The wordthou (/ðaʊ/) is asecond-personsingularpronoun inEnglish. It is now largelyarchaic, having been replaced in most contexts by the wordyou, although it remains in use in parts ofNorthern England and inScots (/ðu:/).Thou is thenominative form; theoblique/objective form isthee (functioning as bothaccusative anddative); thepossessive isthy (adjective) orthine (as an adjective before a vowel or as a possessive pronoun); and thereflexive isthyself. Whenthou is thegrammatical subject of afinite verb in theindicative mood, the verb form typically ends in-(e)st (e.g., "thou goest", "thou do(e)st"), but in some cases just-t (e.g., "thou art"; "thou shalt").
Originally,thou was simply the singular counterpart to the plural pronounye, derived from anancient Indo-European root. InMiddle English,thou was sometimes represented with ascribal abbreviation that put a small "u" over the letterthorn: þͧ (later, in printing presses that lacked this letter, this abbreviation was sometimes rendered as yͧ). Starting in the 1300s,thou andthee were used to express familiarity, formality, or contempt, for addressing strangers, superiors, or inferiors, or in situations when indicating singularity to avoid confusion was needed; concurrently, the plural forms,ye andyou, began to also be used for singular: typically for addressing rulers, superiors, equals, inferiors, parents, younger persons, and significant others.[3] In the 17th century,thou fell into disuse in the standard language, often regarded as impolite, but persisted, sometimes in an altered form, inregional dialects ofEngland andScotland,[4] as well as in the language of such religious groups as theSociety of Friends. The use of the pronoun is also still present in Christian prayer and in poetry.[5]
Early English translations of the Bible used the familiar singular form of the second person, which mirrors common usage trends in other languages. The familiar and singular form is used when speaking toGod inFrench (inProtestantism both in past and present, inCatholicism since the post–Vatican II reforms),German,Spanish,Italian,Portuguese,Scottish Gaelic and many others (all of which maintain the use of an "informal" singular form of the second person in modern speech). In addition, the translators of theKing James Version of the Bible attempted to maintain the distinction found inBiblical Hebrew,Aramaic andKoine Greek between singular and plural second-person pronouns and verb forms, so they usedthou,thee,thy, andthine for singular, andye,you,your, andyours for plural.
In standardModern English,thou continues to be used in formal religious contexts, in wedding ceremonies ("I thee wed"), in literature that seeks to reproduce archaic language, and in certain fixed phrases such as "fare thee well". For this reason, many associate the pronoun with solemnity or formality. Many dialects have compensated for the lack of a singular/plural distinction caused by the disappearance ofthou andye through the creation of new plural pronouns or pronominals, such asyinz,yous[6] andy'all or the colloquialyou guys ("you lot" in England).Ye remains common in some parts of Ireland, but the examples just given vary regionally and are usually restricted to colloquial speech.
Becausethou has passed out of common use, its traditional forms are often confused by those imitating archaic speech.[7][citation needed]
The Englishpersonal pronouns have standardizeddeclension according to the following table:[citation needed]
| Nominative | Oblique | Genitive | Possessive | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st person | singular | I | me | my/mine[# 1] | mine |
| plural | we | us | our | ours | |
| 2nd person | singular informal | thou | thee | thy/thine[# 1] | thine |
| plural informal | ye | you | your | yours | |
| formal | you | ||||
| 3rd person | singular | he/she/it | him/her/it | his/her/his (it)[# 2] | his/hers/his[# 2] |
| plural | they | them | their | theirs | |
Verb forms used afterthou generally end in-est (pronounced/ᵻst/) or-st in theindicative mood in both thepresent and thepasttenses. These forms are used for bothstrong andweak verbs.
Typical examples of the standard present and past tense forms follow. Thee in the ending is optional; early English spelling had not yet been standardized. In verse, the choice about whether to use thee often depended upon considerations ofmeter.
