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Like many languages, German has pronouns for both familiar (used with family members, intimate friends, and children) and polite forms of address. The polite equivalent of "you" is "Sie." Grammatically speaking, this is the 3rd-person-plural form, and, as a subject of a sentence, it always takes the 3rd-person-plural forms of verbs and ...
Some Romance languages have familiar forms derived from the Latin singular tu and respectful forms derived from Latin plural vos, sometimes via a circuitous route. Sometimes, a singular V-form derives from a third-person pronoun; in German and some Nordic languages, it is the third-person plural.
Starting in the 1300s, thou and thee were used to express familiarity, formality, or contempt, for addressing strangers, superiors, or inferiors, or in situations when indicating singularity to avoid confusion was needed; concurrently, the plural forms, ye and you, began to also be used for singular: typically for addressing rulers, superiors ...
German pronouns are German words that function as pronouns. As with pronouns in other languages, they are frequently employed as the subject or object of a clause, acting as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases , but are also used in relative clauses to relate the main clause to a subordinate one.
Old Dutch did not appear to have a T–V distinction. Thu was used as the second-person singular, and gi as the second-person plural. In early Middle Dutch, influenced by Old French usage, the original plural pronoun gi (or ji in the north) came to be used as a respectful singular pronoun, creating a T–V distinction.
You comes from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *juz-, *iwwiz from Proto-Indo-European * yu-(second-person plural pronoun). [1] Old English had singular, dual, and plural second-person pronouns. The dual form was lost by the twelfth century, [ 2 ] : 117 and the singular form was lost by the early 1600s. [ 3 ]
In the grammar of several languages, plural forms tend to be perceived as deferential and more polite than singular forms. [ citation needed ] In diplomatic letters, such as letters of credence , it is customary for monarchs to use the singular first-person ( I , me , my ) when writing to other monarchs, while the majestic plural is used in ...
Grüß Gott is, however, the shortened form of both (es) grüße dich Gott and its plural (es) grüße euch Gott "may God greet you". In addition, in Middle High German, the verb grüßen (grüezen) is used to mean not only "to greet" but also "to bless", so the greeting in fact preserves the original meaning "God bless you", [1] though even ...