du

See also: Appendix:Variations of "du"

Alemannic GermanEdit

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /du/

PronounEdit

du

thou, you

DeclensionEdit

Alemannic German personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	dative	possessive
1st person singular		ich, i	mich, mi	mir, mer	miin
2nd person singular	familiar	du	dich	dir	diin
2nd person singular	polite	Si		Ine, Ene	Ire
3rd person singular	m	er	in	im	siin
	f	si		ire
	n	es		im	siin
1st person plural		mir	öis		öise
2nd person plural		ir	öi		öie
3rd person plural		si		ine, ene	ire

AmanabEdit

BretonEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /ˈdyː/

AdjectiveEdit

du

NounEdit

du m

black

MutationEdit

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}}}

CornishEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

(Revived Middle Cornish) IPA^(key): [dyː]
(Revived Late Cornish) IPA^(key): [diˑʊ]

AdjectiveEdit

du

black

MutationEdit

Mutation of du

Cornish consonant mutation
unmutated	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed	mixed after 'th
du	dhu	unchanged	tu	tu	tu

DanishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

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

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /du/, [d̥u]

PronounEdit

du ‎(objective dig)

(personal) thou, you (2nd person singular subject pronoun, informal)

Etymology 2Edit

From Old Danish dughæ, from Old Norse duga.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /duː/, [d̥uːˀ]

VerbEdit

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

be good
be fit

Dena'inaEdit

ParticleEdit

du

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

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronounEdit

du

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

ElfdalianEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronounEdit

du

you (singular), thou

EsperantoEdit

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

EtymologyEdit

From Latin duo, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /du/
Audio
(file)

NumeralEdit

du

(cardinal) two (2)

Derived termsEdit

duo

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French del.

PronunciationEdit

audio
(file)
IPA^(key): /dy/
(Quebec) IPA^(key): /dz(y)/
Homophones: dû, due, dues, dus, dûs

ContractionEdit

du

Contraction of de + le. (of the)
Contraction of de + le.; forms the partitive article

Usage notesEdit

The partitive article signifies "some", but it often is not translated in English, Dutch, or German.

GermanEdit

Alternative formsEdit

Du

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

(standard, generally) IPA^(key): /duː/
(standard, after the verb ending -st) IPA^(key): /uː/

audio
(file)
Rhymes: -uː

(colloquially in unstressed position) IPA^(key): /də/
In colloquial speech in Germany, the /d/ can assimilate to a preceding coronal when the word is unstressed.

PronounEdit

du

thou, you (singular familiar)

Usage notesEdit

As a simplified rule one can say that du is used among friends, relatives, and young people up to 25~30 years. Du is always used to address children up to 14~16 years, as well as gods, animals, and other creatures.
Usage also depends a lot on the setting in which people meet: two unacquainted, middle-aged persons are quite likely to use du when they meet, for example, in a pub, but much less so when they meet in the street.
Native English-speakers often use Sie too much. It is nevertheless advisable to use Sie in any case of doubt, because it may be rude to use du when the dialogue partner expects Sie.

InflectionEdit

German personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	genitive	dative	possessive
1st person singular		ich	mich	meiner († mein)	mir	mein
2nd person singular (familiar)¹		du	dich	deiner († dein)	dir	dein
3rd person singular	m	er	ihn	seiner († sein)	ihm	sein
	f	sie		ihrer	ihr
	n	es		seiner († sein)	ihm	sein
1st person plural		wir	uns	unser	uns	unser
2nd person plural (familiar)		ihr	euch	euer	euch	euer
3rd person plural		sie		ihrer	ihnen	ihr
polite address	naturally: 2. person sg. or pl.; grammatically: 3. person pl.	Sie		Ihrer	Ihnen	Ihr

¹Often capitalized, especially in letters

In contemporary German, the genitive forms of personal pronouns are restricted to formal style and are infrequent even there. They may be used

for the genitive object still found in a handful of verbs: Er erbarmte sich deiner. – "He had mercy on you". (Colloquially one would either use the dative case, or a prepositional object, or replace the verb with another.)
after the preposition statt ("instead of, in place of"): Ich kam statt deiner in die Mannschaft. – "I joined the team in your place." (This may sound antiquated, for which reason an deiner Statt or an deiner Stelle can be used. Nota bene: deiner here is not a genitive, but a possessive pronoun!)

Derived termsEdit

duzen
Du n

External linksEdit

du in Duden online

GothicEdit

RomanizationEdit

du

Romanization of 𐌳𐌿

IdoEdit

**Ido cardinal numbers**
< 1	2	3 >
Cardinal : du Ordinal : duesma Adverbial : dufoye Multiplier : duopla Fractional : duima
Ido Wikipedia article on du

EtymologyEdit

From Esperanto du, from French deux, Spanish dos, Italian due, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁.

