Word Confusion: You and Its Plural

Posted October 5, 2017 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
16 Oct 2022

“Oi, you— yes, youse lot — I’m talking to you, y’all” (Rachel Braier)

I couldn’t help it. Braier’s headline was perfect, lol.

It also perfectly points up most of the basic colloquial yous. These are perfect to use in dialogue, but avoid using colloquialisms in more formal writing.

I suspect that “You and Its Plural” will be everchanging as more variations (and regions) show up on how to make a plural pronoun out of you. What about you? Have you experienced variations? Or, perhaps, you know of a geographical area to add?

Word Confusions . . .

. . .started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

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Regional Dialect	Singular	Plural
You and Its Plural
Part of Grammar: Pronoun, second person
Basic ¹ Particularly in the Midwest, Northeast, South Florida, and West Coast Objective and subjective Formal and familiar	you	you you guys (regardless of gender)
African American English	you	y’all you all
Appalachians	you	y’uns yinz you-uns youns yuns yunz
Southern U.S.	you	you-all you all y’all (contraction of you-all) Super plural: all y’all Possessive form: y’all’s
Michigan	you	yous guys, youse guys (Upper Peninsula)
New York City	you	yous guys youse guys
New Jersey	you	you’s you’s guys yous youse Super Plural: youse guys
Ohio	you	1810: you-uns youns yuns yunz
Ozarks	you	y’uns yinz you-uns youns yuns yunz
Pennsylvania	you	yous guys (northeastern Pennsylvania; Philadelphia) youse guys (northeastern Pennsylvania; Philadelphia) you-uns (western Pennsylvania) y’uns (you ones; western Pennsylvania) yinz (western Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh) yins (Pittsburgh) younz (Pittsburgh) yunz (Pittsburgh)
Old English; archaic ² Some rural areas	thou ³ subjective case thee objective case	ye subjective case you objective case
*Foreign Yous Include:*
Australian	you	yees yeez yez yiz you you guys yous youse
British English	one yin (northern England) you	you lot you ones (Chaucer’s day) yees yeez yez yiz (Liverpool) yous, youse (Essex, Merseyside) yins (northern England) ye, yee, yees, yiz, yous, youse (Tyneside)
Canadian	you	yees yeez yez yiz (Maritime Provinces) ye, yee, yees, yiz (Labrador, Newfoundland) you you guys yous, youse (rural Canada)
Caribbean English	you	all-you you-all oona (Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, San Salvador Island) unu (Barbados, Belize, Cayman Islands, Jamaica, San Salvador Island) wunna (Barbados) yinna (Bahamas)
French	Casual: tu Formal: vous	Casual: on, vous Formal: vous
German	Casual: du Formal: Sie	Casual: ihr Formal: Sie
Irish	one yin you	ye yee yees yins yiz yous youse
Italian	Casual: tu Formal: Lei (began to replace voi in 1500s) voi (used by inferiors to superiors or children to parents pre-20th century)	Casual: voi Formal: voi
ancient Roman	tu a tutti	tu a tutti
New Zealand	you	yous youse
Scottish	one yin you	yins yous (central Scotland) youse (central Scotland) yiz (Glasgow)
South African	you	yous youse
Spanish	Casual: tu Formal: usted	Casual: vosotros Formal: ustedes
Examples:
Gather ye rosebuds, while ye may. Ye gods! We beseech thee, O Lord. “Screw you guys. I’m going home,” Cartman said. South Park “A third yin owns an antique rare.” – Robert Tannahill, 1807 “You young yins think ye inventit men an’ women.” – William McIlvanney, 1975 Ah, cut it out youse guys . . .
History of the Word:
Old English ēow is accusative and dative of gē. Related to the Dutch u and the German euch. Old English gē is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch gij and the German ihr. Ye, thou, and thee were popular up until the 14th century when you began to replace them. By the 17th century, you had become the ordinary second person pronoun for any number and case. Old English thu is of Germanic origin. Related to German du from an Indo-European root shared by Latin tu.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for You and Its Plural

Apple Dictionary.com

Braier, Rachel. “Oi, You – Yes, Youse Lot – I’m Talking to You, Y’all.” The Guardian.. 5 June 2015. Web. n.d. <https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/jun/05/oi-you-yes-youse-lot-im-talking-to-you-yall>.

Okrent, Arika. “From Y’all To Youse: 8 English Ways to Make ‘You’ Plural.” Mental Floss. 18 Aug 2014. Web. n.d. <http://mentalfloss.com/article/12916/yall-youse-8-english-ways-make-you-plural>.

“Yinz, You-uns, You-all, and Company.” Grammarphobia. 11 Feb 2011. Web. n.d. <https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2011/02/yinz.html>.

“You.” Wikipedia. Last updated 17 Sept 2022. Web. n.d. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You>.

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