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Revision as of 15:46, 11 February 2004 by Ihcoyc (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)You is the second person plural pronoun in English. In most varieties of standard English, it serves as the second person singular pronoun as well.
In modern standard English, you serves as both the nominative and oblique case. The genitive case is your, and the possessive predicate pronoun is yours.
Etymology
It is descended from Old English ge or ʒe, (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 dialects. 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 gij, German ihr, and Gothic jus. The specific form of this pronoun is unique to the Germanic languages, but the Germanic forms ultimately do relate to the general Indo-European forms represented by Latin vos.
Both singular and plural
In standard English, you is both singular and plural; it always takes a verb form that originally marked the word as plural, such as you are. This was not always so.
Old 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 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 thou becoming obsolete in standard English.
Because you is both singular and plural, various English dialects have attempted to revive the distinction between a singular and plural you. This is typically done by adding a new plural form; examples of new plurals sometimes seen and heard are you-all or y'all, associated with the southern United States, and youse guys, youse, or you-uns. All of these new plurals are marked as basilectal, though they may be useful.
Ye Olde
Ye is sometimes seen in signs such as Ye Olde Tea Shoppe and similar attempts to achieve the appearance of false antiquity in writing. This use of ye has nothing to do with the second person pronoun. Instead, it represents an attempt to reproduce a late written form of the letter thorn, ('þ'), which was formerly used to write the sounds that in modern standard English are written by the digraph th. This will not prevent people from pronouncing it as "Ye;" this is a spelling pronunciation.