Modal verbs also have-(e)st added to their forms:
A few verbs have irregularthou forms:
A few others are not inflected:
In Proto-English[clarification needed], the second-person singular verb inflection was-es. This came down unchanged[citation needed] fromIndo-European and can be seen in quite distantly related Indo-European languages:Russian знаешь,znayesh, thou knowest;Latinamas, thou lovest. (This is parallel to the history of the third-person form, in Old English -eþ, Russian, знает,znayet, he knoweth, Latinamat he loveth.) Theanomalous development[according to whom?] from -es to modern English -est, which took place separately at around the same time in the closely relatedGerman andWest Frisian languages, is understood to be caused by an assimilation of theconsonant of the pronoun, which often followed the verb. This is most readily observed in German: liebes du → liebstu → liebst du (lovest thou).[8]
There are some speakers of modern English[who?] that use thou/thee but use thee as the subject and conjugate the word with is/was, i.e.thee is, thee was, thee has, thee speaks, thee spoke, thee can, thee could. However this is not considered standard.[citation needed][clarification needed]
| Early Modern English | ModernWest Frisian | Modern German | Modern Dutch | Modern English |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thou hast | Do hast [doːˈhast] | Du hast [duːˈhast] | Jij hebt [jɛiˈɦɛpt] | You have |
| She hath | Sy hat [sɛiˈhat] | Sie hat [ziːˈhat] | Zij heeft [zɛiˈɦeːft] | She has |
| What hast thou? | Wat hasto? [vatˈhasto] | Was hast du? [vasˈhastduː] | Wat heb je? [ʋɑtˈɦɛpjə] | What do you have? (What have you?) |
| What hath she? | Wat hat sy? [vatˈhatsɛi] | Was hat sie? [vasˈhatziː] | Wat heeft zij? [ʋɑtˈɦeːftsɛi] | What does she have? (What has she?) |
| Thou goest | Do giest [doːˈɡiəst] | Du gehst [duːˈɡeːst] | Jij gaat [jɛiˈɣaːt] | You go |
| Thou doest | Do dochst [doːˈdoχst] | Du tust [duːˈtuːst] | Jij doet [jɛiˈdut] | You do |
| Thou art (variantthou beest) | Do bist [doːˈbɪst] | Du bist [duːˈbɪst] | Jij bent [jɛiˈbɛnt] | You are |
InDutch, the equivalent of "thou",du, also became archaic and fell out of use and was replaced by the Dutch equivalent of "you",gij (laterjij oru), just as it has in English, with the place of the informal plural taken byjullie (compare Englishy’all).
In thesubjunctive andimperative moods, the ending in-(e)st is dropped (although it is generally retained inthou wert, the second-person singular past subjunctive of the verbto be). The subjunctive forms are used when a statement is doubtful or contrary to fact; as such, they frequently occur afterif and the poeticand.
In modern regional English dialects that usethou or some variant, such as inYorkshire andLancashire, it often takes the third person form of the verb-s. This comes from a merging ofEarly Modern English second person singular ending-st and third person singular ending-s into-s (the latter a northernvariation of-þ (-th)).
