#thee thou

[wisteria-lodge]

So you want to write a character who uses THEE/THOU/THY pronouns?

Fantastic!  Love me some good vampires, time travelers, fay lords, wizards recently recovered from magical trances, weird off-the-grid societies, and mysterious immortals who start slipping into old speech patterns whenever they are emotional or intoxicated!

But if you’re going to do it, DO IT. Commit. (I’m looking at you, Christopher Paolini). Do it right, and it’ll give your character so much more depth.

I - So WHEN exactly am I supposed to use these thee/thou/thy pronouns? 

Not all the time! You look at the person you’re talking to, think about what kind of relationship you have with them, and then decide: thou, or you? 

YOU is the polite, respectful option. It’s for acquaintances and social superiors. 

THOU is the causal, friendly option. It’s for family, close friends and social inferiors.

Which leaves so much room for drama! “Thou” is either the most intimate, kindest thing you can call someone - or the most insulting. Think Jane Austen / Victorian England: when you’re calling someone “Mary,” they’re either your sister, your wife, or your scullery maid. That’s what a “thou” pronoun is. “You” is just sort of polite and neutral, like saying “Miss Jones.” 

You can insult a teacher/parent/king/commander by using “thee/thou” pronouns. You can flatter a servant or an up-and-comer by using “you.” And switching from “you” to “thou” is emotional, like calling someone by their first name when you’ve only ever called them by their last name. (and switching back from “thou” to “you” can be cold as hell.) 

And oh my god, if you’re ever reading Shakespeare and need to understand a relationship, or a power dynamic or whatever, just check if they’re saying “thou” or “you.” That tells you *everything.* 

II - THOU vs THEE

Take a look at these two sentences:

She curses the wizard.

The wizard curses her.

You’re using a different word depending on whether this lady is doing the action herself (cursing), or having the action done to her (being cursed.) 

Thou/thee works exactly the same.

Thou curses* the wizard.

The wizard curses thee.

And this is a little tricky, because “you” just doesn’t have that subject/object distinction. You use the same word both times. 

You curse the wizard.

The wizard curses you. 

Just remember: Use “thou” wherever it would make sense to say “she,” and “thee” wherever it would make sense to say “her.” 

[*I’m gonna come back to the verb thing, i promise]

III - THY vs THINE

This part easy.

THY pairs with YOUR (Is this thy castle? // Is this your castle?) 

THINE pairs with YOURS (Is this castle thine? // Is this castle yours?) 

That’s it. 

IV - THOU + VERB = ?

‘kay. Sorry to get all grammar on you, but here’s a very mini verb conjugation table:

You sing

She sings

Thou sing’st

Notice that “thou” gets it’s own very special verb ending: -’st. (the same way that he/she/it gets -s). Here are some more examples:

Thou come’st (You come) 

Thou know’st (You know)

Thou see’st (You see) 

Thou find’st (You find)

Thou pray’st (You pray)

Thou talk’st (You talk)

Thou answer’st (You answer)

And HERE is a little cheat sheet of all the ‘thou’ verbs that are NOT usually spelled with that handy apostrophe: 

Thou dost (You do)

Thou didst (You did) 

Thou art (You are)

Thou wert (You were)

Thou wilt (You will)

Thou shalt (You shall)

Thou hast (You have)

Thou canst (You can)

Thou wouldst (You would)

Thou darest (You dare)

Thou liest (You lie)

And don’t forget that you can flip the order to ask a question. For example:

Dost thou? (Do you?) 

Art thou? (Are you?)

Wilt thou? (Will you? 

Didst thou? (Did you?) 

Canst thou? (Can you? 

V - BUT WHAT ABOUT THE -TH VERBS? 

-th / -eth is the slightly older ending for he/she/it nouns. (it eventually got replaced with -s).

If you wanted to, you could re-write my mini conjugation table as

You sing

She singeth

Thou sing’st

But that’s extra credit, as far as I’m concerned. 

VI - THAT’S QUITE A LOT TO REMEMBER

If you can remember the first stanza of “Greensleeves,” then you’ve got this. It’s a perfect perfect little reminder

Alas, my love, thou dost me wrong, To treat me so discourteously, For I have loved thee well and long, Delighting in thy company.

You’ve got thou, thee, and thy all used properly. 

You have ‘thou dost’ in there, which reminds you to stick a -st on whatever verb you’re using with ‘thou.’ 

And also, it’s a love song, but also kind of a diss track. THAT is a good reminder of WHEN you are supposed to used thee/thou pronouns. 

And that’s it! I recommend grabbing yourself a nice Reader x Character fic, and switching out all the “you” pronouns as practice.  ;)

[NOTE: King James Bible  + Quakers have entirely different way of using thee/thou pronouns. DO NOT USE AS REFERENCE.) 

[But I did write an alternate, novelty version of this post that does use thee/thou pronouns. To be used as reference :) ]

[wisteria-lodge]

So thou want’st to write a character who uses thee/thou/thy pronouns?

