Tag: old english cases

In Old English, second-person pronouns were complex, with distinct forms for singular, plural, and even dual pronouns, plus separate cases. Over time, English simplified dramatically. Through the influence of Norse contact, the Norman Conquest, and broader trends of grammatical simplification, English lost these distinctions, and you became the universal second-person pronoun. This article explains the historical changes, social pressures, and linguistic shifts that led to the disappearance of forms like thou and ye, and why Modern English is so different from its relatives like French or German.