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Does Arabic have a formal you?
Arabic, like English, has no formality distinction, even though there are five different forms of “you” (masculine singular, feminine singular, dual, masculine plural, and feminine plural).
What is a formal you?
Lesson Summary. In summary, vous is the formal or plural form of you, while tu is the informal, singular form. You should use vous when you’re talking to strangers, authority figures, work colleagues, older people, or groups of people, whereas tu should be used for friends, family, and children.
How do you identify formal and informal language?
Formal language is less personal than informal language. It is used when writing for professional or academic purposes like university assignments. Formal language does not use colloquialisms, contractions or first person pronouns such as ‘I’ or ‘We’. Informal language is more casual and spontaneous.
Does Danish have a formal you?
It’s named after the Latin words for “you,” which are the informal tu and the formal vos (hence T and V). Among the Scandinavian languages, Danish sometimes distinguishes between the informal du and the formal De, but du is the default at this point in the language’s evolution.
Does Hebrew have a formal you?
Generally, Hebrew does not have a formal pronoun. However, in some Yiddish-speaking communities in Israel, the plural אתם is used as a formal singular in the same way that איר (plural and formal “you” in Yiddish) is used in Yiddish.
What languages have formal you?
The Latin roots of the phenomenon mean that many of the Romance languages — the language family descended from Latin — have preserved the distinction. French has tu and vous, Italian has tu and Lei, Catalan has tu and vostè, European Portuguese has tu and você and Spanish has tú and usted.
Did Old English have a formal you?
Yes. As far as I know, you actually is the formal, originally plural version (ye/you/your) and thou was the informal version (thou/thee/thy/thine).
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