NumeralEdit

du

(cardinal) two (2)

KurdishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Iranian *duu̯a (compare Persian ‎(do), Pashto دوه ‎(dwa), Avestan 𐬛𐬬𐬀 ‎(dva)), from Proto-Indo-Iranian (compare Sanskrit द्व ‎(dvá), Marathi दोन ‎(don), 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).

NumeralEdit

du

(cardinal) two (2)

LigurianEdit

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /du/

ContractionEdit

du

contraction of de + u (of the).
contraction of de + u, forms the partitive article.

Usage notesEdit

The partitive article signifies "some", but it often is not translated in English, Dutch, or German.

LithuanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Baltic *duwō, from Proto-Indo-European *dwóh₁. Compare Latvian divi. Cognate to Latin duo.

NumeralEdit

du m ‎(feminine dvi)

(cardinal) two (2)

DeclensionEdit

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

LojbanEdit

EtymologyEdit

Derived from dunli.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /ˈdu/

CmavoEdit

du ‎(rafsi dub or du'o)

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

Lower SorbianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Slavic *jьdǫ ‎(first-person singular) and *jьdǫtь ‎(third-person plural), inflected forms of *jьti.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /du/

VerbEdit

du

first-person singular present of hyś
third-person plural present of hyś

SynonymsEdit

(first-person singular): źom

LuxembourgishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Germanic *þū.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /duː/

PronounEdit

du

second-person singular, nominative: thou
Wéi al bass du?‎ ― How old art thou?

DeclensionEdit

Luxembourgish personal pronouns

	nominative		accusative		dative		reflexive
	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.	str.	unstr.	reflexive
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

MandarinEdit

RomanizationEdit

du

Nonstandard spelling of dū.
Nonstandard spelling of dú.
Nonstandard spelling of dǔ.
Nonstandard spelling of dù.

Usage notesEdit

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

Middle DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /dyː/, /dy/
(Limburg) IPA^(key): /duː/, /du/

PronounEdit

du

thou, you (singular, informal)

DeclensionEdit

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 notesEdit

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

SynonymsEdit

gi

Middle Low GermanEdit

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /duː/

EtymologyEdit

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

PronounEdit

dû

thou, you (second person singular nominative)

DeclensionEdit

Middle Low German personal pronouns

		nominative	accusative	dative	genitive
1st person singular		ik (ek)	mî (mê, mik, mek)		mîn (mîner)
2nd person singular		dû	dî (dê, dik, dek)		dîn (dîner)
3rd person singular
	m	hê (hî, hie)	ēne, en	ēme, em (ȫme, en)	sîn (sîner)
	n	it (et)		ēme, em (ȫme, en)	sîn (sîner)
	f	sê (sî, sie, sü̂)		ēre, ēr (ērer, ȫrer)
1st person plural		wî (wê, wie)	uns (ûs, ös, ü̂sik)		unser (ûser)
2nd person plural		gî (jê, î)	jû (jûwe, û, jük, gik)		jûwer (ûwer)
3rd person plural		sê (sî, sie)		ēre, ēr (ērer, ȫrer)
For an explanation of the forms in brackets see here.

DescendantsEdit

du

NormanEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Latin dux, ducem.

North FrisianEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Germanic *dōną. Cognates include Mooring North Frisian düünj and West Frisian dwaan.

VerbEdit

du

(Föhr-Amrum) to do
(Föhr-Amrum) to give

ConjugationEdit

Conjugation of du

	present	past
infinitive I	du
infinitive II	tu duen
past participle	den
imperative singular	du
imperative plural	du'em
1st-person singular	ik du	ik ded, diad
2nd-person singular	dü deest	dü dedst, diadst
3rd-person singular	hi/hat/at dee	hi/hat/at ded, diad
1st-person dual	wat du	wat ded, diad
2nd-person dual	jat du	jat ded, diad
1st-person plural	wi du	wi ded, diad
2nd-person plural	jam du	jam ded, diad
3rd-person plural	jo du	jo ded, diad
	perfect	pluperfect
1st-person singular	ik haa den	ik hed den
2nd-person singular	dü heest den	dü hedst den
3rd-person singular	hi/hat/at hee den	hi/hat/at hed den
1st-person dual	wat haa den	wat hed den
2nd-person dual	jat haa den	jat hed den
1st-person plural	wi haa den	wi hed den
2nd-person plural	jam haa den	jam hed den
3rd-person plural	jo haa den	jo hed den
	future (skel)	future (wel)
1st-person singular	ik skal du	ik wal du
2nd-person singular	dü skääl du	dü wääl du
3rd-person singular	hi/hat/at skal du	hi/hat/at wal du
1st-person dual	wat skel du	wat wel du
2nd-person dual	jat skel du	jat wel du
1st-person plural	wi skel du	wi wel du
2nd-person plural	jam skel du	jam wel du
3rd-person plural	jo skel du	jo wel du

