vous

Czech

Alternative forms

• fous

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *wendʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *wondʰsom

Proto-Balto-Slavic *wándsa

Proto-Slavic *ǫsъ

Czech vous

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ǫsъ.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvou̯s]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vous

Noun

vous m inan (diminutive vousek or vousík)

1. one of threads of hair which form a beard
2. beard

   Synonym: vousy

Declension

Declension of vous (hard masculine inanimate)

	singular	plural
nominative	vous	vousy
genitive	vousu	vousů
dative	vousu	vousům
accusative	vous	vousy
vocative	vouse	vousy
locative	vousu	vousech
instrumental	vousem	vousy

Derived terms

adjectives

• bezvousý
• bělovousý
• plnovousý
• vousatý

nouns

• bezvous
• bělovous
• černovous
• modrovous
• plnovous
• rudovous
• šedovous
• vousáč
• vousek

See also

• knír m

Further reading

• “vous”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “vous”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “vous”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

French

Etymology

Inherited from Middle French vous, from Old French vos, vous, from Latin vōs, from Proto-Italic *wōs.

See cognates in regional languages in France: Angevin, Bourbonnais-Berrichon, Bourguignon, Champenois, Lorrain, Orléanais, and Poitevin-Saintongeais vous; Franc-Comtois vôs; Gallo vouz; Norman and Franco-Provençal vos; Picard os; Occitan vosautres (Provençal vousautes); Catalan vosaltres; Corsican voi.

Other cognates with the same usage are voi in Italian as well as вы (vy) in Russian.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vu/, (before a vowel) /vu.z‿/

  • Audio:

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  • Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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  • Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

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  • Audio (France):

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  • Audio (France (Grenoble)):

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  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

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  • Audio (France (Hérault)):

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  • Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

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  • Audio (France (Lyon)):

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  • Audio (France (Massy)):

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• Homophones: voue, vouent, voues
• Rhymes: -u

Pronoun

vous (second-person plural and second-person formal singular, informal singular tu, object vous, emphatic vous, possessive determiner votre)

1. the plural personal pronoun in the second person
   1. (subject pronoun) you (all)

      Toi et lui, vous êtes mes meilleurs amis. ― You and him, you are my best friends.

   2. (direct object pronoun) you (all)

      Je vous adore. ― I love you (all).

2. you, to you (indirect object pronoun)

   Je vous donnerai mon adresse. ― I will give you my address. / I will give my address to you.

3. (formal, polite) plural or singular personal pronoun in the second person

   Monsieur, je ne peux pas vous le dire ― Sir, I cannot tell you.

Usage notes

• The term vous is used to address more than one person or to address one person formally. It is often used, for example, when two adults meet for the first time.
• Children, youth, and students do not usually use vous with each other. Adults do not usually use vous to address young children.
• The use of vous is always considered professional and is used in office settings, schools, etc. to address a single person even when the speaker knows that person well. Thus, Avez-vous fini? ('Are you (formal) finished?') may often be heard in an office setting, while As-tu fini? ('Are you (informal) finished?') is not as common. Likewise, some people may call each other tu in some settings and vous in others; for example, lawyers who are friends with each other may call each other tu in informal settings but vous when in court, out of respect for the formal setting.
• The use of vous and tu also varies from place to place:

Quebecers tend to use informal tu more liberally than their European counterparts. They may use it, for example, among work colleagues.

In Louisiana, the use of vous as a subject pronoun is restricted. It is increasingly uncommon among succeeding generations of speakers. When it is used, it is a polite form of address that tends to be directed toward a much older person. For example, a child or young adult might use vous to address a grandparent, great-grandparent, or elderly stranger. (One exception, though, is the fixed expression s'il vous plaît (“please”), which in Louisiana never takes the informal form s'il te plaît.) When addressing more than one person, vous-autres (“y'all”) is much more common than vous.

• Furthermore, in Louisiana, vous (like nous (“we”)), may at times take third-person singular conjugations:

  vous êtes / vous est ― y'all are

  vous avez / vous a ― y'all have

Derived terms

• bien à vous
• comment allez-vous
• rendez-vous
• vous autres, vous-autres
• vous de politesse
• vous deux
• vous-même
• vous-mêmes
• voussoyer
• vouvoyer

Related terms

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)1	emphatic reflexive
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi	moi-même
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi	toi-même
	third	masculine	il2	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui	lui-même
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle	elle-même
		indeterminate	on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça	—	—	—	—	—	—
		reflexive	—	se, s’5		—	—	soi	soi-même
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous	nous-mêmes
	second6	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous	vous-mêmes, vous-même6
	third	masculine	ils7	les	leur	y	en	eux7	eux-mêmes7
		feminine	elles					elles	elles-mêmes

¹ The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
² Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
³ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
⁴ The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
⁵ The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
⁶ Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
⁷ Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Descendants

• Haitian Creole: ou
• Louisiana Creole: vou

Further reading

• “vous”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Middle English

Adjective

vous

1. alternative form of fous

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French vos, vous, from Latin vōs.

Pronoun

vous

1. you (plural or polite)
2. yourself (second-person plural or polite reflexive pronoun)

Usage notes

• As in modern French, vous is either plural or polite as both a subject pronoun and a reflexive pronoun:
  • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 12:

    Car se vous vous mettez en ceste forest qui est grande et espesse

    For if you put yourself into this forest which is big and thick

    (The first vous is the subject pronoun, and the second is the reflexive pronoun. Both are singular, referring to Lancelot)

Descendants

• French: vous
  • Haitian Creole: ou
  • Louisiana Creole: vou

Old French

Etymology

From Latin vōs.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vus/

Pronoun

vous

1. alternative form of vos