Second Person Pronouns þu: singular and ge: plural

The second person pronouns are as easy to remember as the first person pronouns, especially for English majors raised on non-modernized older literature. The nominative forms þu and ge are collapsed into 'you' in Modern English (except in Ontario and elsewhere, where the plural form is 'yous' as in "Hey, yous guys.") Notice the resemblance (visual and aural) of the nominative forms to the antiquated forms 'thou' and 'ye', and to the corresponding similarities of þín to 'thine' and þé (accusative and dative) to 'thee'.

Notes:

• the genitive forms are declined strong (ie: change) like adjectives to agree with the noun they modify
• there is no substantiation to the rumour that the plural forms other than nominative were originally formed þonne oxanhierdan and hira oxena cnapan tredan (similarity to 'Ow!' notwithstanding).

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Contact: Murray McGillivray at mmcgilli@acs.ucalgary.ca or the Listserv at mailto:eg401-m@acs.ucalgary.ca