you
English
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Alternative forms
- ye (plural form, archaic or dialectal)
- ya, yah, yer, yeh, y', yo, yu, yuh (informal or eye dialect)
- -cha (informal, after /t/)
- -ja (informal, after /d/)
- u (informal, internet)
- yoo (eye dialect)
- yew (obsolete or eye dialect)
- youe, yow, yowe (obsolete)
Etymology
From Middle English you, yow, ȝow (object case of ye), from Old English ēow, īow (“you”, dative case of ġē), from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz (“you”, dative case of *jīz), Western form of *izwiz (“you”, dative case of *jūz), from Proto-Indo-European *yūs (“you”, plural), *yū́. Cognate with Saterland Frisian jou (“you”), West Frisian jo (“you”), Low German jo, joe and oe (“you”), Dutch jou and u (“you”), Middle High German eu, iu (“you”, object pronoun), Latin vōs (“you”), Avestan 𐬬𐬋 (vō, “you”).
See usage notes. Ye, you and your are cognate with Dutch jij/je, jou, jouw; Low German ji, jo/ju, jug and German ihr, euch and euer respectively. Ye is also cognate with archaic Swedish I.
Pronunciation
- (stressed)
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /juː/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /ju/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "Aus" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /jʉː/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /juː/
Audio: (file) - Rhymes: -uː
- (unstressed)
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: yo͞o, IPA(key): /ju/
- Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. enPR: yə, IPA(key): /jə/
- Homophones: ewe, u, yew, yu, hew (in h-dropping dialects), hue (in h-dropping dialects)
When a word ending in /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/ is followed by you, these may coalesce with the /j/, resulting in /tʃ/, /dʒ/, /ʃ/ and /ʒ/, respectively. This is occasionally represented in writing, e.g. gotcha (from got you).
Pronoun
you (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective, possessive determiner your, possessive pronoun yours, singular reflexive yourself, plural reflexive yourselves)
- (object pronoun) The people spoken, or written to, as an object. [from 9th c.]
- 1611, Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. Genesis XLII:
- And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I spake unto you, saying, Ye are spies [...].
- 1611, Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. Genesis XLII:
- (reflexive, now US colloquial) (To) yourselves, (to) yourself. [from 9th c.]
- c. 1591 William Shakespeare, Richard III:
- If I may counsaile you, some day or two / Your Highnesse shall repose you at the Tower [...].
- 1611, Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. Genesis XIX:
- And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city.
- 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:
- ‘Pull you up a chair,’ she offered.
- 1975, Joseph Nazel, Death for Hire:
- You'd better get you a gun and kill him before he kills you or somebody.
- c. 1591 William Shakespeare, Richard III:
- (object pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as an object. (Replacing thee; originally as a mark of respect.) [from 13th c.]
- c. 1485 Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VIII:
- I charge you, as ye woll have my love, that ye warne your kynnesmen that ye woll beare that day the slyve of golde uppon your helmet.
- c. 1485 Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VIII:
- (subject pronoun) The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.) [from 14th c.]
- Both of you should get ready now.
- You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
- 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)
- Are you excited? ― Yes, I am excited!
Audio (US): (file)
- Are you excited? ― Yes, I am excited!
- (subject pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.) [from 15th c.]
- c. 1395 Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Clerk's Tale", Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere manuscript (c. 1410):
- certes lord / so wel vs liketh yow / And al youre werk / and euere han doon / þat we / Ne koude nat vs self deuysen how / We myghte lyuen / in moore felicitee [...].
- 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter IX, in Mansfield Park: […], volume II, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 208:
- You are right, Fanny, to protest against such an office, but you need not be afraid.
- c. 1395 Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Clerk's Tale", Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere manuscript (c. 1410):
- (indefinite personal pronoun) Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object). [from 16th c.]
- 2001, Polly Vernon, The Guardian, 5 May 2001:
- You can't choose your family, your lovers are difficult and volatile, but, oh, you can choose your friends - so doesn't it make much more sense to live and holiday with them instead?
- 2001, Polly Vernon, The Guardian, 5 May 2001:
Usage notes
- Originally, you was specifically plural (indicating multiple people), and specifically the object form (serving as the object of a verb or preposition; like us as opposed to we). The subject pronoun was ye, and the corresponding singular pronouns were thee and thou, respectively. In some forms of (older) English, you and ye doubled as polite singular forms, e.g. used in addressing superiors, with thee and thou being the non-polite singular forms. In the 1600s, some writers objected to the use of "singular you"[1] (compare objections to the "singular they"), but in modern English thee and thou are archaic and all but nonexistent and you is used for both the singular and the plural.
- Several forms of English now distinguish singular you from various marked plural forms, such as you guys, y'all, or youse, though not all of these are completely equivalent or considered Standard English.
- The pronoun you is usually, but not always, omitted in imperative sentences. In affirmatives, it may be included before the verb (You go right ahead; You stay out of it); in negative imperatives, it may be included either before the don't, or (more commonly) after it (Don't you dare go in there; Don't you start now).
