you

You is a second-person pronoun in the English language. It is used to refer to the person or people being addressed. Unlike gendered pronouns, you is not inflected for gender and can function as both the subject and the object of a verb. In modern usage, you also serves as a generic pronoun, as in statements that apply to people in general.

The standard forms are straightforward: the subject and object forms are both you (as in You know it; I saw you). Possessive adjectives are your and the possessive pronoun is yours. Reflexive forms are yourself (singular or polite) and yourselves (plural). The word is not typically capitalized except at the beginning of sentences or in titles.

Usage varies by dialect. While English generally uses a single you for both singular and plural, many varieties distinguish plural address with phrases such as you all, you guys, you lot, or y’all in different regions. The pronoun can also carry formality or emphasis, and in phrases like You never know, it acts as a broad, impersonal subject.

Historically, you originates from Old English forms that marked accusative/dative case, with the nominative form eventually yielding to the modern pronoun. The older pair thou (singular) and ye (plural) declined in Early Modern English, leaving you as the standard second-person pronoun.