Monday, December 27, 2010

Because We're All So Fond of It...

...and we may as well use it correctly, here's a wee bit of King James grammar.

Conjugation of Verbs
I am
Thou art
He/she/it is
We are
Ye are
They are

I do
Thou dost
He/she/it doth
We do
Ye do
They do

I say
Thou sayest
He/she/it saith
We/ye/they say

I have
Thou hast
He/she/it hath
We/ye/they have

I sit, hear, desire, hold, pray, know
Thou sittest, hearest, desirest, holdest, prayest, knowest
He/she/it sitteth, heareth, desireth, holdeth, prayeth, knoweth
We/ye/they sit, hear, desire, hold, pray, know

1st person singular
I say
My life (“my” before a consonant)
Mine eyes (“mine” before a vowel)
Tell me

(1st person plural is the same as today:  we, our/s, us.)

2nd person singular
Thou sayest
Thy life
Thine eyes
I tell thee

2nd person plural
Ye say
Your life
Your eyes
I tell you

3rd person singular and plural  (same as today: )

He, his, him
She, her(s), her
It, its, it
They, their(s), them

6 comments:

Anam Cara said...

I never realized before that thee is singular but ye is plural.

My mother always told me that if I wasn't careful, I'd learn something every day. Once again she's been proven right.

Rosko said...

Thank you for posting this. Now I have a place to direct people. I still hold that modern English needs to re-embrace a second person plural. I submit "y'all" for such a position.

Anastasia Theodoridis said...

I "second" the motion.

margaret said...

I am compiling a decent version of Compline for myself seeing as the several I have are all awful in different ways. I will keep this handy to make sure I too don't produce something awful!

GretchenJoanna said...

Thanks VERY much!

Anonymous said...

Oooo....I like this! More, more, more please!