Wednesday, January 6, 2010

thee,thou,thy and ye

thee:
a word meaning 'you', used when talking to only one person who is the OBJECT of the verb.(we beseech thee,o lord.)
"Thee" is the same form, but in a different case - the accusative case, which is used for the direct object of a verb.
So "I will meet you" - "I" is the subject of the verb (the thing that is doing something), "you" is the direct object (the thing to which something is being done). If you want to use the "thou" form, you would say "I will meet thee."

thy:
a word meaning 'your', used when talking to only one person.
(honour thy father and thy mother)
"Thy" is the same, but as a possessive adjective (I think - I'm not really that good at grammar). If you wanted to say "your computer" using "thou" rather than "you", you would have to say "thy computer". "Thine" is equivalent to "yours" - as in "I am thine" == "I am yours".


thou:
a word meaning 'you',used when talking to only one person who is the SUBJECT of the verb.(thou art indeed just,lord)
They are old words for "you" - and would generally be used with old verbal forms as well. "Thou" is the second person singular - i.e. "you" when speaking to or of one other person. So one might conceivably say to somebody:
"Thou art the love of my life." - where "thou" is the second person singular and "art" is the second person singular form of "to be".

ye:
a word meaning 'you' , used when talking to more than one person.(gather ye rosebuds while ye may)
and also ye means 'the', used in the names of pubs,shops,ect. to make them seem old.(ye olde starre inn)
"Ye" is the second person plural - if you are addressing a group of people, you could use this instead of "you" - "Ye are the salt of the earth."


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