Fantastic! Love me some good vampires, time travelers, fay lords, wizards recently recovered from magical trances, weird off-the-grid societies, and mysterious immortals who start slipping into old speech patterns whenever they are emotional/intoxicated!

But if thou art going to do it, DO IT. Commit. (I’m looking at you, Christopher Paolini). Do it right, and it will give thy character so much more depth.

[and okay, I have a version of this post where I use modern ‘you’ pronouns] 

I - So WHEN exactly am I supposed to use these thee/thou/thy pronouns?

Not all the time! Thou should’st look at the person thou art talking to, think about what kind of relationship thou hast with them, and then decide’st: thou, or you?

YOU is the polite, respectful option. It’s for acquaintances and social superiors.

THOU is the causal, friendly option. It’s for family, close friends and social inferiors.

Which leaveth so much room for drama! “Thou” is either the most intimate, kindest thing thou canst call someone - or the most insulting. Think Jane Austen / Victorian England: if thou art calling someone “Mary,” they’re either thy sister, wife, or scullery maid. That’s what a “thou” pronoun is. “You” is just sort of polite and neutral, like saying “Miss Jones.”

Thou canst insult a teacher/parent/king/commander by using “thee/thou” pronouns. Or flatter a servant or up-and-comer by using “you.” And switching from “you” to “thou” is emotional, like calling someone by their first name when thou hast only ever referred to them by their last. (and switching back from “thou” to “you” can be cold as hell.)

And oh my god, if thou art ever reading Shakespeare and need to understand a relationship or power dynamic or whatever, just check if they’re saying “thou” or “you.” That will tell thee *everything.*

II - THOU vs THEE

Take’st a look at these two sentences:

She curseth the wizard.

The wizard curseth her.

Thou art using a different word depending on whether this lady is doing the action herself (cursing), or having the action done to her (being cursed.)

Thou/thee worketh exactly the same as she/her.

Thou cursed* the wizard.

The wizard cursed thee.

And this is a little tricky, because “you” doth not have that subject/object distinction. In that cause, thou art using the same word both times.

You cursed the wizard.

The wizard cursed you.

Just remember: Use “thou” wherever it maketh sense to say “she,” and “thee” wherever it maketh sense to say “her.”

[*I’m gonna come back to the verb thing, i promise]

III - THY vs THINE

This part easy.

THY pairs with YOUR (Is this thy castle? // Is this your castle?)

THINE pairs with YOURS (Is this castle thine? // Is this castle yours?)

That’s it.

IV - THOU + VERB = ?

‘kay. Sorry to get all grammar on thee, but here’s a very mini verb conjugation table:

You sing

She sings

Thou sing’st

Notice that “thou” getteth its own very special verb ending: -’st. (the same way that he/she/it getteth -s). Here are some more examples:

Thou come’st (You come)

Thou know’st (You know)

Thou see’st (You see)

Thou find’st (You find)

Thou pray’st (You pray)

Thou talk’st (You talk)

Thou answer’st (You answer)

And HERE is a little cheat sheet of all the ‘thou’ verbs that are NOT usually spelled with that handy apostrophe:

Thou dost (You do)

Thou didst (You did)

Thou art (You are)

Thou wert (You were) 

Thou wilt (You will)

Thou shalt (You shall)

Thou hast (You have)

Thou canst (You can)

Thou wouldst (You would)

Thou darest (You dare)

Thou liest (You lie)

And don’t forget that thou canst flip the order to ask a question. For example:

Dost thou? (Do you?)

Art thou? (Are you?)

Wilt thou? (Will you?

Didst thou? (Did you?)

Canst thou? (Can you?

V - BUT WHAT ABOUT THE -TH VERBS?

-th / -eth is the slightly older ending for he/she/it nouns. (it eventually was replaced with -s).

If thou didst want, thou could’st re-write my mini conjugation table as

You sing

She singeth

Thou sing’st

But that’s extra credit, as far as I’m concerned.

VI - THAT’S QUITE A LOT TO REMEMBER

If thou canst remember the first stanza of “Greensleeves,” then thou hast this. It’s a perfect little reminder:

Alas, my love, thou dost me wrong, To treat me so discourteously, For I have loved thee well and long, Delighting in thy company.

Thou hast thou, thee, and thy all used properly.

Thou hast ‘thou dost’ in there, which will remind thee to stick a -st on whatever verb thou art using with ‘thou.’

And also, “Greensleeves” is a love song, but also kind of a diss track. THIS is a good reminder of WHEN thou art supposed to use thee/thou pronouns.

And that’s it! I recommend grabbing thyself a nice Reader x Character fic, and switching out all the “you” pronouns as practice.  ;)

[NOTE: King James Bible  + Quakers have entirely different way of using thee/thou pronouns. DO NOT USE AS REFERENCE.)

[off-in-wonderland]

My Mother's advice on how to make my paper longer:

Mom: Through in a lot of Thee's and Thou's

Me: I'M NOT ALLOWED TO WRITE MY PAPER IN OLD ENGLISH!!