Proper Britannian (Elizabethan as a Second Language)

Thee and Thou and You and Me and Ye

One of the biggest mistakes players of Ultima Online make while trying to speak proper Elizabethan (and therefore Britannian) is to misuse the terms Thee and Thou. Many of these players who are honestly trying their best to sound authentic simply toss "thees" and "thous" around without really knowing anything about their proper use. As has been mentioned in previous lessons much of the language is not necessarily set in stone and Elizabethans did employ a wide and varied usage of terms when it came to everyday speech, yet when it comes to Thee and Thou and the conjugation of the verbs used with them there are some very set rules. This lesson then will cover the proper use of Thee, Thou, You, Your and Ye.

"Thees" and "Thous"
Lesson Five
Using Thee and Thou is more than just placing the one of the words before or after a sentence. There is a specific usage for each word depending one of two forms of address. At one time English employed these two forms which consisted of a formal address and an informal address. Formal address was usually directed at people of a higher station in life than that of the speaker. A good UO example might be that of a member of a guild when speaking to his guildmaster. The guild member is of lower rank than his master and would use a more formal mode of speech. Yet there also other considerations to take into account when using these terms. Let's take a look at the proper usage of Thee and Thou then we shall see how to properly conjugate the verbs that are associated with them.

Formal and Informal - it's not just how you dress!

Contrary to popular belief the words You and Your WERE used in Elizabethan language.

The formal mode - You - was used to address social superiors and strangers to whom one wanted to be polite. Say You to the King, the Queen, your parents, your employer, your guildmaster or any person above you in Rank (check out his or her paperdoll to see if it says Glorious Lord or not - that should give some indication as to their rank and station in UO life). Also say You to persons you are flattering and to (believe it or not) horses! Horses were considered to be noble beasts in Elizabethan times and were addressed accordingly. In Ultima Online this could also extend to Ostards and other riding beasts. "You" can also be used sarcastically to imply that someone beneath you is behaving above their station, for instance, to the rude and clueless newbie who just invited you to Fellucia for a little Player vs. Player.

Consistent to popular belief the words Thee and Thou were widely used in everyday speech.

The informal mode - Thou - was used to address one's intimates (friends) or social inferiors. Say Thou to your spouse, your close friends, guildmates (of equal or lower rank), children, servants, employees, players you are insulting, non-horse, or non-riding beasts, inanimate objects and (in Elizabethan times this was widely used) even to God. Additionally, if you don't mind that other players question your sanity, you can also say Thou to Non-Player Characters or to the Balron who is about to tear you into tiny bits.

Note: Many players in Ultima Online and especially newbies often expect and enjoy seeing a liberal use of thee and thou (as well as other archaic terms) in the game and you should in most cases feel free to use the familiar form with them.

The Proper Use of Thee and Thou

Parts of this lesson are going to be a bit more difficult to learn and to put into everyday use, especially the verbs with archaic endings, but for the most part using Thee and Thou is pretty easy. Just remember that Thou is the subject and Thee is the object of a sentence.

As the subject of sentences, thou PERFORMS the action.

Thou art a fine mage withal. What thinkest thou of that?

What sayest thou? Thou knowest not thine own mind!

Go thou unto the village of Cove. Goest thou quickly!

As the object of sentences, thee RECEIVES or MODIFIES the action.

Here shall I sit with thee and speak kind words to thee.

We do have fine ales for thee. I do thank thee fair lass.

In the village of Cove will I wait for thee.

As a last example of this take a look at the following:

"Go thou unto the city of Vepser that I might meet thee there."

Here we see that the player being spoken to has been addressed as both thou and as thee in the same sentence. Let's break this sentence down and see why.

"Go thou (thou - the subject is doing the going or performing the action) unto the city of Vepser that I might meet thee (thee - the object is receiving the action of being met) there."

Note: Here is a little trick to help you remember the proper use of the word thee - think of it as a word to to be used when you mean to say of, for, with, by or to thou.

"I be me sore afraid OF thee".
"They do not have no reagents FOR thee."
"Might I come, goodly knight, WITH thee to yon dungeon?"
"I would sit BESIDE thee while yet I may."
"May I walk BY thee as we travel this road?"
"The baker brings warm bread TO thee."

With just a little bit of practice you can greatly improve your archaic speech by simply employing the proper use of these two tiny words - thee and thou. Just keep in mind that:
Thou = subject and Thee = object.

What's mine is mine and what's yours is mine - Possessive Forms

Thy and thine in Elizabethan speech are the equivalent of your.

Thy is the possessive form of thou used before words beginning with a consonant:
thy shoes - thy hands - thy hat - thy staff - thy cloak - thy house.
"There be a foul cold in the dungeon of Ice, take therefore thy hat and thy cloak."

