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you

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See also yōu, yóu, yǒu, and yòu

Contents

[ English

[ Alternative spellings

[ Etymology

From Old English ēow < West Proto-Germanic *iwwiz < Proto-Indo-European *ju. See usage notes. Ye, you and your are cognate with German ihr, euch and euer, respectively. Ye is also cognate with archaic Swedish I. The presence of final -r in the German form is from an earlier -z, and is mirrored by the final -r’s in German er and wir, whereas English he and we lack the -r; Dutch and Scandinavian follow English in this respect.

[ Pronunciation

[ Homophones

  • ewe
  • u
  • yew
  • (in h-dropping dialects): hew
  • (in h-dropping dialects): hue

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 ← got you.

[ Pronoun

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

  1. (subject pronoun) The person spoken to, or written to, as a subject.
    You must do as I tell you.
  2. (object pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as an object.
    We’ll go with you to the game.
    You must do as I tell you.
  3. (subject pronoun) The group of persons spoken, or written to, as a subject.
    You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
  4. (object pronoun) The group of persons spoken, or written to, as an object.
    You are all supposed to do as I tell you.
  5. (subject pronoun) Anyone, one; an unspecified individual.
    You have to be at least 36 inches high to go on this ride.
  6. (object pronoun) Anyone, one; an unspecified individual.
    They don’t smile at you when they serve you in this store.

[ Usage notes

  • You was originally a formal form used when addressing strangers or to show deference, with the singular being thou when talking to friends or family. (This usage echoed German usage of "Sie" for polite conversation, and "du" for informal, friendly conversation.) You gradually came to be generalized to the singular in all circumstances.
  • Ye was the plural form used to address groups. The original nominative form was ye, whilst you was the objective (accusative and dative) form, but with time ye came to represent any plural form. Today the absence of a plural ye has led to slang expressions such as you guys or youse (both are considered colloquial).
  • Early Modern English works use these archaic meanings. For example the King James Bible uses ye when referring to groups, you to display politeness or deference, and thou to represent a close personal relationship (such as with God).
  • See Wiktionary:English inflection for other personal pronouns.

[ Synonyms

  • (subject pronoun: the person spoken/written to): thou (singular, archaic), ye, yer (dialect)
  • (subject pronoun: the persons spoken/written to): all of you (plural), ye, yer (dialect), you’s (plural dialect), y’all (informal US plural), you all (plural), you + number (plural, to the specified number of people)
  • (object pronoun: the person spoken/written to): thee (singular, archaic), ye, to you, to thee, to ye
  • (object pronoun: the persons spoken/written to): ye, to you, to ye, to you all
  • (subject pronoun: one): one, people, they
  • (object pronoun: one): one, people, them

[ Translations

subject pronoun: the person being addressed
object pronoun: the person being addressed
subject pronoun: thee group being addressed