The presentindicative formart ("þu eart") goes back toWest Saxon Old English (seeOEDs.v. be IV.18) and eventually became standard, even in the south (e.g. in Shakespeare and the Bible). For its influence also fromthe North,cf.Icelandicþú ert. The preterite indicative ofbe is generallythou wast.[citation needed]
Thou originates fromOld Englishþū, and ultimately viaGrimm's law from theProto-Indo-European *tu, with the expectedGermanicvowel lengthening in accented monosyllabic words with anopen syllable.Thou is thereforecognate withIcelandic andOld Norseþú,German andContinental Scandinaviandu,Latin and all majorRomance languages,Irish,Kurdish,Lithuanian andLatviantu ortú,Greekσύ (sy),Slavic ты /ty or ти /ti,Armenianդու (dow/du),Hindi तू (tū),Bengali: তুই (tui),Persianتُو (to) andSanskrit त्वम् (tvam). A cognate form of this pronoun exists in almost every other Indo-European language.[14]
InOld English,thou was governed by a simple rule:thou addressed one person, andye more than one. Beginning in the 1300sthou was gradually replaced by the pluralye as the form of address for a superior person and later for an equal. For a long time, however,thou remained the most common form for addressing an inferior person.[3]
The practice of matching singular and plural forms with informal and formal connotations is called theT–V distinction and in English is largely due to the influence of French. This began with the practice of addressingkings and otheraristocrats in theplural. 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 formvous was reserved and formal.[citation needed]
Fairly suddenly in the 17th century,thou began to decline in the standard language (that is, particularly in and around London), often regarded as impolite or ambiguous in terms of politeness. It persisted, sometimes in an altered form, particularly inregional dialects ofEngland andScotland farther from London,[4] as well as in the language of such religious groups as theSociety of Friends. Reasons commonly maintained by modern linguists as to the decline ofthou in the 17th century include the increasing identification ofyou with "polite society" and the uncertainty of usingthou for inferiors versusyou for superiors (withyou being the safer default) amidst the rise of a new middle class.[15]
In the 18th century,Samuel Johnson, inA Grammar of the English Tongue, wrote: "in the language of ceremony ... the second person plural is used for the second person singular", implying thatthou was still in everyday familiar use for the second-person singular, whileyou could be used for the same grammatical person, but only for formal contexts. However, Samuel Johnson himself was born and raised not in the south of England, but in theWest Midlands (specifically,Lichfield, Staffordshire), where the usage ofthou persists until the present day (see below), so it is not surprising that he would consider it entirely ordinary and describe it as such. By contrast, for most speakers ofsouthern British English,thou had already fallen out of everyday use, even in familiar speech, by sometime around 1650.[16]Thou persisted in a number of religious, literary and regional contexts, and those pockets of continued use of the pronoun tended to undermine the obsolescence of the T–V distinction.
One notable consequence of the decline in use of the second person singular pronounsthou,thy, andthee is the obfuscation of certain sociocultural elements ofEarly Modern English texts, such as many character interactions inShakespeare's plays, which were mostly written from 1589 to 1613. Although Shakespeare is far from consistent in his writings, his characters primarily tend to usethou (rather thanyou) when addressing another who is a social subordinate, a close friend or family member, or a hated wrongdoer.[17]
Many European languages contain verbs meaning "to address with the informal pronoun", such as Germanduzen, Frenchtutoyer, Spanishtutear andvosear, Swedishdua, Dutchjijen en jouen, Ukrainianтикати (tykaty), Russianтыкать (tykat'), Polishtykać, Romaniantutui, Hungariantegezni, Finnishsinutella, etc. Additionally, the Norwegian noundus refers to the practice of using this familiar form of address instead of theDe/Dem/Deres formal forms in common use. Although uncommon in English, the usage did appear, such as at the trial of SirWalter Raleigh in 1603, when SirEdward Coke, prosecuting for the Crown, reportedly sought toinsult Raleigh by saying,
here usingthou as a verb meaningto call (someone) "thou" or "thee". Although the practice never took root in Standard English, it occurs in dialectal speech in the north of England. A formerly common refrain inYorkshire dialect for admonishing children who misused the familiar form was:
And similar inLancashire dialect:
Many conservative Christians use "Thee, Thou, Thy and Thine when addressing God" inprayer; in thePlymouth Brethren catechismGathering Unto His Name, Norman Crawford explains the practice:[5]
