Ye (pronoun)

Ye /jiː/ ^ⓘ is a second-person, plural, personal pronoun (nominative), spelled in Old English as "ge". In Middle English and Early Modern English, it was used as a both informal second-person plural and formal honorific, to address a group of equals or superiors or a single superior. While its use is archaic in most of the English-speaking world, it is used in Newfoundland and Labrador in Canada and in some parts of Ireland, to distinguish from the singular "you".^[1]

Confusion with definite article, 'the'

"Ye" is also sometimes used to represent an Early Modern English form of the definite article the (pronounced /ðiː/), such as in "Ye Olde Shoppe" [the old shop]. The word the was spelled þe but frequently written as "" or "yͤ" (here the "e" is written above the other letter to save space, but it could also be written on the line). The initial (or lower) letter is thorn, commonly written ⟨þ⟩ but which in handwritten scripts could resemble a ⟨y⟩ as shown. Medieval printing presses did not contain the letter thorn, thus ⟨y⟩ was substituted. Thorn was supplanted during the later phases of Middle English and the earlier phases of Early Modern English by the modern digraph ⟨th⟩. (Its use continues in Icelandic.)

Etymology

In Old English, the use of second-person pronouns was governed by a simple rule: þū addressed one person, ġit addressed two people, and ġē addressed more than two. After the Norman Conquest, which marks the beginning of the French vocabulary influence that characterised the Middle English period, the singular was gradually replaced by the plural as the form of address for a superior and later for an equal. The practice of matching singular and plural forms with informal and formal connotations, respectively, is called the T–V distinction, and in English it is largely due to the influence of French. This began with the practice of addressing kings and other aristocrats in the plural. Eventually, this was generalised, as in French, to address any social superior or stranger with a plural pronoun, which was believed to be more polite. In French, tu was eventually considered either intimate or condescending (and, to a stranger, potentially insulting), while the plural form vous was reserved and formal. In Early Modern English, ye functioned as both an informal plural and formal singular second-person nominative pronoun. "Ye" is still commonly used as an informal plural in Hiberno‐English and Newfoundland English. Both dialects also use variants of "ye" for alternative cases, such as "yeer" (your), "yeers" (yours), and "yeerselves" (yourselves).^[2]

Old English pronouns
			Nominative	IPA	Accusative	Dative	Genitive
1st	Singular		iċ	[itʃ]	mec / mē	mē	mīn
	Dual		wit	[wit]	uncit	unc	uncer
	Plural		wē	[weː]	ūsic	ūs	ūser / ūre
2nd	Singular		þū	[θuː]	þec / þē	þē	þīn
	Dual		ġit	[jit]	incit	inc	incer
	Plural		ġē	[jeː]	ēowic	ēow	ēower
3rd	Singular	Masculine	hē	[heː]	hine	him	his
		Neuter	hit	[hit]	hit	him	his
		Feminine	hēo	[heːo]	hīe	hiere	hiere
	Plural		hīe	[hiːy]	hīe	heom	heora

Middle English personal pronouns
Below each Middle English pronoun, the *Modern English is shown in italics* (with archaic forms in parentheses)
Person / gender		Subject	Object	Possessive determiner	Possessive pronoun	Reflexive
Singular
First		ic / ich / I I	me / mi me	min / minen [pl.] my	min / mire / minre mine	min one / mi seluen myself
Second		þou / þu / tu / þeou you (thou)	þe you (thee)	þi / ti your (thy)	þin / þyn yours (thine)	þeself / þi seluen yourself (thyself)
Third	Masculine	he he	him^[a] / hine^[b] him	his / hisse / hes his	his / hisse his	him-seluen himself
	Feminine	sche[o] / s[c]ho / ȝho she	heo / his / hie / hies / hire her	hio / heo / hire / heore her	- hers	heo-seolf herself
	Neuter	hit it	hit / him it	his its	his its	hit sulue itself
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 (ye)	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 / þo	þem / þo	þeir	-	þam-selue
	modern	they	them	their	theirs	themselves

Personal pronouns in Early Modern English
		Nominative	Oblique	Genitive	Possessive
1st person	singular	I	me	my/mine^{[# 1]}	mine
1st person	plural	we	us	our	ours
2nd person	singular informal	thou	thee	thy/thine^{[# 1]}	thine
	plural informal	ye	you	your	yours
	formal	you	you	your	yours
3rd person	singular	he/she/it	him/her/it	his/her/his (it)^{[# 2]}	his/hers/his^{[# 2]}
3rd person	plural	they	them	their	theirs

^ ^a ^b The genitives my, mine, thy, and thine are used as possessive adjectives before a noun, or as possessive pronouns without a noun. All four forms are used as possessive adjectives: mine and thine are used before nouns beginning in a vowel sound, or before nouns beginning in the letter h, which was usually silent (e.g. thine eyes and mine heart, which was pronounced as mine art) and my and thy before consonants (thy mother, my love). However, only mine and thine are used as possessive pronouns, as in it is thine and they were mine (not *they were my).
^ ^a ^b From the early Early Modern English period up until the 17th century, his was the possessive of the third-person neuter it as well as of the third-person masculine he. Genitive "it" appears once in the 1611 King James Bible (Leviticus 25:5) as groweth of it owne accord.

References

^ Nosowitz, Dan (October 13, 2016). "Y'all, You'uns, Yinz, Youse: How Regional Dialects Are Fixing Standard English: The real enemy? "You guys."". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved August 31, 2018.
^ Hickey, Raymond (1983). "Remarks on pronominal usage in Hiberno-English" (PDF). Studia Anglica Posnaniensia. Universität Buisberg Essen. pp. 47–53. Retrieved 2020-11-11.

[3] Dative case, indirect object

[4] Accusative case, direct object

[thine-5] The genitives my, mine, thy, and thine are used as possessive adjectives before a noun, or as possessive pronouns without a noun. All four forms are used as possessive adjectives: mine and thine are used before nouns beginning in a vowel sound, or before nouns beginning in the letter h, which was usually silent (e.g. thine eyes and mine heart, which was pronounced as mine art) and my and thy before consonants (thy mother, my love). However, only mine and thine are used as possessive pronouns, as in it is thine and they were mine (not *they were my).

[its-6] From the early Early Modern English period up until the 17th century, his was the possessive of the third-person neuter it as well as of the third-person masculine he. Genitive "it" appears once in the 1611 King James Bible (Leviticus 25:5) as groweth of it owne accord.

[1] Nosowitz, Dan (October 13, 2016). "Y'all, You'uns, Yinz, Youse: How Regional Dialects Are Fixing Standard English: The real enemy? "You guys."". Atlas Obscura. Retrieved August 31, 2018.

[2] Hickey, Raymond (1983). "Remarks on pronominal usage in Hiberno-English" (PDF). Studia Anglica Posnaniensia. Universität Buisberg Essen. pp. 47–53. Retrieved 2020-11-11.

[1]

[2]

[a]

[b]

[# 1]

[# 2]

v t e Modern English personal pronouns
standard	I he she it who one we you they me
non-standard	y'all ye yinz
See also Modern English, English personal pronouns, and third-person pronouns

Confusion with definite article, 'the'

Etymology

See also

References