What is the word for you in old English?

Answer 1

The question was first phrased "How do you say you in Shakespeare?" First of all, "Shakespeare" is not a language. Shakespeare wrote in modern English, the same language I am writing in now, although in an earlier form. As to how Shakespeare would say "you", it depends on the tense and context. Language was a lot less structured and more flexible back when Bill was a lad.

"You" is usually "you" in English, the language Shakespeare spoke. For example:

Iago: You rise to play and go to bed to work.

Emilia: You shall not sing my praise.

(Othello, Act 2 Scene 1), or

Queen: Come, come, you answer with an idle tongue.

Hamlet: Go, go, you question with a wicked tongue.

(Hamlet, Act 3 Scene 4), or

Quince: Flute, you must take Thisbe on you.

(Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 1 Scene 2)

Some people are thrown because Shakespeare and other writers of his day occasionally made use of distinctive pronouns for the second person singular. In Middle English the second person nominative singular was "thou" and the plural was "you". The accusitive singular was "thee" and the plural was "you". Whenever "you means a bunch of people, Shakespeare would say "you" just as everyone does now. But it was polite to use the plural form even when talking to a single person, the same as it is nowadays in French. Eventually the polite form took over and the singular form died, but in Shakespeare's day it was still lingering and was used especially when talking to a lover, a servant, a pet, or a child. Thus, a lover might say: "I will serve thee; wilt thou accept my service?" whereas a servant speaking to a master and a politician making a speech to a crowd would both say "I will serve you; will you accept my service?" The polite servant in Romeo and Juliet says to Romeo in Act ! Scene 2: "Perhaps you have learned it without book. But I pray, can you read anything you see?"

It is by no means clear, however, when these special pronouns are to be used, as one character will change back and forth from one pronoun to the other in the course of a scene (as Gertrude does in Hamlet 3,4). They suggest informality or a lack of courtesy and are especially common when a lover, child, servant or pet is being addressed, a little like the difference in usage between "Mr. Robinson" and "George". These pronouns (nominative "thou", accusative "thee", and genitive "thy") were in the process of being replaced by the second plural pronouns (nominative "you", accusative "you" and genitive "your") and as they were replaced the particular verb forms associated with them were also replaced. Thus Hamlet says, "Horatio, thou art even as just a man as my conversation cop'd withal," but he could have easily said "Horatio, you are even as just a man as my conversation cop'd withal." and would have been perfectly understood by everyone in Shakespeare's day. His use of "thou art" as opposed to "you are" might suggest that they are intimate friends, but when Tybalt says to Romeo "thou art a villain" as opposed to "you are a villain" he is presumably marking him as an inferior (this is also how you would talk to a servant or a dog).

These obsolete pronouns can still be found today, particularly in religious literature, prayers and so on, which are trying to imitate the style of the King James Bible. They were found in poetic use well into the twentieth century.

Answer 2

you basicly have to write in metaphors the entire time with an extensive vocabulary. and say ye, tee, thou, art you know all that jazz

Answer 3

Thou or thee, depending on the context.

Answer 4

Thee