þú

• -du, -ðu, -u (enclitic forms)

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

• IPA^(key): /θu/, [θ̠uː]

• Audio

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

þú

1. (personal, in the singular) you, thou

   Þú ert skemmtilegur.

   You are fun.

   Ertu nemandi?

   Are you a student?

After verbs, the pronoun þú is either separated:

• ert þú ― are you
• borðar þú ― do you eat
• kom þú ― come!

or suffixed and changed into -ðu, -du, or -u:

• ertu ― are you
• borðarðu ― do you eat
• komdu ― come!

If the verb ends in a "t", -u is used. If it ends in a "m" or "n", -du is used. Otherwise -ðu is used.

The suffixed version is almost always used except when the speaker wants to emphasize "þú" or sound more formal.

Many younger speakers will write borðaru instead of borðarðu.

• (singular you): þér (formal, archaic)

• -du, -ðu, -tu (enclitic forms)

From Proto-Germanic *þū (“you; thou”), from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you; thou”).

• IPA^(key): /θuː/

þú

1. (in the singular) you (thou)
   • 900s-1000s, Hávamál, verse 112

     Ráðum'k þér, Loddfáfnir, / at þú ráð nemir,
     njóta mundu ef þú nemr,
     þér munu góð ef þú getr:
     Nótt þú rís-at / nema á njósn sér
     eða þú leitir þér innan út staðar.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

It may become enclitic when after a verb, that is, be appended to the preceding word as either -du, -ðu or -tu depending on the consonant cluster. The rules for this are the same as for the past tense dental suffixes of the class 1 weak verbs. This may happen more often in Old Norse, as the personal pronoun is often used with the singular imperative. This is not to say, however, that whenever þú comes after a verb, it will always take an enclitic form. It could well stay separate for the sake of emphasis. With the clitics, this is how it ends up looking.

• ‎fórt + ‎þú → ‎fórtu
• ‎kenn + ‎þú → ‎kenndu
• ‎far + ‎þú → ‎farðu
• ‎miskunna + ‎þú → ‎miskunnaðu

Note, as seen in the last two examples, that this does not cause u-umlaut.

• Icelandic: þú, -du, -ðu, -tu
• Faroese: tú
• Norwegian Nynorsk: du
• Norwegian Bokmål: du
• Jamtish: dú
• Elfdalian: du
• Old Swedish: þū
  • Swedish: du, tu, thu, dhu (last three obsolete)
• Old Danish: thu
  • Danish: du

The enclitic use lives on in modern Icelandic þú. See there for more.

• þinn (possessive pronoun)