you

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See also: You, yóu, yòu, yōu, yǒu, ȝou, and þou

English[edit]

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Etymology 1[edit]

From Middle English you, yow, ȝow (object case of ye), from Old English ēow (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 Scots you (you), 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 (, you), Ashkun yë̃́ (you), Kamkata-viri šó (you), Sanskrit यूयम् (yūyám, 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.

Alternative forms[edit]

  • ye (archaic nominative, dialectal plural)
  • 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)

Pronunciation[edit]

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) or whatcha doin'? (more formally what are you doing?).

Pronoun[edit]

you (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective, possessive determiner your, possessive pronoun yours, singular reflexive yourself, plural reflexive yourselves)

  1. (object pronoun) The people spoken, or written to, as an object. [from 9th c.]
    Both of you should get ready now.
  2. (reflexive, now US colloquial) (To) yourselves, (to) yourself. [from 9th c.]
  3. (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.
  4. (subject pronoun) The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.) [from 14th c.]
    You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
  5. (subject pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.) [from 15th c.]
  6. (indefinite personal pronoun) Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object). [from 16th c.]
    • 2001 May 5, Polly Vernon, The Guardian:
      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?
Usage notes[edit]
  • 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, you-uns, 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).
  • The pronoun you is also used in an indefinite sense: the generic you.
  • See Appendix:English parts of speech for other personal pronouns.
Synonyms[edit]
  • (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[edit]
Descendants[edit]
  • Belizean Creole: yu
  • Bislama: yu
  • Cameroon Pidgin: you
  • Jamaican Creole: yuh
  • Nigerian Pidgin: yu
  • Sranan Tongo: yu
  • Tok Pisin: yu
  • Torres Strait Creole: yu
Translations[edit]
See also[edit]

Determiner[edit]

you

  1. The individual or group spoken or written to.
    Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?
  2. 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[edit]
Translations[edit]

Verb[edit]

you (third-person singular simple present yous, present participle youing, simple past and past participle youed)

  1. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun you (in the past, especially to use you rather than thou, when you was considered 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, “Practicing”, in Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books:
      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.
Translations[edit]

Etymology 2[edit]

Noun[edit]

you (plural yous)

  1. The name of the Latin-script letter U.
    • 1969, Michael Feld, The Sabbatical Year, London: Alan Ross Ltd, page 301:
      ‘Eff. You. En,’ said Mr Banstead. ‘Fun! []
    • 2004, Will Rogers, The Stonking Steps, page 170:
      It said, in a whispering, buzzing voice, "Gee-you-ess-ess-ay-dash-em-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-em-eye-en-gee-oh-dash-pee-eye-pee-dash-pee-ee-ar-ar-wye-dash-pee-eye-en-gee-oh."
    • 2019, Anand Ranganathan, Chitra Subramaniam, The Rat Eater, Bloomsbury India, →ISBN:
      ‘S-S-C…sitting on a tree…eff-you-cee-kay-i-en-ji.’
Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ 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 ..."

Cameroon Pidgin[edit]

Alternative forms[edit]

Etymology[edit]

From English you.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. thou, thee, 2nd person singular subject and object personal pronoun

See also[edit]

Japanese[edit]

Romanization[edit]

you

  1. Rōmaji transcription of よう

See also[edit]

Karawa[edit]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. water

References[edit]

  • transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Leonese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Late Latin eo, from Classical Latin egō̆.

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. I

See also[edit]

Mandarin[edit]

Romanization[edit]

you (you5you0, Zhuyin ˙ㄧㄡ)

  1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of

Romanization[edit]

you

  1. Nonstandard spelling of yōu.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of yóu.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of yǒu.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of yòu.

Usage notes[edit]

  • 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[edit]

Etymology 1[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. Alternative form of yow

Etymology 2[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. (chiefly Northern and East Midland dialectal) Alternative form of þou

Mirandese[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Inherited from Late Latin eo, from Classical Latin egō̆.

Pronunciation[edit]

Pronoun[edit]

you

  1. 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[edit]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. water

References[edit]

  • transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Takia[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Borrowed from Bargam yuw and Waskia yu.[1]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. water

References[edit]

  • Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, Meredith Osmond, The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The Culture and Environment (2007, →ISBN
  1. ^ Loanwords in Takia, in Loanwords in the World's Languages: A Comparative Handbook (edited by Martin Haspelmath, Uri Tadmor), page 761

Terebu[edit]

Noun[edit]

you

  1. fire

Further reading[edit]

  • Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)