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When thou is the grammatical subject of a finite verb in the indicative 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 pronoun ye, derived from an ancient Indo-European root.
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
Ye, though, was the equivalent of 'you' in the subjective, while 'you' was the objective form. Therefore ye was the plural for thou, and you was the plural for thee. Both words (ye and you) were also used when speaking to one person, by at least the 14th century.
For example, in Spanish, nouns composed of a verb and its plural object usually have the verb first and noun object last (e.g. the legendary monster chupacabras, literally "sucks-goats", or in a more natural English formation "goatsucker") and the plural form of the object noun is retained in both the singular and plural forms of the compound ...
Sometimes, a singular V-form derives from a third-person pronoun; in German and some Nordic languages, it is the third-person plural. Some languages have separate T and V forms for both singular and plural, others have the same form and others have a T–V distinction only in the singular. Different languages distinguish pronoun uses in ...
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Plural First we we: us / ous us: ure[n] / our[e] / ures / urne our: oures ours: us self / ous silue ourselves: Second ȝe / ye you : eow / [ȝ]ou / ȝow / gu / you you: eower / [ȝ]ower / gur / [e]our your: youres yours: Ȝou self / ou selue yourselves: Third From Old English heo / he: his / heo[m] heore / her-- From Old Norse þa / þei / þeo ...
The English pronouns form a relatively small category of words in Modern English whose primary semantic function is that of a pro-form for a noun phrase. [1] Traditional grammars consider them to be a distinct part of speech, while most modern grammars see them as a subcategory of noun, contrasting with common and proper nouns.