- See Appendix:English parts of speech for other personal pronouns.
Synonyms
- (subject pronoun: person spoken/written to):
- yer (UK eye dialect)
- plus the alternative forms listed above and at Appendix:English personal pronouns
- (subject pronoun: persons spoken/written to; plural): See Thesaurus:y'all
- (object pronoun: person spoken/written to): thee (singular, archaic), ye, to you, to thee, to ye
- (object pronoun: persons spoken/written to): ye, to you, to ye, to you all
- (one): one, people, they, them
Derived terms
Translations
See you/translations § Pronoun
See also
Determiner
you
- The individual or group spoken or written to.
- Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?
- Used before epithets, describing the person being addressed, for emphasis.
- You idiot!
- 2015, Judi Curtin, Only Eva, The O'Brien Press (→ISBN):
- 'You genius!' I shouted in Aretta's ear. 'You absolute genius! Why didn't you tell us you were so good?'
Derived terms
Translations
See you/translations § Determiner
Verb
you (third-person singular simple present yous, present participle youing, simple past and past participle youed)
- (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun you, rather than thou, especially historically when you was more formal.
- 1930, Barrington Hall, Modern Conversation, Brewer & Warren, page 239:
- Youing consists in relating everything in the conversation to the person you wish to flatter, and introducing the word “you” into your speech as often as possible.
- 1992, Barbara Anderson, Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Victoria University Press, page 272:
- Now even Princess Anne had dropped it. Sarah had heard her youing away on television the other night just like the inhabitants of her mother’s dominions beyond the seas.
- 2004, Ellen Miller, Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books, "Practicing":
- But even having my very own personal pronoun was risky, because it’s pretty tough to keep stopped-hope stopped up when you are getting all youed up, when someone you really like keeps promising you scary, fun, exciting stuff—and even tougher for the of that moment to remain securely devoid of hope, to make smart, self-denying decisions with Dad youing me—the long ooo of it broad and extended, like a hand.
- 1930, Barrington Hall, Modern Conversation, Brewer & Warren, page 239:
Translations
References
- ^ The British Friend (November 1st, 1861), notes: "In 1659, Thomas Ellwood, Milton's friend and scoretary, thus expresses himself—“ The corrupt and unsound form of speaking in the plural number to a single person, you to one instead of thou, contrary to the pure, plain, and simple language ..."
Japanese
Romanization
you
See also
Karawa
Noun
you
References
- transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66
Leonese
Pronoun
you
- I (first-person singular pronoun)
Mandarin
Romanization
you
- Nonstandard spelling of yōu.
- Nonstandard spelling of yóu.
- Nonstandard spelling of yǒu.
- Nonstandard spelling of yòu.
Usage notes
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Middle English
Etymology 1
Pronoun
you
- Alternative form of yow
References
- “you, (pron.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 18 May 2018.
Etymology 2
Pronoun
you
- (chiefly Northern and East Midland dialectal) Alternative form of þou
References
- “thou, (pron.)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 5 May 2018.
Mirandese
Etymology
From Old Leonese you, from Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego.
Pronunciation
Pronoun
you
- I (the first-person singular pronoun)
- 2008, “Ai que cochino!!! (ver. II)”, in Picä Tumilho (band) (music), Faíçca: Ua stória d'amor i laboura:
- I you cun muita fuorça spetei bien la faca
- And I strongly skewered (with) the knife.
Pouye
Noun
you
References
- transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66
Takia
Etymology
Borrowed from Bargam yuw and Waskia yu.[1]
Noun
you
References
- Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, Meredith Osmond, The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The Culture and Environment (2007, →ISBN
- ^ Loanwords in Takia, in Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook (edited by Martin Haspelmath, Uri Tadmor), page 761
Terebu
Noun
you
Further reading
- Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/uː
- English terms with homophones
- English lemmas
- English pronouns
- English reflexive pronouns
- American English
- English colloquialisms
- English terms with quotations
- English determiners
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English basic words
- English personal pronouns
- English plural pronouns
- English second person pronouns
- English three-letter words
- Japanese non-lemma forms
- Japanese romanizations
- Karawa lemmas
- Karawa nouns
- Leonese lemmas
- Leonese pronouns
- Mandarin non-lemma forms
- Mandarin pinyin
- Mandarin nonstandard forms
- Middle English lemmas
- Middle English pronouns
- Northern Middle English
- East Midland Middle English
- Mirandese terms derived from Old Leonese
- Mirandese terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Mirandese terms derived from Latin
- Mirandese terms with IPA pronunciation
- Mirandese lemmas
- Mirandese pronouns
- Mirandese terms with quotations
- Pouye lemmas
- Pouye nouns
- Takia terms borrowed from Bargam
- Takia terms derived from Bargam
- Takia lemmas
- Takia nouns
- Terebu lemmas
- Terebu nouns