different between you vs len

English

Alternative forms

• ye (archaic nominative, dialectal plural)
• ya, yah, yer, yeh, y', yo, yu, yuh (informal or eye dialect)
• -cha (informal, after /t/)
• -ja (informal, after /d/)
• u (informal, internet)
• yoo (eye dialect)
• yew (obsolete or eye dialect)
• youe, yow, yowe (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English you, yow, ?ow (object case of ye), from Old English ?ow, ?ow (“you”, dative case of ??), from Proto-Germanic *iwwiz (“you”, dative case of *j?z), Western form of *izwiz (“you”, dative case of *j?z), from Proto-Indo-European *y?s (“you”, plural), *y??.

Cognate with Scots you (“you”), Saterland Frisian jou (“you”), West Frisian jo (“you”), Low German jo, joe and oe (“you”), Dutch jou and u (“you”), Middle High German eu, iu (“you”, object pronoun), Latin v?s (“you”), Avestan ????????? (v?, “you”), Ashkun iã (“you”), Kamkata-viri šo (“you”), Sanskrit ????? (y?yám, “you”)

See usage notes. Ye, you and your are cognate with Dutch jij/je, jou, jouw; Low German ji, jo/ju, jug and German ihr, euch and euer respectively. Ye is also cognate with archaic Swedish I.

Pronunciation

• (stressed)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo?o, IPA^(key): /ju?/
  • (General American) enPR: yo?o, IPA^(key): /ju/
  • (General Australian) enPR: yo?o, IPA^(key): /j??/
• • Rhymes: -u?
• (unstressed)
  • (Received Pronunciation) enPR: yo?o, IPA^(key): /ju/
  • (General American, General Australian) enPR: y?, IPA^(key): /j?/
• Homophones: ewe, u, yew, yu, hew (in h-dropping dialects), hue (in h-dropping dialects)

When a word ending in /t/, /d/, /s/, or /z/ is followed by you, these may coalesce with the /j/, resulting in /t?/, /d?/, /?/ and /?/, respectively. This is occasionally represented in writing, e.g. gotcha (from got you) or whatcha doin'? (more formally What are you doing).

Pronoun

you (second person, singular or plural, nominative or objective, possessive determiner your, possessive pronoun yours, singular reflexive yourself, plural reflexive yourselves)

1. (object pronoun) The people spoken, or written to, as an object. [from 9th c.]

   Both of you should get ready now.
2. (reflexive, now US colloquial) (To) yourselves, (to) yourself. [from 9th c.]
   • c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Richard III:

     If I may counsaile you, some day or two / Your Highnesse shall repose you at the Tower [...].

   • 1611, Bible, Authorized (King James) Version. Genesis XIX:

     And Lot went out, and spake unto his sons in law, which married his daughters, and said, Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.

   • 1970, Donald Harington, Lightning Bug:

     ‘Pull you up a chair,’ she offered.
3. (object pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as an object. (Replacing thee; originally as a mark of respect.) [from 13th c.]
   • c. 1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur, Book VIII:

     I charge you, as ye woll have my love, that ye warne your kynnesmen that ye woll beare that day the slyve of golde uppon your helmet.

4. (subject pronoun) The people spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Replacing ye.) [from 14th c.]

   You are all supposed to do as I tell you.

   • 2016, VOA Learning English (public domain)

     Are you excited? ? Yes, I am excited!

5. (subject pronoun) The person spoken to or written to, as a subject. (Originally as a mark of respect.) [from 15th c.]
   • c. 1395, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Clerk's Tale", Canterbury Tales, Ellesmere manuscript (c. 1410):

     certes lord / so wel vs liketh yow / And al youre werk / and euere han doon / þat we / Ne koude nat vs self deuysen how / We myghte lyuen / in moore felicitee [...].
6. (indefinite personal pronoun) Anyone, one; an unspecified individual or group of individuals (as subject or object). [from 16th c.]
   • 2001, Polly Vernon, The Guardian, 5 May 2001:

     You can't choose your family, your lovers are difficult and volatile, but, oh, you can choose your friends - so doesn't it make much more sense to live and holiday with them instead?