The English language does contain reverential and respectful forms of the second person pronoun which allow us to show reverence in speaking to God. It has been a very long tradition that these reverential forms are used in prayer. In a day of irreverence, how good to display in every way that we can that "He (God) is not a man as I am" (Job 9:32).[5]
When referring to God, "thou" (as with other pronouns) is often capitalized, e.g. "For Thou hast delivered my soul from death" (Psalm 56:12–13).[19][20][21]
AsWilliam Tyndaletranslated the Bible into English in the early 16th century, he preserved the singular and plural distinctions that he found in hisHebrew andGreek originals. He usedthou for the singular andye for the plural regardless of the relative status of the speaker and theaddressee. Tyndale's usage was standard for the period and mirrored that found in the earlierWycliffe's Bible and the laterKing James Bible. But as the use ofthou in non-dialect English began to decline in the 18th century,[22] its meaning nonetheless remained familiar from the widespread use of the latter translation.[23] TheRevised Standard Version of the Bible, which first appeared in 1946, retained the pronounthou exclusively to addressGod, usingyou 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 thePsalms and similar text in devotional use.[24] TheNew American Standard Bible (1971) made the same decision, but the revision of 1995 (New American Standard Bible, Updated edition) reversed it. Similarly, the 1989Revised English Bible dropped all forms ofthou that had appeared in the earlierNew English Bible (1970). TheNew Revised Standard Version (1989) omitsthou entirely and claims that it is incongruous and contrary to the original intent of the use ofthou inBible translation to adopt a distinctive pronoun to address the Deity.[25]
The1662Book of Common Prayer, which is still an authorized form of worship in theChurch of England and much of theAnglican Communion, also uses the wordthou to refer to the singular second person.[26][improper synthesis?]
Quakers traditionally usedthee as an ordinary pronoun as part of theirtestimony of simplicity—a practice continued by certainConservative Friends;[27] the stereotype has them sayingthee for both nominative and accusative cases.[28] This was started at the beginning of the Quaker movement byGeorge Fox, who called it "plain speaking", as an attempt to preserve theegalitarian familiarity associated with the pronoun. Most Quakers have abandoned this usage. At its beginning, the Quaker movement was particularly strong in the northwestern areas of England and particularly in thenorth Midlands area. The preservation ofthee in Quaker speech may relate to this history.[29] 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 orwas thee.[30]
InLatter-day Saint prayer tradition, the terms "thee" and "thou" are always and exclusively used to addressGod, as a mark of respect.[31]
In many of the Quranic translations, particularly those compiled by theAhmadiyya, the termsthou andthee are used. One particular example isThe Holy Quran - Arabic Text and English translation, translated byMaulvi Sher Ali.[32]
In the English translations of thescripture of theBaháʼí Faith, the termsthou andthee are also used.Shoghi Effendi, the head of the religion in the first half of the 20th century, adopted a style that was somewhat removed from everyday discourse when translating the texts from their originalArabic orPersian to capture some of the poetic and metaphorical nature of the text in the original languages and to convey the idea that the text was to be considered holy.[33]
Like his contemporaries,William Shakespeare usesthou both in the intimate, French-style sense, and also to emphasize differences of rank, but he is by no means consistent in using the word, and friends and lovers sometimes call each otherye oryou as often as they call each otherthou,[34][35][36] sometimes in ways that can be analysed for meaning, but often apparently at random.
For example, in the following passage fromHenry IV, Shakespeare hasFalstaff use both forms with Henry. Initially using "you" in confusion on waking he then switches to a comfortable and intimate "thou".
While inHamlet, Shakespeare uses discordant second person pronouns to express Hamlet's antagonism towards his mother.
Except where everyday use survives in some regions of England,[37] the air of informal familiarity once suggested by the use ofthou has disappeared; it is used often for the opposite effect with solemnritual occasions, in readings from theKing 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,[38] askylark,[39]Achilles,[40] and evenThe Mighty Thor.[41] InThe Empire Strikes Back,Darth Vader addresses theEmperor with the words: "What is thy bidding, my master?" In Leonard Cohen's song "Bird on the Wire", he promises his beloved that he will reform, saying "I will make it all up to thee." In Diana Ross's song, "Upside Down", (written byChic'sNile Rodgers andBernard Edwards) there is the lyric "Respectfully I say to thee I'm aware that you're cheatin'." In "Will You Be There",Michael Jackson sings, "Hold me / Like the River Jordan / And I will then say to thee / You are my friend." Notably, both Ross's and Jackson's lyrics combinethee with the usual formyou.
