CS Knowledge Base

• fous

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *ǫsъ.

• IPA^(key): [ˈvou̯s]

• Audio:

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• Hyphenation: vous

vous m inan (diminutive vousek or vousík)

1. one of threads of hair which form a beard
2. beard

   Synonym: vousy

• knír m

• “vous”, in Příruční slovník jazyka českého (in Czech), 1935–1957
• “vous”, in Slovník spisovného jazyka českého (in Czech), 1960–1971, 1989
• “vous”, in Internetová jazyková příručka (in Czech), 2008–2026

Inherited from Middle French vous, from Old French vos, vous, from Latin vōs, from Proto-Italic *wōs.

See cognates in regional languages in France: Angevin, Bourbonnais-Berrichon, Bourguignon, Champenois, Lorrain, Orléanais, and Poitevin-Saintongeais vous; Franc-Comtois vôs; Gallo vouz; Norman and Franco-Provençal vos; Picard os; Occitan vosautres (Provençal vousautes); Catalan vosaltres; Corsican voi.

Other cognates with the same usage are voi in Italian as well as вы (vy) in Russian.

• IPA^(key): /vu/, (before a vowel) /vu.z‿/

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  • Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

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  • Audio (France (Toulouse)):

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  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

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  • Audio (France (Grenoble)):

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  • Audio (France (Vosges)):

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  • Audio (France (Hérault)):

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  • Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

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  • Audio (France (Lyon)):

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  • Audio (France (Massy)):

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• Homophones: voue, vouent, voues
• Rhymes: -u

vous (second-person plural and second-person formal singular, informal singular tu, object vous, emphatic vous, possessive determiner votre)

1. the plural personal pronoun in the second person
   1. (subject pronoun) you (all)

      Toi et lui, vous êtes mes meilleurs amis. ― You and him, you are my best friends.

   2. (direct object pronoun) you (all)

      Je vous adore. ― I love you (all).

2. you, to you (indirect object pronoun)

   Je vous donnerai mon adresse. ― I will give you my address. / I will give my address to you.

3. (formal, polite) plural or singular personal pronoun in the second person

   Monsieur, je ne peux pas vous le dire ― Sir, I cannot tell you.

• The term vous is used to address more than one person or to address one person formally. It is often used, for example, when two adults meet for the first time.
• Children, youth, and students do not usually use vous with each other. Adults do not usually use vous to address young children.
• The use of vous is always considered professional and is used in office settings, schools, etc. to address a single person even when the speaker knows that person well. Thus, Avez-vous fini? ('Are you (formal) finished?') may often be heard in an office setting, while As-tu fini? ('Are you (informal) finished?') is not as common. Likewise, some people may call each other tu in some settings and vous in others; for example, lawyers who are friends with each other may call each other tu in informal settings but vous when in court, out of respect for the formal setting.
• The use of vous and tu also varies from place to place:

Quebecers tend to use informal tu more liberally than their European counterparts. They may use it, for example, among work colleagues.

In Louisiana, the use of vous as a subject pronoun is restricted. It is increasingly uncommon among succeeding generations of speakers. When it is used, it is a polite form of address that tends to be directed toward a much older person. For example, a child or young adult might use vous to address a grandparent, great-grandparent, or elderly stranger. (One exception, though, is the fixed expression s'il vous plaît (“please”), which in Louisiana never takes the informal form s'il te plaît.) When addressing more than one person, vous-autres (“y'all”) is much more common than vous.

• Furthermore, in Louisiana, vous (like nous (“we”)), may at times take third-person singular conjugations:

  vous êtes / vous est ― y'all are

  vous avez / vous a ― y'all have

• Haitian Creole: ou
• Louisiana Creole: vou

• “vous”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

vous

1. alternative form of fous

From Old French vos, vous, from Latin vōs.

vous

1. you (plural or polite)
2. yourself (second-person plural or polite reflexive pronoun)

• As in modern French, vous is either plural or polite as both a subject pronoun and a reflexive pronoun:
  • 1488, Jean Dupré, Lancelot du Lac, page 12:

    Car se vous vous mettez en ceste forest qui est grande et espesse

    For if you put yourself into this forest which is big and thick

    (The first vous is the subject pronoun, and the second is the reflexive pronoun. Both are singular, referring to Lancelot)

• French: vous
  • Haitian Creole: ou
  • Louisiana Creole: vou

From Latin vōs.

• IPA^(key): /vus/

vous

1. alternative form of vos