13 July 2022

How To Use Thou …As Well as Thee, Thy, Ye & You.

Tyndale had nothing to do with using thou/thee/thy for God. John Wycliffe used the informal to address God 140 years before Tyndale. In using the informal 'thou' for God, you're not addressing the creator of the universe; you're addressing your Dad! God takes informal pronouns (where available) in all the Indo-European languages I've come across, from Sanskrit to English. As my German teacher told me many years ago, 'Du (the informal) is used for your spouse, your children, your dog, and your God'.

In fact, even Anglo-Saxon (Old English) used the informal for God. Here is 'Hallowed by Thy name, Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done' from the Our Father in Old English. Both 'þ' (thorn) and 'ð' (edh) have a 'th' sound, so, as you can see, 'thin' (thy) is the pronoun used in this passage: Si þin nama gehalgod to becume þin rice gewurþe ðin willa ...


English used to have a formal and informal way of saying "you" - like lots of other languages do now! Allow me to explain...

What does "thou" actually mean? How is it different to "you"? And what about "thee"? These questions answered AND MORE!

...such as: ✏️ How were "thou" and "thee" used in Shakespeare's day? ✏️ Why is God referred to as "thou" in the Bible? ✏️ Why do Quakers still say "thou" and "thee"? ✏️ How do they use "thou" in Yorkshire? ✏️ When do you use "ye"? ✏️ Why is it "thou art" instead of "thou are"? Watch this video and you'll understand what "thou" actually means. You'll see that it's not just a fancy old-fashioned way of saying "you". The reality is more interesting than that.

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