þú

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See also: þu and -þu

Icelandic

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Cognate with English thou, German du.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /θu/,
  • Audio:(file)
  • Rhymes: -uː

Pronoun

þú

  1. (personal, in the singular) you, thou
    Þú ert skemmtilegur.
    You are fun.
    Ertu nemandi?
    Are you a student?

Usage notes

After verbs, the pronoun þú is either separated:

  • ert þú ― are you
  • borðar þú ― do you eat
  • kom þú ― come!

or suffixed and changed into -ðu, -du, or -u:

  • ertu ― are you
  • borðarðu ― do you eat
  • komdu ― come!

If the verb ends in a "t", -u is used. If it ends in a "m" or "n", -du is used. Otherwise -ðu is used.

The suffixed version is almost always used except when the speaker wants to emphasize "þú" or sound more formal.

Many younger speakers will write borðaru instead of borðarðu.

Declension

  Icelandic personal pronouns
Icelandic personal pronouns
singular first person second person third person masculine third person feminine third person neuter
nominative ég, eg, ek† þú hann hún, hon†, hón† það, þat†
accusative mig, mik† þig, þik† hann hana það, þat†
dative mér þér honum, hánum† henni því
genitive mín þín hans hennar þess
plural first person second person third person masculine third person feminine third person neuter
nominative við þið, þit† þeir þær þau
accusative okkur ykkur þá þær þau
dative okkur ykkur þeim þeim þeim
genitive okkar ykkar þeirra þeirra þeirra

Synonyms

  • (singular you): þér (formal, archaic)

Derived terms

Old Norse

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *þū (“you; thou”), from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you; thou”).

Pronunciation

Pronoun

þú

  1. (in the singular) you (thou)
    • 900s-1000s, Hávamál, verse 112
      Ráðum'k þér, Loddfáfnir, / at þú ráð nemir,
      njóta mundu ef þú nemr,
      þér munu góð ef þú getr:
      Nótt þú rís-at / nema á njósn sér
      eða þú leitir þér innan út staðar.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Usage notes

It may become enclitic when after a verb, that is, be appended to the preceding word as either -du, -ðu or -tu depending on the consonant cluster. The rules for this are the same as for the past tense dental suffixes of the class 1 weak verbs. This may happen more often in Old Norse, as the personal pronoun is often used with the singular imperative. This is not to say, however, that whenever þú comes after a verb, it will always take an enclitic form. It could well stay separate for the sake of emphasis. With the clitics, this is how it ends up looking.

Note, as seen in the last two examples, that this does not cause u-umlaut.

Declension

Old Norse personal pronouns
number first person second person reflexive third person
case singular singular masculine singular feminine singular neuter
nominative ek þú hann hon, hón, hǫ́n þat
accusative mik þik sik hann hana, hána þat
dative mér þér sér hánum, hónum, hǫ́num henni því
genitive mín þín sín hans hennar þess
case dual
nominative vit it, þit
accusative okkr ykkr sik
dative okkr ykkr sér
genitive okkar ykkar sín
case plural plural masculine plural feminine plural neuter
nominative vér ér, þér þeir þær þau
accusative oss yðr sik þá þær þau
dative oss yðr sér þeim þeim þeim
genitive vár yðar, yðvar sín þeira, þeirra þeira, þeirra þeira, þeirra


Descendants

  • Icelandic: þú, -du, -ðu, -tu
  • Faroese: tú
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: du
  • Norwegian Bokmål: du
  • Jamtish: dú
  • Elfdalian: du
  • Old Swedish: þū
  • Old Danish: thu
    • Danish: du

The enclitic use lives on in modern Icelandic þú. See there for more.

See also

  • þinn (possessive pronoun)
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