I hav noticed in my life and travels as well as living in England, that English has many flaws, many things missing, for an example, a plural of "You", a gender neutral third person SINGULAR word, What words phrases do you hav in Polish that are a big improvement on English, better than English, would you introduce to English? do you, for example, a plural of "YOU"?
Polish has "wy" for the informal, "państwo" (ladies and gents) for the formal, plus the respective permutations required:
Are you [guys all] from Poland? = Czy JESTEŚCIE są z Polski? We'll swing by you tomorrow! = Jutro przyjdziemy do WAS! I miss y'all! = Tęsknię za WAMI! Are you from the Polish mission? = Czy PAŃSTWO są ze Stałego Przedstawicielstwa Rzeczpospolity Polskiej? May I help you? = Czy mogę PAŃSTWU pomagać?
In English speaking countries you will notice there is a grasping towards having a plural of "You", usually not accepted as acceptable English, in Ireland you got, following grammatical logic, "Yous" , in the Southern States of American, they hav "Y'all", in cockney London they hav "You Lot". Was you surprised by the lack of a plural in English when you first came across it, people?
It was difficult when I was supposed to talk to an older person (lack of formal form) . It just seemed so rude. But the singular/plural wasn't so difficult.
Englsih of course had "thee" and "thou" > OE "thu" for the intimate singular with "ye" for the generic plural, well up until the end of Chaucer! ME (Middle English) used such, only Shakespeare was among the first in English to experiment with "you" in both singular and plural, polite AND familiar:-) Certain modern British dialects employ the former, but it's quite archaic and mostly confined to Geordie and/or North Country slang at best. Ulster Scots and certain Irish variants employ it too, I'm told (yet not Welsh English.
Are you English, Lyzko? you seem hav an incredibly intimate knowledge of English to know stuff like that? Yes, you are right there is still the archaic, "Ye", which I hav heard mostly from Irish people, maybe we English should bring it back.
The plural "you" in Polish isn't as important as in Russian or French, for example. They use their plural "you" as a polite form to address a singular individual! In that respect they tend to approach the pattern of English language. When the French say "vous êtes", they may be saying it to one person only or to more people.
It is true that I myself "internally" asociate "you" more with the singular than with the plural. Addressing an elderly person in English, I am inclined to think that I am saying "ty" rather than "wy" to them, so I am inclined to "judge" myself being a little impolite. And that is an obvious impact of my native Polish on me in which language I have the distinctive singular and the distinctive plural at my disposal. It is possible, however, that I could have avoided that association, had I previously learned to link "you" to the plural rather than to the singular form, such a form in fact being "genetically" plural in English, as it was the singular which borrowed "you" from the plural and not vice versa.
citizen67, "you" in English is the plural. We don't have a singular "you" any more (except for certain Northern English regions that cling to thee/thou, especially around Lancaster). However, since "you" is doing a double job there is an emergence of "y'all" and "you guys" to perform the plural function.
Every other European language has a singular-plural distinction here, and it's often referred to as the T-V distinction:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-V_distinction
Where Polish differs is that it uses a very formal system alongside its T-V system. Whereas French for example will use plural you ("vous") for singular you ("tu") for politeness, Polish will use Pan/Pani (Sir/Madam), as a British shop keeper would do before WW2. "How is Madam today? Did Madam have a good weekend?". A plural form of that, "Panstwo", (Ladies and Gentleman, almost), allows a group of people to be referred to politely. You'd only use plural you ("wy") for a group of friends or colleagues.
incredibly intimate knowledge of English to know stuff like that
"intimate knowledge"? I believe that many people in Poland wonder why English people are so rude with their "YOUU" towards strangers. They try to find the reason and learn.
I.e. they can find things like this: "Thy Hand, O God, has guided, Thy flock..."
What words phrases (...) would you introduce to English?
I.e. instead saying: "You was very nice for me tonight Candy-candy." you can say it in Polish manner: "Lady, she was very nice for me tonight lady Candy-candy."
Correct:
What words phrases (...) would you introduce to English?
I.e. instead saying: "You were very nice for me tonight Candy-candy." you can say it in Polish manner: "Lady, she was very nice for me tonight lady Candy-candy."
Are you from the Polish mission? = Czy PAŃSTWO są ze Stałego Przedstawicielstwa Rzeczpospolity Polskiej?
Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej. "Rzecz pospolita" from "Res publica". Or Rzeczpospolitej, but I would use it rather for the newspaper called "Rzeczpospolita":
Middle English had ye as in 'God rest ye merry gentlemen.' Why the Anglos got rid of it, who knows?! And one is a gender neutral third person sing. as in: 'One should mind one's manners.'
