I've found a pronoun longer than Spanish "vosotros"

Guest   Wed Jun 17, 2009 3:41 pm GMT
Romanian dumneavoastră when used for the second-person singular formal takes plural verbs but singular adjectives, similar to French vous. It is used roughly in the same manner as in Continental French and shows no signs of disappearing. It is also used as a more formal voi. It originates from domnia voastră - your lordship. As it happens with all subjective pronouns dumneavoastră is many times omitted from sentences, its use being implied by verbs in the second person plural form.

The form dumneata (originating from domnia ta - thy lordship) is less distant than dumneavoastră and somewhat midway between tu and dumneavoastră. The verb is conjugated, as for tu, in the second person singular form. Older people towards younger people and peers favor Dumneata. Its use is gradually declining. An even more colloquial form of dumneata is mata.

Furthermore, there is an even more familiar term than "tu" used in some regions of Romania – matale. It is used only with immediate family members, and is spelled and pronounced the same in all cases, similar to "dumneavoastră." It is conjugated in the second-person singular, like "tu."
384782   Wed Jun 17, 2009 4:24 pm GMT
Wow. I'm glad English dispensed with all distinctions of "you". It adds such needless complexity. It also makes English a much more democratic language.
himself   Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:28 pm GMT
Would "yourselves" and "themselves" count as long pronouns, or are these words not "pronoun-y" enough?
10   Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:32 pm GMT
What about "whomsoever"
Kaeops   Wed Jun 17, 2009 5:42 pm GMT
I'm glad English dispensed with all distinctions of "you
//
Because you is both singular and plural, various English dialects have attempted to revive the distinction between a singular and plural you to avoid confusion between the two uses. This is typically done by adding a new plural form; examples of new plurals sometimes seen and heard are y'all, or you-all (primarily in the southern United States and African American Vernacular English), you guys (in the U.S., particularly in Midwest, Northeast, and West Coast, in Canada, and in Australia), you lot (in the UK), youse guys (in the U.S., particularly in New York City region, Philadelphia, Michigan's Upper Peninsula and rural Canada; also spelt without the E), and you-uns/yinz (Western Pennsylvania, The Appalachians). English spoken in Ireland, known as Hiberno-English, sometimes uses the word ye as the plural form, or yous (also used in Australia, however not the form ye). Although these plurals are useful in daily speech, they are generally not found in Standard English. Among them, you guys is considered most neutral in the U.S.[1] It is the most common plural form of you in the U.S. except in the dialects with y'all, and has been used even in the White House.
Leasnam   Thu Jun 18, 2009 12:48 pm GMT
"you guys" just sounds so vernacualr and informal, like something you'd hear Potsie say to Fonzie and Ralph Malph at Arnold's drive-in

I'd hardly term it as a stand-in for a true, official plural form of you

It just means the same as "you + guys"
spoogy   Fri Jun 19, 2009 1:17 pm GMT
Hebrew's word for "We" is also long in comparison to other languges: A-nach-noo (אנחנו).
shortie   Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:38 pm GMT
<<Hebrew's word for "We" is also long in comparison to other languges: A-nach-noo (אנחנו). >>

It looks like it's not long when written in Hebrew, though.
user   Fri Jun 19, 2009 3:57 pm GMT
"Watashitachi" is a Japanese word for "we".
Peter Tosh   Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:03 pm GMT
Hoe about "I&I"?
It's not the longest but it has to be the weirdest.
spoogy   Fri Jun 19, 2009 4:35 pm GMT
<<It looks like it's not long when written in Hebrew, though>>

That's because Hebrew's vowels "A" and "E" are not written. It's like the word "duck", for instance, would be written "dck" or "bed" like "bd". In some cases "I", "O", "U" aren't written either. however, there are rules for that.
I think that the same happens in Arabic, but I'm not sure about it.
Almond Bread   Sun Jun 21, 2009 5:00 am GMT
Yeah, but watashitachi (or watasitati, if you want to squeeze every last letter out of the romanization) isn't really a pronoun -- you can do things like attach adjectives or demonstratives or both to it. There's little if anything to differentiate it grammatically from other nouns.

Also it's a compound: watashi + -tachi, the latter also being affixable to, e.g., proper names (Tarou-tachi == "Tarou and company", "Tarou and the rest"). I have no idea if this matters but hey!
Guest   Tue Jun 23, 2009 1:41 pm GMT
Vosotros means Vuestra Merced but I wonder if Vuestra Merced was used ever as a formal pronoun or vosotros replaced it since the begining. How come initial V was gone?.
blepman   Tue Jun 30, 2009 10:46 pm GMT
^^^ actually the word "usted" is said to be derived from "vuestra merced", whereas "vosotros" is derived from "vos + otros".
pronombres   Tue Jun 30, 2009 11:01 pm GMT
usted>vusted>vuestra merced

vosotros>vos+otros; no tiene nada que ver con las mercedes