Thine is the possessive form of thou used before words beginning with a vowel:
thine apples - thine eyes - thine ears - thine ostard - thine arrows.
"I see thou hast forgotten thine arrows."
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Me and mine in Elizabethan speech are the equivalent of my.

My is the possessive form used before a consonant: (much as it is today)
my shield - my surcoat - my chair - my table.
"Here shall I sit, on my chair at my table".

Mine is the possessive form used before a vowel:
mine armor - mine axe - mine arrogance.
"I seek me a smith to mend mine armor."
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The possessive form of you remains your.

Don't forget to change form when needed as in these examples:
"Mine eyes have proved greater than my stomach."
"Thou didst come, riding on thy horse and followed by thine ostard."

I Walketh, I Eateth, I Loveth - Archaic Verb Endings

Archaic verbs have different endings when used with thee and thou. These endings for the most part consist of ost, est, eth. There are also two shorter forms, t and st.
Lets take a look at the proper usage of these endings.

When using Thou and Thee verbs should end in either ost or est as in the examples below.

"Thou goest to Doom alone!" (you go)
"Thou eatest these fine pies" (you eat)
"Thou walkest into yon moongate" (you walk)

When using he, she, it or they the verbs could end in eth as in: "He goeth (he goes) - "She loveth" (she loves) - they eateth" (they eat) - it walketh (it walks).

Knowing when to use a proper ending can be confusing at first. Study the following charts and take note of the conjugation of the verbs. Practice by reading the pronoun first then the next verb in the row (example: Thou art, Thou dost, Thou hast etc). Begin with Thou and try to learn the endings associated with it. The other endings are all optional and you might want to learn their usage at a later time.

Examples:

	is	do	have	go
I	am	do	have	go
We	are	do/doth	have/hath	go/goeth
You	are	do	have	go
Thou	art	dost	hast	goest
He/She/It	is	does/doth	has/hath	goes/goeth
They	are	do/doth	have/hath	go/goeth

More Examples:

	say	walk	eat	love
I	say	walk	eat	love
We	say/sayeth	walk/walketh	eat/eateth	love/loveth
You	say	walk	eat	love
Thou	sayest	walkest	eatest	lovest
He/She/It	says/sayeth	walks/walketh	eats/eateth	loves/loveth
They	say/sayeth	walk/walketh	eat/eateth	love/loveth

Practice this with other verbs like sit, sing, stand, play etc. Also remember that these are VERB forms and are never used with nouns such as in: Maneth, Womaneth or Horseth (however saying "I laggeth" would be acceptable in UO since the word lag is used as a verb AND a noun).

Remember that these forms are almost never optional when using Thou.
Keep in mind that when using thou verbs generally change by t, st or est to the end. Study these examples and come up with some of your own.

are	art	Thou art a knave and a toss-pot!
do	dost	What dost thou think? (what thinkest thou?)
drink	drinkest	Drinkest thou here a fine dark ale
eat	eatest	Thou eatest more than any three men!
go	goest	Where goest thou, Good Mistress?
have	hast	What hast thou? Thou hast a comely face.
make	makest	Thou makest a good keg of ale.
say	sayest	Sayest that thou dost love me.
shall	shalt	Thou shalt eat, drink and merry be!
walk	walkest	Thou walkest like a man in his cups. (i.e. tipsy)
will	wilt	Thou wilt stay a while. Wilt thou walk with me?

"I laggeth me in this busy dungeon, let us away from this foul place!
What thinkest thou, withal, of that?"

Hear Ye! Hear Ye! The Proper Use of Ye!

Using Ye is easy! Use it then talking to two or more people or large groups in a formal setting.
Ye is essentially the plural form of you in formal situations. Some of the more commonly known examples might be "Hear Ye! Hear Ye!" or "Oh come all ye faithful".

Some UO specific examples:
"Repent, all ye foul necromancers!"
"Fly ye, all of you, into yon moongate 'ere we die us all!"

It can also be used as a shortened form (a colloquial contraction) of You as in "God ye good den" (God grant you a good day) or as in "What d'ye lack?" (what do you lack? or what do you need?). - "Go ye forth into all the lands and seek ye there your fortunes".

Note: Contrary to popular belief Ye NEVER (and I mean NEVER, EVER) means THE as in "Ye Olde Public Ale House", "Ye olde Mage Shoppe" or as in "Ye olde spinning wheel". This is a modern FOLK contrivance and Ye was NEVER used by Elizabethans for the word The in any way, shape or form! I can NOT stress this enough, avoid it like the plague (or like a plague beast).

Now that you know when to say "Thee and when to say "Thou" you might like to know how to properly insult the person or persons you are talking to. Anyone who has ever used UOCurse knows that Elizabethan insults were colorful to say the least. As mentioned in previous lessons, Elizabethans loved redundancy and they enjoyed it no where more than in their curses. In the next section its time to have some fun with Elizabethan insults!