E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “tu”, inAn Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London,→ISBN
Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015)L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)[3], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)
When more pronouns are included in the same sentence, it is considered somewhat impolite to say the pronounmoi first,etiquette says it must be the last one, andtoi must be said after a third person:
Rose, toi et moi irons là-bas., “Rose, you and I will go there.”
"Tu" is used to address one person in an informal situation. Older people tend to exclusively use it with familiar people, and do not use it with unfamiliar adults unless invited to; but younger people use this pronoun much more, using it together in any informal situation, even if they don't know each other. Using "vous" in this context will be seen as old-fashioned and distant.
"Tu" is not typically used in formal settings such as business meetings and never in court, regardless of the relationship between the speaker and the listener.
Using "vous" when "tu" would be more appropriate will come across as rigid and awkward; however, using "tu" when "vous" would be more appropriate could come over as deliberate disrespect. For this reason, as a rule of thumb, it is advised to use "vous" if in doubt, as it is "all-encompassing".
Children are always addressed using "tu" –vous would come over as comical. In elementary, middle, and high schools, teachers address students using "tu", but students address teachers usingvous*. In higher education usage ofvous becomes more common in both directions.
In formal written communication to any adult, usevous. Not doing so may come over as unprofessional at best, deliberately disrespectful at worst.
However, depending on the region or type of school, other norms may be more used in place. For example, in Quebec (not the rest of Canada), it is more common for students to use "tu" with their teachers.[1]
1On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms). 2Vous is also used as the polite singular form. 3Ils andeux are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members. 4 These forms are also used as third person plural reflexive.
Václav Blažek (2008) “Gaulish Language”, inSborník prací filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity / Studia minora facultatis philosophicae universitatis brunensis[6], page59
Italian being apro-drop language, subject pronouns are mostly omitted, both in the written and spoken language, as the inflected verb is conjugated by person. An example would be:Mangi una mela, which is much more common thanTu mangi una mela, where the subject can be inferred from the inflected formmangi ; similarlyÈ carina instead ofLei è carina. The explicit usage of personal pronouns may sound redundant to a native speaker, except when it is used in order to emphasize the subject. (Tu mangi una mela could be interpreted asYou are eating an apple and I am not)..
The second-person pronoun in particular can sound confidential and, in some cases, even impolite.
Third person pronominal forms used as formal terms of address to refer to second person subjects (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
2
Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
When used in the plural genitive,vestrī is used when it is the object of an action, especially when used with a gerund or gerundive. When used in such a construction, the gerund or gerundive takes on themasculinegenitivesingular.Vestrum is used as a partitive genitive, used in constructions such as(oneof you).
TheLatviantevis comes from*tevens, with an-en-increased form showing an additionals by analogy with other genitive plurals. The dative form was originally closer toOld Prussiantebbei; the current formtev has av due to influence from other declension forms, and the ending was reduced. The accusativetevi comes from*teven, withn by analogy to the accusative form of other words. Thelocativetevī was formed by analogy withi-stem nouns.[1]
Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the criticaltonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
AIS:Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] –map 1653: “voglio che tu finisca” – onnavigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
1867,Kleine Mittheilungen. Zur Sammlung der Sagen, Märchen und Lieder, der Sitten und Gebräuche der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg. Nachträge, herausgegeben von Dr. Handelmann inJahrbücher für die Landeskunde der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg herausgegeben von der S. H. L. Gesellschaft für vaterländische Geschichte. Band IX., p. 126 (Von der Insel Amrum. Mitgetheilt von Chr. Johansen)
