HOW TO USE THOU ...as well as thee, thy, ye & you.

English used to have a formal and informal way of saying "you" - like lots of other languages do now! Allow me to explain...

What does "thou" actually mean? How is it different to "you"? And what about "thee"? These questions answered AND MORE!

...such as:
✏️ How were "thou" and "thee" used in Shakespeare's day?
✏️ Why is God referred to as "thou" in the Bible?
✏️ Why do Quakers still say "thou" and "thee"?
✏️ How do they use "thou" in Yorkshire?
✏️ When do you use "ye"?
✏️ Why is it "thou art" instead of "thou are"?

Watch this video and you'll understand what "thou" actually means. You'll see that it's not just a fancy old-fashioned way of saying "you". The reality is more interesting than that.

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==CHAPTERS==
0:00 Intro
0:17 What "thou" means
1:23 How to use "thee"
1:59 How to conjugate for "thou"
3:05 "Thy" and "thine"
3:09 "You" as 2nd person plural
3:57 Why call God "thou"?
5:08 Modern use of "thou" (Yorkshire)
5:39 Quakers
6:38 Goodbye!

[nickf]

It's crazy how we use those words today to sound "fancy" when in fact it was the opposite back then.

[hortondlfn]

Thou hast done most marvelous well in thy presentation, and I thank thee.

[panda]

I am not a native English speaker, but for me these forms were always clear to me.
It follows the same pattern as first person words...
I, Thou -> subject
Me, Thee -> object
My, Thy
Mine, Thine

I am surprised this was not mentioned

[jeromebraden]

Can we take a moment to appreciate how Rob takes his fantastic pedantry outdoors? Nothing says "dedication" like standing out in the cold to deliver another fascinating history lesson. Love this guy!

[paulnorman]

An aunt of mine (from County Durham) told me of a moment in her youth when, being reprimanded by her boss for addressing him as "thou", replied defiantly "Divent thee thou me, and I'll not thou thee". I thought that was an absolute gem.

[una_bananas]

In Ireland we use "ye" as a plural of "you"! We have no formal versions (don't think formal versions exist in Irish either) it's just nice to be able to differentiate between singular and plural!

[wariofat]

I love how 'thou' and its conjugation make so much sense in the context of Germanic languages compared to today's you. Like in High German, the ending for 2.P.Sg. verbs ist -st as well. So when 'you can' becomes 'thou canst' again in English, it is much closer to High German 'Du kannst'.

[misterwhyte]

As someone who's currently learning Spanish, that has formal and informal forms, I too really appreciate the simplicity of just having "you" in English. It removes a whole set of parameters when trying to speak and gives the ability to really focus on expressing whatever you want to say without risking offending your interlocutor. Much easier.

[nooneherebutuschickens]

When I was taking German in high school, it was explained to me that you used the "du" form with God because there was an intimacy there. I assumed that English probably had the same theological reason for using the "thou" form when addressing God.

[JeremyWS]

I really want to see "thou/thee" make a come back in every day English by the commonfolk.

[saram]

When I came to know people in County Cork, I was startled when they referred to me, even in writing as 'ye.' But sometimes they would use 'you' and now I see that was when it was an object. I never hear the ye in any other part of Ireland, but it does sound quite charming in County Cork. Thanks for explaining how ye and you are used.

[DaveLaneNZ]

As one who was born and raised in a Quaker family that still uses plain speak as a family tradition, your (thy :) ) explanation was very interesting. We never used the word "thou" at all, though - we used thee as the subject form, too. Never knew of the subject (thou)/object (thee) distinction.

[chrism]

I like the traditional Yorkshire saying "Don't thee thou me as I thous thee". It is used to put somebody in their place who has insufficient social status to use the word thou to address the person using this phrase.

[Mike]

As a German, I just use „thou, thy, thee“ as I use „du, dein, dich“ in my mother tongue .

[fairygoth-mother]

I'm late to this one but have something to share. Having studied German I found it easier to understand Shakespeare because of the similarities to German. The "st" on the end of the verbs comes directly from German as does thou, thee, thine:

Ich, Mich, Mein = I, Me, Mine
Du, Dich, Dein = Thou, Thee, Thine (you, yours, yours (or sometimes 'yourn'))

"Thou canst not go" = "Du kannst nicht gehen".

And English does have a plural for "you" at least in parts of the US where we say "y'all".

[squiresquiffy]

Well Tha says thev disappeared, but I was raised in North Yorkshire and I’m older than thee and we still use them. Having said that, what a marvellous video. I enjoyed it immensely. Thank you Sir.

[OdinOfficialEmcee]

I wish we still had these older features in english. It would make learning other European languages much easier because these concepts wouldn't feel so strange and foreign to start with.

[christianearls]

You are like the Vsauce of the English language

[PlugInKali]

I know this is an older video but with regard to YE when it has the meaning of THE (i.e. when used in phrases like "Ye olde shoppe") that Y is not actually a Y. It is a Old Norse letter that was called thorn (Þ) in medieval English and was pronounced like the modern TH (it's still pronounced like that in Icelandic). When it's written in Gothic script it kinda looks like a Y, hence the confusion. So "Ye olde shoppe" should be actually pronounced "THE olde shoppe". However, like Rob said, when ye is used as a pronoun, it's pronounced like a regular letter Y.

[--Paws--]

While reading Shakespeare in class, it sort was revealed to me that these words are similar if not the same to how in Spanish "you" is used. I had Spanish class before English (literature), I literally put what I learned in one class and made me read or understand Shakespeare better.
Thou ~ tú
Thee/Thy ~ te/ti
Art ~ eres