Usage notes

• Originally, you was specifically plural (indicating multiple people), and specifically the object form (serving as the object of a verb or preposition; like us as opposed to we). The subject pronoun was ye, and the corresponding singular pronouns were thee and thou, respectively. In some forms of (older) English, you and ye doubled as polite singular forms, e.g. used in addressing superiors, with thee and thou being the non-polite singular forms. In the 1600s, some writers objected to the use of "singular you" (compare objections to the singular they), but in modern English thee and thou are archaic and all but nonexistent and you is used for both the singular and the plural.
• Several forms of English now distinguish singular you from various marked plural forms, such as you guys, y'all, you-uns, or youse, though not all of these are completely equivalent or considered Standard English.
• The pronoun you is usually, but not always, omitted in imperative sentences. In affirmatives, it may be included before the verb (You go right ahead; You stay out of it); in negative imperatives, it may be included either before the don't, or (more commonly) after it (Don't you dare go in there; Don't you start now).
• Using you as a generic or gender-neutral pronoun may be considered too informal or even objectionable.
• See Appendix:English parts of speech for other personal pronouns.

Synonyms

• (subject pronoun: person spoken/written to):

  yer (UK eye dialect)

  plus the alternative forms listed above and at Appendix:English personal pronouns

• (subject pronoun: persons spoken/written to; plural): See Thesaurus:y'all
• (object pronoun: person spoken/written to): thee (singular, archaic), ye, to you, to thee, to ye
• (object pronoun: persons spoken/written to): ye, to you, to ye, to you all
• (one): one, people, they, them

Derived terms

Descendants

• Jamaican Creole: yuh

Translations

See you/translations § Pronoun.

See also

Determiner

you

1. The individual or group spoken or written to.

   Have you gentlemen come to see the lady who fell backwards off a bus?

2. Used before epithets, describing the person being addressed, for emphasis.

   You idiot!

   • 2015, Judi Curtin, Only Eva, The O'Brien Press (?ISBN):

     'You genius!' I shouted in Aretta's ear. 'You absolute genius! Why didn't you tell us you were so good?'

Derived terms

Translations

See you/translations § Determiner.

Verb

you (third-person singular simple present yous, present participle youing, simple past and past participle youed)

2. (transitive) To address (a person) using the pronoun you (in the past, especially to use you rather than thou, when you was considered more formal).
   • 1930, Barrington Hall, Modern Conversation, Brewer & Warren, page 239:

     Youing consists in relating everything in the conversation to the person you wish to flatter, and introducing the word “you” into your speech as often as possible.

   • 1992, Barbara Anderson, Portrait of the Artist’s Wife, Victoria University Press, page 272:

     Now even Princess Anne had dropped it. Sarah had heard her youing away on television the other night just like the inhabitants of her mother’s dominions beyond the seas.

   • 2004, Ellen Miller, Brooklyn Noir, Akashic Books, "Practicing":

     But even having my very own personal pronoun was risky, because it’s pretty tough to keep stopped-hope stopped up when you are getting all youed up, when someone you really like keeps promising you scary, fun, exciting stuff—and even tougher for the of that moment to remain securely devoid of hope, to make smart, self-denying decisions with Dad youing me—the long ooo of it broad and extended, like a hand.

Translations

See you/translations § Verb.

References

Japanese

Romanization

you

1. R?maji transcription of ??

See also

• y?

Karawa

Noun

you

1. water

References

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Leonese

Etymology

From Old Leonese yo, from Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego, from Proto-Italic *eg?; akin to Greek ??? (egó), Sanskrit ???? (aham), all from Proto-Indo-European *é?h?.

Pronoun

you

1. I

See also

Mandarin

Romanization

you

1. Nonstandard spelling of y?u.
2. Nonstandard spelling of yóu.
3. Nonstandard spelling of y?u.
4. Nonstandard spelling of yòu.

Usage notes

• 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 English

Etymology 1

Pronoun

you

1. Alternative form of yow

Etymology 2

Pronoun

you

1. (chiefly Northern and East Midland dialectal) Alternative form of þou

Mirandese

Etymology

From Old Leonese you, from Vulgar Latin *eo, attested from the 6th century in Romance, from Latin ego.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /jow/

Pronoun

you

1. I (the first-person singular pronoun)

Pouye

Noun

you

1. water

References

• transnewguinea.org, citing D. C. Laycock, Languages of the Lumi Subdistrict (West Sepik District), New Guinea (1968), Oceanic Linguistics, 7 (1): 36-66

Takia

Etymology

Borrowed from Bargam yuw and Waskia yu.

