Source
r/Esperanto•
literallyallah

[Question/Demando] Second person plural pronoun?

Quick question, from what I know, it is normal, like in English, to use 'vi' to refer to an individual or a group, but I wondered, is it possible to say 'vij' as a second person plural pronoun, roughly translated informally as 'you guys'? If not, would 'vi homoj' be correct, or would I have to go with 'all of you' (and how is that translated? 'ĉiuj da vi'?)?

Edit: as ty_kokos pointed out, 'vij' would be hard to use in speech as it's a near (complete?) homophone of 'vi'

Posted Jun 2, 2015, 1:07 PM UTC · edited

117
vikungenPor spertado kaj lernado ne sufiĉas eterno.•

Vi means both you in singular and plural as in English. Note that since adjectives change for number in Esperanto, there is a difference between:

  • Vi estas bela (only one)

and

  • Vi estas belaj (more than one)

For y'all, you guys and similar, vi ĉiuj is used.

12
Reptilio•

This is the correct answer. Also, did you think about pronouncing "Vij"?

0
ty_kokos•

If you really want to specify that you are speaking to several people, you can say something like "vi du" or "vi ĉiuj". "Vij" is not correct and in practice it would be hard to hear the difference between "vi" and "vij".

5
neotechaEterna komencanto. Bonvolu korekti min•

I know this is nonstandard, but I use vij, myself. There are times. I use it to disambiguate when I'm writing to multiple people.

Kiel vij fartas?

I could use vi here, but it works for me. Then again, I'm fine just speaking wrong English is the situation calls for it.

4
vonlowe•

I thought it was like English, and you just work it out from context, as I speak English first, translation wouldn't really affect English anyway.

1
Uskoton•

I'm no expert but 'you guys' might be a bit too colloquial roo translate directly? I'd be interested to know for sure though.

0
KrunchyKale•

well, like "sie/ihr" in german

1