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Questions tagged [thou-thee-thy]

"Thou/thee/thy" is an archaic English pronoun.

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1 answer
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I am writing my own tales and poems and in those I often need to use the pronoun THOU, to mark clearly the difference between plural and singular second person. There seems to be many intricacies and ...
algo's user avatar
  • 21
10 votes
1 answer
1k views

In The Witch of Blackbird Pond, a youth novel written in the 1950s and set in late-17th century Connecticut, the title character uses thee as a nominative throughout, moreover with third-person ...
Graham Charles's user avatar
13 votes
2 answers
2k views

My understanding is that in standard modern English, an explicit grammatical subject is required in all sentences other than imperatives. However, I've come across across a few examples where the ...
Will Levine's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
139 views

This seriously has me perplexed. I feel examples would better explain my question: "What did you eat?" vs "What ate you?" * Where did you go? vs "Where went you"? using ...
Cadmus's user avatar
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3 votes
2 answers
516 views

The phrase "wouldst thou like" seems more appropriate to me, for the following reason: As far as I know, "thou wilt like" is correct, and "thou wilt likest" is not, ...
GPWR's user avatar
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11 votes
4 answers
4k views

There’s an “influencer” that came across my page who posted a quote (attributed to themselves) and I know it’s wrong but I’m not informed enough to know how wrong it is. I’m not going to do anything ...
Tcbr129's user avatar
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0 answers
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Shalt is used with the pronoun thou or its relative equivalent https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/shalt What does relative equivalent mean here?
GJC's user avatar
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16 votes
12 answers
7k views

Does English use the word thou in situations nowadays? For example, to humiliate an opponent by being overly familiar?
Ansh Aggarwal's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
1k views

What's the proper antique (using "thee") equivalent to "Don't you dare"? Dare thee not? Dare not thee? Something else?
Loren Rosen's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
933 views

I know there are a lot of commonly accepted contractions (verb + not): aren't, haven't, isn't, don't, won't, shan't, etc. But do the contractions for art not, hast not, dost not, wilt not, shalt not, ...
hvertous's user avatar
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21 votes
2 answers
6k views

What is the meaning of "thou thee" from the quotation below referenced in this Quora answer? (Attributed to the attorney-general at Sir Walter Raleigh’s trial.) All that he did was at thy ...
Damien Golding's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
1k views

Are the pronouns "Thee" and "Thy" considered archaisms in Romantic poetry? I have La Belle Dame sans Merci by Keats in mind.
Paola's user avatar
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5 votes
1 answer
13k views

I am reading Hemingway's "For Whom The Bell Tolls" (an edition from 1960). Throughout the book, strong words and obscenities are replaced literally by the term "obscenity" or similar. For example (...
Marie. P.'s user avatar
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5 votes
2 answers
300 views

I'm translating a historical fiction novel set in Medieval times. The formal and informal forms of treatment (T-V distinction) play an important role in the plot so I considered the best option was to ...
SC for reinstatement of Monica's user avatar
-2 votes
1 answer
477 views

Here is the translation of a verse by Ghalib [1797–1869], originally written1 in the Urdu language: Neither Asad besought cruelty, nor was thy tyranny fond of the insanity; to whatever extent I ...
Arman's user avatar
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