Why was thou removed from English?

The pronoun that had previously been restricted to addressing more than one person (ye or you) started to see service as a singular pronoun. As a result, poor thou was downgraded, and was used primarily when referring to a person of lower social standing, such as a servant.

When did people start saying you instead of thou?

In early modern English, beginning in the late fifteenth century, thou, thee and thy were singular forms for the subjective, objective and possessive, and ye, you and your were plural. In the 1500s and 1600s, ye and then the thou / thee / thy forms, faded away, to be replaced by the all-purpose you.

When did English stop using thou?

In the 17th century, thou fell into disuse in the standard language, often regarded as impolite, but persisted, sometimes in an altered form, in regional dialects of England and Scotland, as well as in the language of such religious groups as the Society of Friends.

Why does English not have formal and informal?

Why Doesn’t English Have Formal Pronouns? English is a Germanic language, meaning it evolved from the same language as German. And yet today, German has formal and informal pronouns, but English does not.

Why is thy not used anymore?

The reason people stopped using thou (and thee) was that social status—whether you were considered upper class or lower class—became more fluid during this time.

Do Quakers still say thee and thou?

The Quaker use of “thee” and “thou” continued as a protest against the sinfulness of English grammar for more than 200 years. Modern practitioners of pronoun politics can learn a thing or two from the early Quakers.

Why don’t we use thy anymore?

What’s the difference between you and ye?

Ye and you are for speaking formally to one person or for speaking to more than one. Ye is the subject form and you is the object. Thou and thee are for speaking to one person in an informal or familiar way. Thou is the subject form and thee is the object.

Do people use ye?

In Early Modern English, ye functioned as both an informal plural and formal singular second-person nominative pronoun. “Ye” is still commonly used as an informal plural in Hiberno‐English and Newfoundland English.

Do Quakers still use thee and thou?

Why does English only have one the?

English is not gendered or have a formal/informal divide. So there is only need to have one. English has the one definite article for masculine, feminine and neuter nouns and doesn’t have the various forms for declension as seen in languages like German.

Why did Quakers use thee and thou?

Long before he founded Pennsylvania, the Quaker William Penn would argue that when applied to individuals, the plural “you” was a form of idolatry. The Quaker use of “thee” and “thou” continued as a protest against the sinfulness of English grammar for more than 200 years.