Overview

You is the standard second‑person pronoun in modern English. It addresses the person or people being spoken to and serves as both subject and object without changing shape. Context, surrounding words or explicit markers indicate whether you is singular or plural; the word itself does not mark number.

Forms and grammatical behavior

Unlike many languages that inflect pronouns for case or number, contemporary English keeps a small set of related forms. The basic paradigm includes:

  • Subject/object: you (same form in both positions) — see also historical contrasts discussed below and the entry on pronoun cases.
  • Possessive determiner: your
  • Possessive pronoun: yours
  • Reflexive: yourself (singular) and yourselves (plural)

Because you does not change for number, speakers often rely on verb agreement, modifiers, or regional plural forms to clarify whether one or more people are meant.

History and development

Historically English distinguished second‑person singular and plural with forms such as thou/thee (singular) and ye/you (plural). Over several centuries, you expanded to replace thou in most contexts, partly shaped by social politeness patterns (a T–V distinction). For background on older pronouns and shifting politeness, consult grammar sources or introductory histories of English.

Contemporary usage and variants

In many dialects speakers use alternatives to mark plurality or register: common plural forms include y'all, you guys, you lot, and regional youse. In formal writing, standard English uses you for both singular and plural. In casual written communication and texting, people often shorten you to "u" and replace words like you're/your with shorthand such as "ur", though these spellings are nonstandard.

Examples and notable facts

Examples: "You are welcome" (subject), "I saw you" (object), "Is this yours?" (possessive). The invariant shape of you simplifies pronoun paradigms but can lead to ambiguity about number; speakers resolve that with context, prosody, or plural markers. For grammatical comparisons see entries on singular and plural pronouns. Although ordinary in modern English, the history and social use of you illustrate how pronouns participate in politeness, identity and regional variation.

Further reading and resources are available through general grammar guides and language overviews (pronoun, English), which discuss usage, exceptions and regional forms in more detail.