'all's, Yunz', Yous's, Yinz's, You guys's, Yous guys's, Your guys's]
|}
==See also==
*[[English personal pronouns]]
==Notes==
{{reflist|2}}
==References==
*Baugh, Albert C., and Thomas Cable. ''A History of the English Language'', 5th ed. ISBN 0-13-015166-1
*Burrow, J. A., Turville-Petre, Thorlac. ''A Book of Middle English''. ISBN 0-631-19353-7
*Daniel, David. ''The Bible in English: Its History and Influence.'' ISBN 0-300-09930-4.
*Shorrocks, Graham. "Case Assignment in Simple and Coordinate Constructions in Present-Day English." ''American Speech'', Vol. 67, No. 4 (Winter, 1992).
*Smith, Jeremy. ''A Historical Study of English: Form, Function, and Change''. ISBN 0-415-13272-X
*"Thou, ''pers. pron., 2nd sing.''" Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed. (1989). [http://dictionary.oed.com/].
*Trudgill, Peter. (1999) Blackwell Publishing. ''Dialects of England''. ISBN 0-631-21815-7
==Bibliography==
*''Personal Pronouns in Present-Day English'' by Katie Wales (Author) ISBN 0-521-47102-8
==External links==
{{Wiktionarypar|thou|thy|thine|thee|thyself}}
{{Spoken Wikipedia|En-thou.ogg|2007-09-11}}
*[http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15097/15097-h/15097-h.htm ''A Grammar of the English Tongue''] by [[Samuel Johnson]] - includes description of 18th century use of ''thou''
*[http://www.yorksj.ac.uk/dialect/ Contemporary use of ''thou'' in Yorkshire]
*[http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=20000208 ''Thou'']: The Maven's Word of the Day
*[http://www.shaksper.net/archives/1993/0938.html You/Thou in Shakespeare's Work] (archived forum discussion)
*[http://homepages.wmich.edu/~cooneys/tchg/lit/adv/shak.gram.html ''A Note on Shakespeare's Grammar''] by Seamus Cooney
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