Northern SamiEdit

PronounEdit

du

accusative and genitive of don

Norwegian BokmålEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /dʉː/

PronounEdit

du ‎(objective case deg)

thou, you (second person, singular)

ReferencesEdit

“du” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian NynorskEdit

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /dʉː/ (example of pronunciation)

PronounEdit

du ‎(objective case deg)

thou, you (second person, singular)

ReferencesEdit

“du” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

NovialEdit

**Novial cardinal numbers**
< 1	2	3 >
Cardinal : du Ordinal : duesmi

NumeralEdit

du

(cardinal) two

Old FrenchEdit

Alternative formsEdit

del

ContractionEdit

du

contraction of de + le (of the)

Old High GermanEdit

one drawing of the inscription on the Bülach fibula

EtymologyEdit

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.

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /du/

PronounEdit

du

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

DescendantsEdit

German: du

ReferencesEdit

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)

RomanianEdit

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): [du]

VerbEdit

du

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

SwedishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

Dialects

EtymologyEdit

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

PronunciationEdit

IPA^(key): /dʉː/, [d̪ʉː]
audio
(file)
Rhymes: -ʉː

PronounEdit

du

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

Usage notesEdit

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.

DeclensionEdit

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 gender-neutral	hen*	hen/henom	hens*
3rd person common	den	den	dess
3rd person neuter	det	det	dess
3rd person indefinite	man/en	en	ens
3rd person reflexive	—	sig	sin	sitt	sina
plural
1st person	vi	oss	vår	vårt	våra
2nd person	ni	er eder (dated)	er	ert	era
3rd person	de	dem	deras
3rd person reflexive	—	sig	sin	sitt	sina

*Not universally accepted.

VenetianEdit

EtymologyEdit

Compare Italian due

NumeralEdit

du m

two

SynonymsEdit

dó

VietnameseEdit

EtymologyEdit

Sino-Vietnamese word from *遊/游

PronunciationEdit

(Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [z̻u˧˧]
(Huế) IPA^(key): [jʊw˧˧]
(Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [jʊw˧˥]

VerbEdit

du

walk

Derived termsEdit

WelshEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Proto-Celtic *dubus ‎(“black”) (compare Old Irish dub, Irish dubh), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewbʰ- ‎(“black”).

PronunciationEdit

(North Wales) IPA^(key): /dɨː/
(South Wales) IPA^(key): /diː/

AdjectiveEdit

du ‎(feminine singular du, plural duon, equative dued, comparative duach, superlative duaf)

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

MutationEdit

Welsh mutation
radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
du	ddu	nu	unchanged
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

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
	Second	formal	De	Dem	Deres
	Third	–	de	dem	deres	sig

	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

	Nominative	Objective case	Genitive/Possessive pronoun
Singular
First person	eg, je⁴	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
Third person	dei	dei, deim³	deira, deires⁴
Notes
¹Never part of official Nynorsk/Landsmål. Primarily used before Landsmål received an official written norm.
²Rare or literary
³Traditional forms that are no 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.

Colors in Welsh · lliwiau (layout · text)
coch	gwyrdd	melyn	melynwyn	gwyn
rhudd	?	?	?	pinc
?	glas	oren, melyngoch	llwyd	fioled
du	porffor	brown	asur, gwynlas	gwyrddlas

du

Contents

Alemannic GermanEdit

PronunciationEdit

PronounEdit

DeclensionEdit

AmanabEdit

NounEdit

BretonEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

NounEdit

MutationEdit

CornishEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

MutationEdit

DanishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

PronunciationEdit

PronounEdit

See alsoEdit

Etymology 2Edit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

Dena'inaEdit

ParticleEdit

DutchEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronounEdit

ElfdalianEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronounEdit

EsperantoEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

NumeralEdit

Derived termsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

ContractionEdit

Usage notesEdit

GermanEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

PronounEdit

Usage notesEdit

InflectionEdit

Derived termsEdit

External linksEdit

GothicEdit

RomanizationEdit

IdoEdit

EtymologyEdit

NumeralEdit

KurdishEdit

EtymologyEdit

NumeralEdit

LigurianEdit

PronunciationEdit

ContractionEdit

Usage notesEdit

LithuanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

NumeralEdit

DeclensionEdit

LojbanEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

CmavoEdit

See alsoEdit

Lower SorbianEdit

EtymologyEdit

PronunciationEdit

VerbEdit

SynonymsEdit