du

See also Appendix:Variations of "du"

Amanab

Noun

du

  1. a kind of bird
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Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *dubus (“black”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“black”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

du

  1. black
  2. swollen
  3. starved

Noun

du m

  1. black

Mutation

  Mutation of du  
Breton consonant mutation
unmutated soft aspirate hard mixed
singular du zu unchanged tu tu
plural [[d{{{3}}}]] [[z{{{3}}}]] unchanged [[t{{{3}}}]] [[t{{{3}}}]]
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Cornish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *dubus (“black”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- (“black”).

Adjective

du

  1. black
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Danish

Etymology 1

From Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /du/, [d̥u]

Pronoun

du (objective dig)

  1. (personal) you (2nd person singular subject pronoun, informal)
See also
Danish personal pronouns
Number Person Inflection Nominative Accusative Possessive Reflexive Reflexive possessive
Singular First common jeg mig min
neuter mit
plural mine
Second common du dig din
neuter dit
plural dine
formal De Dem Deres
Third masculine han ham hans sig sin
feminine hun hende hendes
common den den dens
neuter det det dets sit
plural sine
Plural First — vi os vores
common vor
neuter vort
plural vore
Second – I jer jeres
formal De Dem Deres
Third – de dem deres sig

Etymology 2

From Old Norse duga.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /duː/, [d̥uːˀ]

Verb

du (imperative du, present dur or duer, past duede, past participle duet)

  1. be good
  2. be fit
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Dena'ina

Particle

du

  1. interrogative particle (placed at the end of the sentence to make a question)
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Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch du, from Old Dutch thū, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

du

  1. (obsolete or dialectal) Second-person singular, subjective; thou.
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Elfdalian

Etymology

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

Pronoun

du

  1. you (singular), thou
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Esperanto

Esperanto cardinal numbers
 <  1 2 3  > 
    Cardinal : du
    Ordinal : dua
    Adverbial : due
    Multiplier : duobla

Etymology

From Latin duo or Lithuanian du, both from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

Pronunciation

Cardinal numeral

du

  1. (cardinal) two (2)

Derived terms

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French

Pronunciation

Contraction

du

  1. contraction of de + le (of the).
  2. contraction of de + le, forms the partitive article.
    The partitive article signifies "some", but it often is not translated in English, Dutch, or German.
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German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Old High German du (akin to Old Saxon thu and English thou), itself from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

  • (standard) IPA: /duː/
  • (colloquially in unstressed position) IPA: /də/

Pronoun

du

  1. (personal) you (sg., informal, friends, relatives).

Inflection

Derived terms

See also

German personal pronouns
singular plural
1st person ich wir
2nd person familiar du ihr
polite Sie
3rd person m er sie
f sie
n es
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Gothic

Romanization

du

  1. See 𐌳𐌿
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Ido

Cardinal numeral

du

  1. (cardinal) two (2)
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Kurdish

Etymology

From Proto-Iranian *duu̯a (compare Persian دو (do), Pashto دوه (dwa), Avestan 𐬛𐬬𐬀 (dva)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian (compare Sanskrit द्व (dvá), Hindi दो (do)/Urdu دو (do), Punjabi ਦੋ (dō)), from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁ (compare Russian два (dva), Lithuanian du, Greek δύο (dýo), Spanish dos, English two).

Cardinal numeral

du

  1. (cardinal) two (2)
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Lithuanian

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare Latvian divi. Cognate to Latin duo.

Cardinal numeral

du m (feminine dvi)

  1. (cardinal) two (2)

Declension

    declension of du
masculine feminine
nominative du dvi
genitive dviejų dviejų
dative dviem dviem
accusative du dvi
instrumental dviem dviem
locative dviejuose dviejose
    forms of du
masculine feminine
quantitative du dvi
plural dveji dvejos
collective dvejetas dvejeta
ordinal antras antra
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Lojban

Etymology

Derived from dunli.

Pronunciation

Cmavo

du (rafsi dub, du'o)

  1. (identity selbri) x1 equals x2, x3, x4, ...
    li pa su'i vo du li mu
    one plus four equals five

See also

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Luxembourgish

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *þū.

Pronoun

du

  1. second-person singular, nominative: you
    Wéi al bass du? — How old are you?

Declension

Luxembourgish personal pronouns
nominative accusative dative reflexive
str. unstr. str. unstr. str. unstr.
1st person singular ech — mech — mir mer mech
2nd person singular
(informal)		 du de dech — dir der dech
2nd person singular
(formal)		 Dir — Iech — Iech — Iech
3rd person singular (m) hien en en — him em sech
3rd person singular (f) si / hatt se / et si / hatt se / et hir / him — / em sech
3rd person singular (n) et 't et 't him em sech
1st person plural mir mer eis / ons — eis / ons — eis / ons
2nd person plural dir der iech — iech — iech
3rd person plural si — si — hinnen – sech
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Mandarin

Romanization

du

  1. Nonstandard spelling of dū.
  2. Nonstandard spelling of dú.
  3. Nonstandard spelling of dǔ.
  4. Nonstandard spelling of dù.