B. Sieradzka-Baziur, Ewa Deptuchowa, Joanna Duska, Mariusz Frodyma, Beata Hejmo, Dorota Janeczko, Katarzyna Jasińska, Krystyna Kajtoch, Joanna Kozioł, Marian Kucała, Dorota Mika, Gabriela Niemiec, Urszula Poprawska, Elżbieta Supranowicz, Ludwika Szelachowska-Winiarzowa, Zofia Wanicowa, Piotr Szpor, Bartłomiej Borek, editors (2011–2015), “tu”, inSłownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków:IJP PAN,→ISBN
Henrik Liljegren, Naseem Haider (2011) “tu”, inPalula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)[9], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives,→ISBN
Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985) “tu”, inA Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press
According toSłownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990),tu is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 1-2 times in scientific texts, 42 times in news, 113 times in essays, 169 times in fiction, and 353 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 779 times, making it the 57th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.[1]
^Ida Kurcz (1990) “tu”, inSłownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej [Frequency dictionary of the Polish language] (in Polish), volume 2, Kraków, Warszawa: Polska Akademia Nauk. Instytut Języka Polskiego, page614
“TU”, inElektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century],30.03.2020
“TU”, inElektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century],06.09.2008
Tu has fallen out of use in some regions of Brazil, including most of the Southeast and the Centre-West, where "você" has taken its place. It is still very commonly used in various regions of the country though, such as most ofSanta Catarina andRio Grande do Sul, parts ofParaná,Rio de Janeiro city and most of theNortheast andNorth regions. It should be noted that inRio de Janeiro the pronoun is frequently employed interchangeably withvocê. Despite the media's preference for "você", the usage of "tu" seems to have been gaining ground throughout the last few decades in Rio (see[10], a linguistic research on the topic in Portuguese), being most frequent among younger speakers.
According to grammars,tu should always take second person singular verbs, as is the case in Portugal and some parts of Brazil. However, in most Brazilian dialects which employtu, it now takes third person singular verbs, likevocê.
1 Used when following a verb ending in-n,-s or-dh. 2sibh andsibhse also act as the polite singular pronouns. To mark a direct object of a verbal noun, the derivatives ofgam are used.
^Oftedal, M. (1956)A linguistic survey of the Gaelic dialects of Scotland, Vol. III: The Gaelic of Leurbost, Isle of Lewis, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
^John MacPherson (1945) The Gaelic dialect of North Uist (Thesis)[2], Edinburgh: University of Edinburgh
^Roy Wentworth (2003)Gaelic Words and Phrases From Wester Ross / Faclan is Abairtean à Ros an Iar, Inverness: CLÀR,→ISBN
^Mac Gill-Fhinnein, Gordon (1966)Gàidhlig Uidhist a Deas, Dublin: Institiúid Ard-Léinn Bhaile Átha Cliath
^Borgstrøm, Carl Hj. (1937)The dialect of Barra in the Outer Hebrides, Oslo: Norsk Tidsskrift for Sprogvidenskap
The formstu andtus are only used before and within the noun phrase of the modified noun. In other positions, a form oftuyo is used instead:
Sontus libros. ―They areyour books.
Son los librostuyos. ―They areyour books. (literally, “They are the booksof yours.”)
Besides being a pronoun, becausetu occurs in a noun phrase and expresses reference, it also grammatically classifies as adeterminer (specifically a possessive/genitive determiner).
(Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Maybe Proto-Bantu, see BLR3 4837?”)
tu was the old neuter oftvå. Thus, one would say "ett hus" (one house), "tu hus" (two houses). The equivalent for the number three wastry ortri, which is likewise archaic.
Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003) Hoàng Triều Ân, editor,Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày][12] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học Xã hội
Hoàng Văn Ma, Lục Văn Pảo, Hoàng Chí (2006)Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội
Lương Bèn (2011)Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary][13][14] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên
1989,Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea,Jenesis1:15:
God i mekim kamap tupela bikpela lait. Bikpela em san bilong givim lait long de, na liklik em mun bilong givim lait long nait. Na God i mekim kamap ol statu.
R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke et al., editors (1950–present), “tu”, inGeiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies
Thisetymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at theEtymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Not mentioned at all by Ratliff. Probably native Hmongic; perhaps distantly related toOld Chinese填 (OC*diːn, *diːns, *tin, *tins, “to fill”)?”
