Hey you! You there! How are you
doing? These three phrases can all have drastically different meanings due to
the tone or expression while using them. One thing they all have in common is
their singular uses of the word you. The author of the article “German You, -Du, Ihr, Sie.”, by Ingrid Bauer, reminded us that Modern English is
the only Indo-European language that has only one form of you, unlike our
lingual cousin German. In Germany you can tell who the person is talking to by
the form of you they use. If the person speaking is using the form du or ihr,
it is safe to assume they are talking to someone close to them or it is an
adult speaking to a child. If you are talking to anyone else you must use the
formal form of the word you, Sie. In America you cannot always determine whether
the two people talking are acquaintances or close friends by the use of you. When
one person is talking to a person in a higher social position you can generally
tell from their tone and posture. Although we only have one form of the word
you, we can still use it to mean different things just like our lingual cousins,
the Germans.
Work Cited:
Bauer, Ingrid. "German You - Du, Ihr, Sie." About.com German Language. About.com, n.d. Web. 29 Aug. 2013.
I never thought about how it may seem more difficult to tell the relationship of people talking in English b/c of only one form of "you", I thought that was a good point.
ReplyDeleteI like how you explained the three versions of you in German and not just the two we learned about in class.
ReplyDelete