Usage notes

English transcriptions of Chinese speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Chinese language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

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Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch thū, from Proto-Germanic *þū.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dyː/, /dy/
  • (Limburg) IPA: /duː/, /du/

Pronoun

du

  1. thou, you (singular, informal)

Declension

Middle Dutch personal pronouns
singular plural
1st 2nd 3rd 1st 2nd 3rd
masc. fem. neut.
nominative ic du hi si het wi gi si
accusative mi di hem, hen haer ons u hem, hen
dative hem, hen
genitive mijn dijn sijn haer sijn onse uwe haer


Usage notes

This pronoun began to be replaced by gi in formal address during the Middle Dutch period, and eventually fell out of use altogether.

Synonyms

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Norman

Noun

du m

  1. duke

Related terms

  • duchie
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Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

du (objective case deg)

  1. you (second person, singular)

References

  • “du” in The Bokmål Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.

See also

    Personal pronouns in Bokmål
Nominative Objective case Genitive/Possessive pronoun
Singular
First person jeg meg min m
Second person du deg din m
Third person m han han/ham hans
Third person f hun henne hennes
Third person n det det dets
Third person, nonhuman m/f den den dens
Plural
First person vi oss vår m
Second person dere dere deres
Third person de dem deres
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Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

du (objective case deg)

  1. you (second person, singular)

References

  • “du” in The Nynorsk Dictionary – Dokumentasjonsprosjektet.

See also

    Personal pronouns in Nynorsk
Nominative Objective case Genitive/Possessive pronoun
Singular
First person eg meg min m
Second person du deg din m
Third person m han han, honom3 hans
Third person f ho ho, henne hennar, hennes4
Third person n det, dat1 det, dat1 dess 2
Plural
First person me, vi oss vår m
Second person de, dokker dykk, dokker dykkar, dokkar, deires4
Third person dei dei, deim3 deira
Notes
1Never part of official Nynorsk/Landsmål. Primarily used before Landsmål received an official written norm.
2Rare or literary
3No longer part of the official written norm. Now primarily used in Høgnorsk texts.
4No longer part of the official written norm. These non-traditional forms were added to the norm to either approach the the Samnorsk ideal or certain dialects.
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Old French

Alternative forms

Contraction

du

  1. contraction of de + le (of the)
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Old High German

one drawing of the inscription on the Bülach fibula

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *þū, whence also Old English þu, Old Norse þú, and ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Perhaps the earliest attestation of the pronoun is the inscription on the Bülach fibula, which may show ᛞᚢ (du) already differentiated from other Germanic languages’ þu.

Pronunciation

Pronoun

du

  1. you (second-person singular pronoun)
    • 3rd-6th century, inscription on the Bülach fibula:
      ᚠᚱᛁᚠᚱᛁᛞᛁᛚ / ᛞᚢ / ...
      frifridil / du / […]
      Frifridil, you / […]

Descendants

  • German: du

See also

  • fridil (“a pet name for a male lover”)

References

  • Heinz Klingenberg, Runenfibel von Bülach, Kanton Zürich. Liebesinschrift aus alemannischer Frühzeit, in the Alemannisches Jahrbuch (1973/75), page 308
  • Heinz Klingenberg, Die Runeninschrift aus Bülach, in Helvetia archaeologica, volume 7 (1976), pages 116–121
  • Stephan Opitz, Südgermanische Runeninschriften im älteren Futhark aus der Merowingerzeit (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1977)
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Romanian

Pronunciation

Verb

du

  1. second-person singular imperative form of duce.
    Du-te acasă.
    Go home.
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Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish þu, from Old Norse þú, from Proto-Germanic *þū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /dʉː/, [d̪ʉː]
  • audio
    		(file)

Pronoun

du

  1. (personal) you (familiar sg.).
  2. (personal) thou.

Usage notes

While du is the traditionally familiar mode of address, it is since the early '70s the standard in almost all circumstances, possibly capitalized in formal communications. Recently, use of the second-person plural pronoun ni as a less familiar (and thus more formal) pronoun has appeared to some extent, but mainly amongst shopkeepers towards the customers.

The same pronoun ni has also been used historically as a formal way of address, but its use has (in particular in Sweden, not so much in Swedish-speaking parts of Finland) been restricted to addressing people of lower social status, whereby a plethora of different constructions were employed as to avoid the issue of pronouns whatsoever. See also the article about T-V distinction in Wikipedia.

Declension

Swedish personal pronouns
subject object possessive
singular full full common neuter plural
1st person jag mig min mitt mina
2nd person du dig din ditt dina
3rd person masculine han honom hans
3rd person feminine hon henne hennes
3rd person common den den dess
3rd person neuter det det dess
3rd person indefinite man en ens
3rd person reflexive — sig sin sitt sina
plural
1st person vi oss vår vårt våra
2nd person ni er er ert era
3rd person de dem deras
3rd person reflexive — sig sin sitt sina
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Venetian

Etymology

Compare Italian due

Numeral

du m

  1. two

Synonyms

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Vietnamese

Verb

du

  1. walk

Derived terms

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Welsh

Adjective

du (formal plural duon, comparative duach, superlative duaf)

  1. black
    Mae ganddo fo fwstash du - He has a black mustache

Mutation

Welsh mutation
radical soft nasal aspirate
du ddu nu unchanged
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Last modified on 11 May 2013, at 16:33