tú

Forms

tú (disjunctive ti, oblique te, comitative contigo, preposed possessive determiner tu, possessive pronoun/postposed or standalone possessive determiner tuyo)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin tū (“you (singular)”), its nominative case, and has been in use since the earliest Spanish texts.^[2][3][4][1] The other forms of the pronoun continue other Latin cases: te the accusative tē, and ti the dative tibi, shortened under the influence of mí.^[3][5] contigo is built on the old form tigo, from tēcum (“with you”).^[3][6] The possessives tu and tuyo come from the related Latin adjective tuus (“your”).^[2][3]

The same Latin word is Portuguese tu, Catalan tu, French tu, Italian tu and Romanian tu.^[7][1][8] In the western half of Galicia the oblique form Galician ti has taken the place of tu, which survives in Lugo and eastern Ourense.^[2]

The pronoun goes back to Proto-Italic *tū.^[9][1] Wiktionary takes it further to Proto-Indo-European *túh₂, the source also of English thou.^[1] Coromines notes that the pronoun is common to all the Indo-European languages, from Greek to Indo-Iranian.^[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Glosas Emilianenses already have the pronoun, and the BDELC dates its first record to about 950.^[2][3] In the Cantar de mio Cid (c. 1140, in a 14th-century copy) Doña Jimena prays: „Tú, que a todos guías, val a mio Cid el Canpeador” “You who guide everyone, help my Cid the Campeador”.^[11]

Semantic evolution

Tú has been in use in Spain in every period.^[2] Salvá's dictionary of 1846 describes it as the form of familiar or friendly speech, and of a superior speaking to an inferior.^[12] In part of the Americas it stopped being the popular form and was replaced by vos, a history that the DCECH leaves to dialectology and historical grammar; the possessives tu and tuyo stayed in use even where people say vos.^[2] The DLE now describes tú as the pronoun of informal and familiar address in Spain and parts of the Americas, and also as a generic “you” that means anyone.^[4]

The verb tutear “to address as tú”, first recorded in the Autoridades of 1739, was probably modelled on French tutoyer (1394); Portuguese said atuar, which was also used in Spanish.^[2][3] The phrases de tú por tú “addressing each other as tú” and a tú por tú “rudely, without respect” were in the Academy's dictionary by 1869.^[13]

Timeline

• c. 950 – the first record, in the early glosses.^[3][2]
• c. 1140 – the Cantar de mio Cid uses tú in Jimena's prayer.^[11]
• c. 1180 – the Auto de los Reyes Magos: „Di, rabí, la uertad, si tú lo as sabido” “Tell the truth, rabbi, if you have known it”.^[11]
• 1256 – the pronoun in Alfonso X's prose.^[14]
• 1541 – the first record from the Americas, in Michoacán.^[15]
• 1739 – the Autoridades records the derivative tutear.^[3][2]
• 1869 – the Academy's dictionary has a tú por tú, de tú por tú and hablar o tratar de tú.^[13]
• 1899 – the Academy's dictionary gives the etymology “Del lat. tu”.^[16]

Meanings

Pronoun

1. you: the second-person singular pronoun as subject or in address, used in informal or familiar speech in Spain and parts of Latin America: Tú sabrás lo que haces.^[4][1]
2. (colloquial) A generic “you”, anyone at all: Si tú no cuidas tu salud, nadie lo hará por ti.^[4]

Interjection

1. (Spain, Central America) Used as an exclamation.^[1]

Word family

• tutear
• tuteo

Related words

• tu
• tuyo
• te
• ti
• contigo
• Latin tū

Usage notes

Tú is written with an accent, which distinguishes it from the possessive tu “your”, and always carries its own stress.^[17] In parts of the Americas it coexists with vos.^[18] De tú, with hablar or tratar, means addressing someone as tú rather than usted; the DLE marks a tú por tú as obsolete.^[4][17]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Corominas, Joan; Pascual, José A. (1980–1991), Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico, 6 vols., Madrid: Gredos, p. 5, 681
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Corominas, Joan (1973), Breve diccionario etimológico de la lengua castellana, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tú
4. ^ a b c d e Real Academia Española; Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (2014–), Diccionario de la lengua española, 23rd ed., online version 23.8, https://dle.rae.es, p. s.v. tú
5. ^ Bénaben, Michel (2000), Dictionnaire étymologique de l'espagnol, Paris: Ellipses, p. s.v. tú
6. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. tecum
7. ^ Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter, p. s.v. tu
8. ^ García de Diego, Vicente (1985), Diccionario etimológico español e hispánico, 2nd ed., Madrid: Espasa-Calpe (1st ed. 1954), p. s.v. tu
9. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
10. ^ Coromines, Joan (1980–2001), Diccionari etimològic i complementari de la llengua catalana, 10 vols., Barcelona: Curial / La Caixa (online ed., Institut d'Estudis Catalans 2024), p. 8, 914
11. ^ a b c Real Academia Española (2013–), Corpus del Diccionario histórico de la lengua española (CDH), version 3.1, https://apps.rae.es/CNDHE, p. s.v. tú
12. ^ Salvá, Vicente (1846), Nuevo diccionario de la lengua castellana, París: Librería de Don Vicente Salvá, p. 1082
13. ^ a b Real Academia Española (1869), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 11th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de Don Manuel Rivadeneyra, p. 770
14. ^ Kasten, Lloyd A.; Nitti, John J.; Gago Jover, Francisco (2002–), Diccionario de la prosa castellana del Rey Alfonso X, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies (electronic edition 2024), p. s.v. tú
15. ^ Boyd-Bowman, Peter (2003), Léxico hispanoamericano 1493–1993, ed. Ray Harris-Northall and John J. Nitti, New York: Hispanic Seminary of Medieval Studies, p. s.v. tú
16. ^ Real Academia Española (1899), Diccionario de la lengua castellana, 13th ed., Madrid: Imprenta de los Sres. Hernando y Compañía, p. 990
17. ^ a b Moliner, María (2007), Diccionario de uso del español, 3rd ed., Madrid: Gredos, p. s.v. tú
18. ^ Battaner Arias, Paz (dir.) (2017), Diccionario general de la lengua española VOX, Barcelona: Larousse Editorial, p. s.v. tú