The word thou
is archaic now, but before it fell out of use, thou
was the second person singular
form and you
was the second person plural. The lapse of this usage that made you
bear the weight of
both the singular and the plural has lead to the introduction of the plural forms y'all
and youse
in some
American regional dialects. The use of the older thou
form persists in popular culture through older works of
English literature, including the plays of Shakespeare and the King James translation of the Bible. Unfortunately, the
thou
form may appear in literature classwork, but it does not typically appear in grammar class. Consequently,
some people think thou
is simple a more formal way of saying you
, and abuse the poor pronoun ferociously.
Pronoun abuse is a peeve of mine; but since I lack the resources to run a pronoun abuse hotline, I'll settle for writing
lists like this one.
How to use thou
-
Use
thou
for singular andyou
for plural. It is not correct to thunder from the pulpitThou art sinners!
unless perhaps you're addressing someone with multiple personality disorder -- and in that case, don't you think you're being a bit hard on the poor fellow? It would be grammatically correct to sayYou are sinners -- except thee,
though the I will leave the truthfulness of the statement to the religious authorities. -
Conjugate! You would wince (or perhaps thou wouldst wince) if you heard someone say
we am going now
; the phrasethou are going now
is just as wrong. It should bewe are going now
andthou art going now.
In general, verbs that go withthou
end with anst,
though there are irregular verbs that don't fit (likeart
). Thou dost, thou makest, thou thinkest, thou hast. -
Be consistent! Unless you need to do so for some specific reason, don't switch between the verb forms in mid-sentence
That means that if you start with
thou
, you should usethy
andthine
for possessives. If you're unsure how to usethou
correctly, why not use the modern forms? -
Do not mistake
thou
for a particularly impressive or authoritative form of the modernyou.
It has a specific meaning; that meaning should be respected. If you're unsure of the grammar of the old form and still want to give your prayers and hymns a sense of religious grandeur, use capitalization. And if Terry Pratchett's personification of Death can speak in capitals all the time, surely you can manage it for a single word on occassion.