In Modern English, the word "you" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most[citation needed] modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers.
"You" and "Your" are not to be confused with
U,
Ewe,
Yew, or
Ure.
You comes from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *juz-, *iwwiz from Proto-Indo-European *yu- (second-person plural pronoun).[1] Old English had singular, dual, and plural second-person pronouns. The dual form was lost by the twelfth century,[2]: 117 and the singular form was lost by the early 1600s.[3] The development is shown in the following table.[2]: 117, 120, 121
More information Singular, Dual ...
Second-person pronouns in Old English, Middle English, & Modern English
|
Singular |
Dual |
Plural |
|
OE |
ME |
Mod |
OE |
ME |
Mod |
OE |
ME |
Mod |
Nominative |
þu |
þu |
— |
ġit |
— |
ġe |
ȝē |
you |
Accusative |
þe |
þē |
inc |
ēow |
ȝou |
Dative |
Genitive |
þīn |
þī(n) |
incer |
ēower |
ȝour(es) |
your(s) |
Close
Early Modern English distinguished between the plural ye and the singular thou. As in many other European languages, English at the time had a T–V distinction, which made the plural forms more respectful and deferential; they were used to address strangers and social superiors.[3] This distinction ultimately led to familiar thou becoming obsolete in modern English, although it persists in some English dialects.
Yourself had developed by the early 14th century, with the plural yourselves attested from 1520.[4]
In Standard Modern English, you has five shapes representing six distinct word forms:[5]
Although there is some dialectal retention of the original plural ye and the original singular thou, most English-speaking groups have lost the original forms. Because of the loss of the original singular-plural distinction, many English dialects belonging to this group have innovated new plural forms of the second person pronoun. Examples of such pronouns sometimes seen and heard include:
- y'all, or you all – southern United States,[7] African-American Vernacular English, the Abaco Islands,[8] St. Helena[8] and Tristan da Cunha.[8] Y'all however, is also occasionally used for the second-person singular in the North American varieties.
- you guys [ju gajz~juɣajz] – United States,[9] particularly in the Midwest, Northeast, South Florida and West Coast; Canada, Australia. Gendered usage varies; for mixed groups, "you guys" is nearly always used. For groups consisting of only women, forms like "you girls" or "you gals" might appear instead, though "you guys" is sometimes used for a group of only women as well.
- you lot – United Kingdom,[10] Palmerston Island,[11] Australia
- you mob – Australia[12]
- you-all, all-you – Caribbean English,[13] Saba[11]
- a(ll)-yo-dis – Guyana[13]
- allyuh – Trinidad and Tobago[14]
- among(st)-you – Carriacou, Grenada, Guyana,[13] Utila[11]
- wunna – Barbados[13]
- yinna – Bahamas[13]
- unu/oona – Jamaica, Belize, Cayman Islands, Barbados,[13] San Salvador Island[8]
- yous(e) – Ireland,[15] Tyneside,[16] Merseyside,[17] Central Scotland,[18] Australia,[19] Falkland Islands,[8] New Zealand,[11] Philadelphia,[20] parts of the Midwestern US,[21] Cape Breton and rural Canada[citation needed]
- yous(e) guys – in the United States, particularly in New York City region, Philadelphia, Northeastern Pennsylvania, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan;[citation needed]
- you-uns, or yinz – Western Pennsylvania, the Ozarks, the Appalachians[22]
- ye, yee, yees, yiz – Ireland,[23] Tyneside,[24] Newfoundland and Labrador[11]
You prototypically refers to the addressee along with zero or more other persons, excluding the speaker. You is also used to refer to personified things (e.g., why won't you start? addressed to a car).[25] You is always definite even when it is not specific.
Semantically, you is both singular and plural, though syntactically it is almost always plural: i.e. always takes a verb form that originally marked the word as plural, (i.e. you are, in common with we are and they are).
First person usage
The practice of referring to oneself as you, occasionally known as tuism,[26][27] is common when talking to oneself.[28][29] It is less common in conversations with others, as it could easily result in confusion. Since English lacks a distinct first person singular imperative mood, you and let's function as substitutes.
Third person usage
You is used to refer to an indeterminate person, as a more common alternative to the very formal indefinite pronoun one.[30] Though this may be semantically third person, for agreement purposes, you is always second person.
- Example: "One should drink water frequently" or "You should drink water frequently".
Agreement
You almost always triggers plural verb agreement, even when it is semantically singular.
Functions
You can appear as a subject, object, determiner or predicative complement.[5] The reflexive form also appears as an adjunct. You occasionally appears as a modifier in a noun phrase.
- Subject: You're there; your being there; you paid for yourself to be there.
- Object: I saw you; I introduced her to you; You saw yourself.
- Predicative complement: The only person there was you.
- Dependent determiner: I met your friend.
- Independent determiner: This is yours.
- Adjunct: You did it yourself.
- Modifier: This sounds like a you problem.
Dependents
Pronouns rarely take dependents, but it is possible for you to have many of the same kind of dependents as other noun phrases.
Blake, Norman, ed. (1992). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume II 1066–1476. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
"thee". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-03-29. "yourselves". Online Etymology Dictionary. Retrieved 2021-03-29. Huddleston, Rodney; Pullum, Geoffrey K. (2002). The Cambridge grammar of the English language. Cambridge University Press.
Lass, Roger, ed. (1999). The Cambridge history of the English Language: Volume III 1476–1776. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Howe, Stephen (1996). The Personal Pronouns in the Germanic Languages: A Study of Personal Morphology and Change in the Germanic Languages from the First Records to the Present Day. p. 174. Walter de Gruyter & Co. ISBN 978-3110146363 Roy Blount, Jr. (2008). Alphabet Juice: The Energies, Gists, and Spirits of Letters, Words, and Combinations Thereof; Their Roots, Bones, Innards, Piths, Pips, and Secret Parts, Tinctures, Tonics, and Essences; With Examples of Their Usage Foul and Savory. New York: Sarah Crichton Books. ISBN 978-0-374-10369-9. Gammage, Kimberley L; Hardy, James; Hall, Craig R (October 2001). "A description of self-talk in exercise". Psychology of Sport and Exercise. 2 (4): 233–247. doi:10.1016/S1469-0292(01)00011-5. Dolcos, Sanda; Albarracin, Dolores (October 2014). "The inner speech of behavioral regulation: Intentions and task performance strengthen when you talk to yourself as a You: Self-talk person and self-regulation". European Journal of Social Psychology. 44 (6): 636–642. doi:10.1002/ejsp.2048.