Re: "two be"

On 30 Dec 01, at 6:54, nicole dobrowolski wrote:

> so would thou be singular... and what about thee?
As others have written, thou : thee :: I : me (so in German, "thou" is
"du" and "thee" is "dich" or "dir").

And in biblical English, the distinction is also sometimes made between
"ye" and "you", but IIRC, the distinction is the other way around --
"ye" is the subject pronoun and "you" is the object pronoun (hence, "Ye
are the salt of the earth" but "I say unto you").

And yes, thou traditionally takes different verb forms (thou art, thou
sayest, thou doest [full verb]/thou dost [auxiliary verb]), but in such
a register, 3sing can also take different verb forms -- he sayeth, she
drinketh, he doeth/he doth. Still used in fixed sayings such as
"Methinks he doth protest too much".

Cheers,
Philip
--
Philip Newton <Philip.Newton@...>