No "thou" and "thee" in English

Fortunately, in English we only use the word "you" for everybody (don’t be cute and tell me about "youse" and "y’all"), whereas, in all other languages that I know anything about, there is a formal "you" and an informal one–"thou/thee/thy," etc. Of course, "thou/thee" was used in English centuries ago but has long since vanished from our normal vocabulary, and is used only in church ritual, poetry, certain types of music, and the like.

Although I said above that "thou/thee" is informal (i.e., used between family members and close friends), it is that but also a bit more: it is used to address individuals considered (by the addresser) to be on a lower level as to age or social standing. For example, young children are almost always addressed in the "thou/thee" form by adults, and also by other children; also that form is usually used by masters when speaking to their servants. The noun for this form is tutoiement in French, the verb for using it is tutoyer; in Spanish the terms are tuteamiento and tutear respectively.

I say it is fortunate that we don’t use the "thou/thee" because it avoids sometimes embarrassing situations or occasional undesirable communication between individuals. A few times I have had individuals address me that way in Spanish, individuals wanting to be chummy, but with whom I didn’t share the feeling. (During a plane trip to Mexico City on a consulting assignment some years ago, my seat mate in casual conversation learned that my assignment involved the property-casualty insurance field, whereupon he told me that his brother was an insurance agent there (using the tuteamiento with me). That same evening, as I was just getting settled in my hotel room, I got a phone call from his brother inviting me to visit him; I begged off, using a very tight schedule (which was true) as an excuse.)

I faced a more complex situation when I spent almost two years in the early 1950's working for the oil company Texaco (now part of Chevron) in Dakar, Senegal, in west Africa. At the time, Senegal was a French colony; it gained its independence in 1960. Soon after arriving there, I noted that the white French frequently used the tutoiement when speaking to the native black Africans (the indigénes). After being uncertain at first as to how I should handle this situation, I later concluded that I would tutoyer those Africans who wore the native dress--bou-bou’s (long cloth robes), Arabic-type sandals, and usually a fez or a helmet--but would use the formal vous with others who dressed in European style.

This system seemed to work well for me–I had no unpleasant incidents. Although I almost did: one Saturday afternoon, when the office was closed, I was there to catch up on some work when there was a knock on the door. Standing there when I opened it was a large black man wearing a bou-bou; he wanted to see if a certain Texaco employee was available. I had to tell him that the office was closed and that I was the only person there, adding that on Monday I would tell the person he wanted to see that he had called. I didn’t know the man, but something told me that I shouldn’t tutoyer him, so I used the formal vous. My decision was fortunate because I learned later that he was the owner of several gas stations and an important customer of my company.

When I returned to Dakar in 1994 to visit for the first time since my tenure there, I used the formal vous exclusively–I assumed that in an independent Senegal the old tutoyer would be out of place, just as it would be stupid for a white person today to address an adult black man in the U.S. south as "boy," a form which was customary many years ago.

I find interesting the difference between the Spanish (including Latin Americans) and the French in the use (or non-use) of the "thou/thee" in advertising. The Spanish use it widely (almost exclusively); some examples:

"¿Qué secciones puedes consultar?" ("What sections can you connect with?") An advertisement in the Madrid newspaper ABC regarding a service of the paper that can be accessed by Blackberry and similar electronic devices. Puedes (actually, tu puedes, with the tu omitted, as is often done) is the "thou/thee"; the formal would be puede (actually usted puede, with the usted omitted).

In the Buenos Aires, Argentina newspaper Clarín I saw "¡Registrate gratis!" ("Register free") It was an ad for a website to purchase electronic equipment. The "ate" at the end of the word is the "thou/thee"–the formal would be Registrese (the "ese" being the difference).

The French, however, seem never to similarly use the "thou/thee" in advertising. In the Paris newspaper Le Figaro I saw an ad for a subscription to the paper’s newsletter on the Internet: "Inscrivez vous à la newsletter du Figaro." Likewise, the Paris newspaper Le Monde had an ad for a subscription to it "Abonnez vous, 6 euros/mois." ("Subscribe for 6 euros per month")

Following are the various forms of "thou/thee":

English.....Spanish.............................French
thou..............tú...................................tu
thee..............te, tí...............................te, toi
thy................tu, tus (plural)...............ton (masc.)
...........................................................ta (fem.)
...........................................................tes (plural)
thine............tuyo (masc.)....................tien (masc.)
....................tuya (fem.)......................tienne (fem.)
....................tuyos, tuyas (plural).......tiens, tiennes (plural)

Also, the verbs that go with these words are conjugated differently: example (in French): vous allez ("you go"), tu vas ("thou goest").