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 modernparody andpastiche[42] in an attempt to make speech appear either archaic or formal. The formsthou andthee are often transposed.
You is now the standard English second-person pronoun and encompasses both the singular and plural senses. In some dialects, however,thou has persisted,[43] and in others thou is retained for poetic and/or literary use. Further, in others the vacuum created by the loss of a distinction has led to the creation of new forms of the second-person plural, such asy'all in theSouthern United States oryous by some Australians and heard in what are generally considered working class dialects in and near cities in the northeastern United States. The forms vary across the English-speaking world and between literature and the spoken language.[44] It also survives as afossil word in the commonly-used phrase "holier-than-thou".[45]
In traditional dialects,thou is used in the English counties ofCumberland,Westmorland,Durham,Lancashire,Yorkshire,Staffordshire,Derbyshire, and some western parts ofNottinghamshire.[46] TheSurvey of Anglo-Welsh Dialects, which began in 1968,[47] found thatthou persisted in scattered sites acrossClwyd,Dyfed,Powys, andWest Glamorgan.[48] Such dialects normally also preserve distinct verb forms for the singular second person: for example,thee coost (standard English:you could, archaic:thou couldst), in northern Staffordshire. Throughout rural Yorkshire, the old distinction between nominative and objective is preserved.[citation needed] The possessive is often written asthy in local dialect writings, but is pronounced as an unstressedtha, and the possessive pronoun has in modern usage almost exclusively followed other English dialects in becomingyours or the local[specify] wordyour'n (fromyour one):[citation needed]
| Nominative | Objective | Genitive | Possessive | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Second person | singular | tha | thee | thy (tha) | yours / your'n |
The apparent incongruity between the archaic nominative, objective, andgenitive 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 causingtha to fall into disuse, although a measure of local pride in the dialect may be counteracting this.
Some other variants are specific to certain areas: InSheffield, the initial consonant was pronounced as /d/, which led to the nickname of the "dee-dahs" for people from Sheffield.[49] In Lancashire and West Yorkshire,ta[tə] was used as an unstressed shortening ofthou, which can be found in the song "On Ilkla Moor Baht 'at", althoughK.M. Petyt found this form to have been largely displaced from urban West Yorkshire in his 1970-1 fieldwork.[50]
In rural NorthLancashire between Lancaster and theNorth Yorkshire bordertha is preserved in colloquial phrases such as "What wouldtha like forthi tea?" (What would you like for your dinner), and"'appentha waint" ("perhaps you won't" – happen being thedialect word forperhaps) and "tha knows" (you know). This usage in Lancashire is becoming rare, except for elderly and rural speakers.
A well-known routine by comedianPeter Kay, fromBolton, Greater Manchester (historically in Lancashire), features the phrase "Has tha nowt moist?”[51](Have you got nothing moist?).
The use of the word "thee" in the song "I Predict a Riot" byLeeds bandKaiser Chiefs ("Watching the people get lairy / is not very pretty, I tell thee") caused some comment[52] by people who were unaware that the word is still in use in theYorkshire dialect.
The word "thee" is also used in the songUpside Down "Respectfully, I say to thee / I'm aware that you're cheating".[53]
The use of the phrase "tha knows" has been widely used in various songs byArctic Monkeys, a popular band from High Green, a suburb of Sheffield.Alex Turner, the band's lead singer, has also often replaced words with "tha knows" during live versions of the songs.
The use persists somewhat in theWest Country dialects, albeit somewhat affected. Some ofthe Wurzels' songs include "Drink Up ThyZider" and "Sniff Up Thy Snuff".[54]
Thoo has also been used in theOrcadianScots dialect in place of the singular informalthou. InShetland dialect, the other form ofInsular Scots,du anddee are used. The word "thou" has been reported in theNorth Northern ScotsCromarty dialect as being in common use in the first half of the 20th century and by the time of its extinction only in occasional use.[55]
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