"Thee" is an archaic English object pronoun used between a person of higher class and one of lower class, between an older and younger person, or between two people of the same status and age who are on good terms with each other. It is equivalent to French “you” and harks back to a time when English, like French and German, had more than one set of pronouns, with one being formal and the other informal. In modern English, the old formal “you” is both the subject and the object pronoun. With thee/thou, the “thou” form is used when the person addressed is the subject of a sentence—“thou art a villain”—whereas “thee” is used for the object, such as “I will not come with thee.” In some texts we can see “thee” being used as an insult towards a person, such as a king, who should warrant a formal pronoun.
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