Noun

you

1. water

References

• Malcolm Ross, Andrew Pawley, Meredith Osmond, The Lexicon of Proto-Oceanic: The Culture and Environment (2007, ?ISBN

Terebu

Noun

you

1. fire

Further reading

• Malcolm Ross, Proto Oceanic and the Austronesian Languages of Western Melanesia, Pacific Linguistics, series C-98 (1988)

Czech

Etymology

From Old Czech len, from Proto-Slavic *l?n? from Proto-Indo-European *lino-.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?n]
• Hyphenation: len
• Rhymes: -?n

Noun

len m inan

1. flax (plant or fiber)

Declension

Derived terms

• ln?ný

References

Further reading

• len in P?íru?ní slovník jazyka ?eského, 1935–1957
• len in Slovník spisovného jazyka ?eského, 1960–1971, 1989

Danish

Etymology

From Middle Low German l?n, from Proto-Germanic *laihn? (“loan”), cognate with German Lehn (Swedish län is a loan from Low German). Doublet of lån.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?le?n]

Noun

len n (singular definite lenet, plural indefinite len)

1. (historical) fief (a land given by a sovereign to a vassal in exchange for military services, especially in the Middle Ages)
2. (historical) entailed estate (a property given by the king to a person with specific rules of inheritance, in Denmark 1691-1919)
3. (historical) county (a regional and administrative unit, in Denmark until 1662; also used with reference to the län of modern Sweden and Finland)

   Synonyms: amt, region, syssel

Inflection

Derived terms

• lensbaron
• lensgreve
• lensherre
• lensmand
• lensvæsen

References

• “len” in Den Danske Ordbog

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin lignum. Compare Ladin lën, Romansch len, lenn, lain.

Noun

len m (plural lens)

1. wood

Related terms

• legnôs

Galician

Verb

len

1. third-person plural present indicative of ler

Hungarian

Etymology

Borrowed from a Slavic language, from Proto-Slavic *l?n?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?l?n]
• Hyphenation: len
• Rhymes: -?n

Noun

len (plural lenek)

1. flax

Declension

Derived terms

• lenvászon

References

Irish

Preposition

len

1. (dialectal) Alternative form of le

Usage notes

This form is found only before bhur (“your pl”) and is not part of the standard written language. In older texts, len bhur may also be spelled le nbhur.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

len

1. imperative of lene

Old Czech

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?n?, from Proto-Indo-European *lino-.

Noun

len m

1. flax

Declension

Descendants

• Czech: len

Further reading

• “len”, in Vokabulá? webový: webové hnízdo pramen? k poznání historické ?eštiny [online]?^[1], Praha: Ústav pro jazyk ?eský AV ?R, 2006–2020

Polish

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?n?, from Proto-Indo-European *lino-

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l?n/

Noun

len m inan

1. flax (any member of the genus Linum)

Declension

Derived terms

• lniany

Further reading

• len in Wielki s?ownik j?zyka polskiego, Instytut J?zyka Polskiego PAN
• len in Polish dictionaries at PWN

Romani

Noun

len m

1. river

Romansch

Alternative forms

• (Rumantsch Grischun, Puter, Vallader) lain
• (Sursilvan, Surmiran) lenn

Etymology

From Latin lignum. Compare Ladin lën, Friulian len.

Noun

len m

1. (Sutsilvan) wood

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *l?n?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lé?n/, /l??n/

Adjective

l??n or l?n (comparative b?lj l??n, superlative n?jbolj l??n)

1. lazy

Inflection

This adjective needs an inflection-table template.

Derived terms

• prelén

Further reading

• “len”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran

Swedish

Adjective

len (comparative lenare, superlative lenast)

1. soft, smooth

Declension

Synonyms

• slät

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [l?n??]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [l????]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [l????]

Etymology 1

From French laine.

Noun

len

1. wool
2. yarn

Etymology 2

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

len

1. to negotiate one's way through a mass, to creep through

Derived terms

Volapük

Preposition

len

1. at, by, on

Welsh

Noun

len

1. Soft mutation of llen.

Mutation