tu

See also: TU, ես, and Appendix:Variations of "tu"

Languages (106)

English

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Afar • Ainu • Akan • Albanian • Aromanian • Ashkun • Asturian • Atong (India) • Baltic Romani • Bambara • Batuley • Bislama • Borôro • Breton • Bukhari • Catalan • Chavacano • Chilcotin • Chipewyan • Coatecas Altas Zapotec • Cornish • Czech • Drung • Ewe • Fala • Fanagalo • Fijian • French • Friulian • Galician • Gaulish • Gende • German • Iban • Ido • Ili'uun • Interlingua • Italian • Jamaican Creole • Japanese • Kalasha • Kalo Finnish Romani • Kashubian • Khumi Chin • Ladino • Latgalian • Latin • Latvian • Lithuanian • Lower Sorbian • Lower Tanana • Malay • Mandarin • Mauritian Creole • Mezquital Otomi • Middle English • Mirandese • Mizo • Neapolitan • Nigerian Pidgin • North Frisian • Northern Kurdish • Norwegian Nynorsk • Occitan • Old Czech • Old English • Old Galician-Portuguese • Old Irish • Old Polish • Old Swedish • Palula • Polish • Portuguese • Réunion Creole French • Romani • Romanian • Sassarese • Savi • Scottish Gaelic • Serbo-Croatian • Sicilian • Silesian • Sinte Romani • Slovene • South Slavey • Spanish • Sranan Tongo • Sudovian • Swahili • Swedish • Tanacross • Tày • Tejalapan Zapotec • Timbe • Tocharian A • Tok Pisin • Tonga (Zambia) • Tsuut'ina • Upper Kuskokwim • Vietnamese • Volapük • Welsh • Welsh Romani • White Hmong • Yale

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Page categories

English

Particle

tu

1. Pronunciation spelling of to, representing African-American Vernacular English.

Afar

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/ [ˈtʊ]
• Hyphenation: tu

Noun

tú f

1. thing

Declension

Declension of tú
absolutive	tú
predicative	tú
subjective	tú
genitive	tú
Postpositioned forms l-case túl k-case túk t-case tút h-case túh

Synonyms

• ím

References

• E. M. Parker; R. J. Hayward (1985), “tu”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015), L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[5], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)

Ainu

Ainu cardinal numbers

<  1	2	3  >
Cardinal : tu     Ordinal : tu ikinne

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tú/
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: tu

Numeral

tu (Kana spelling トゥ)

1. two

Akan

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Verb

tu (transitive past tuu, intransitive past tuiɛ, negative ntu, reduplication tutu)

1. to fly, soar
2. to uproot, pluck
3. to dig
4. to gouge
5. A highly productive light verb that derives verbs from nouns and adjectives.

Derived terms

• tu adeɛ so
• tu ammirika
• tu aseɛ
• tu bata
• tu fa
• tu fo
• tu fra (“to rummage”)
• tu funu
• tu gu so boro
• tu ho (“to bluff”)
• tu kɔ soro
• tu mpɔn
• tu so sa (“to battle”)

References

• LearnAkan (2018–present), “fly”, in LearnAkanDictionary.com (overall work in English)
• LearnAkan (2018–present), “gouge”, in LearnAkanDictionary.com (overall work in English)

Albanian

Etymology 1

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/
• (Gheg) IPA^(key): [ˈtuː]
• Rhymes: -u

Determiner

e tu

1. plural of yt (“thy”)

   djemtë e tu ― thy children

Pronoun

të tu m pl (definite të tutë)

1. thy people (family, friends, people with a strong link to thee)

See also

Albanian possessives

adjectives
possessor				possessee
case	no.	person		m sg.	f sg.	m pl.	f pl.
nominative	sg.	1st		im	ime	e mi	e mia
		2nd		yt	jote / jot	e tu	e tua
		3rd	m	i tij	e tij	e tij	e tija
			f	i saj	e saj	e saj	e saja
	pl.	1st		ynë	jonë	tanë	tona
		2nd		juaj		tuaj	tuaja
		3rd		i tyre	e tyre	e tyre
	3rd reflexive			i vet	e vet	e vet	e veta
accusative	sg.	1st		tim	time	e mi	e mia
		2nd		tënd / tët	tënde / tët	e tu	e tua
		3rd	m	e tij		e tij	e tija
			f	e saj		e saj	e saja
	pl.	1st		tonë		tanë	tona
		2nd		tuaj		tuaj	tuaja
		3rd		e tyre
	3rd reflexive			e vet		e vet	e veta
dative/ ablative	sg.	1st		tim	sime	të mi	të mia
		2nd		tënd / tyt	sate / sat	të tu	të tua
		3rd	m	të tij	së tij	të tij	të tija
			f	të saj	së saj	të saj	të saja
	pl.	1st		tonë	sonë	tanë	tona
		2nd		tuaj	suaj	tuaj	tuaja
		3rd		të tyre	së tyre	të tyre
	3rd reflexive			të vet	së vet	të vet	të veta
pronouns
possessor				possessee
case	no.	person		m sg.	f sg.	m pl.	f pl.
nominative	sg.	1st		imi	imja	të mitë	të miat
		2nd		yti	jotja	të tutë	të tuat
		3rd	m	i tiji	e tija	të tijtë	të tijat
			f	i saji	e saja	të sajtë	të sajat
	pl.	1st		yni	jona	tanët	tonat
		2nd		juaji	juaja	tuajt	tuajat
		3rd		i tyri	e tyrja	të tyret
	3rd reflexive			i veti	e veta	të vetët	të vetat
accusative	sg.	1st		timin	timen	të mitë	të miat
		2nd		tëndin	tënden	të tutë	të tuat
		3rd	m	të tijin	të tijën	të tijtë	të tijat
			f	të sajin	të sajën	të sajtë	të sajat
	pl.	1st		tonin	tonën	tanët	tonat
		2nd		tuajin	tuajën	tuajt	tuajat
		3rd		të tyrin	të tyren	të tyret
	3rd reflexive			të vetin	të vetën	të vetët	të vetat
dative/ ablative	sg.	1st		timit	simes	të mive	të miave
		2nd		tëndit	sates	të tuve	të tuave
		3rd	m	të tijit	të tijës	së tijve	të tijave
			f	të sajit	të sajës	të sajve	të sajave
	pl.	1st		tonit	sonës	tanëve	tonave
		2nd		tuajit	suajës	tuajve	tuajave
		3rd		të tyrit	të tyres	të tyreve
	3rd reflexive			të vetit	së vetës	të vetëve	të vetave

References

• FMGJSH (2026), “tu”
• FGJSSH (1980), page 2035ab: “tu”
• Giordano (1963), page 506b: “tú”
• Mann (1948), page 528a: “tu”
• Leotti (1937), page 1507b: “tu”
• Weigand (1914), page 90b: “tū”
• Xylander (1835), page 266b: “τού”

Etymology 2

Alternative forms

• tuk — prevocalic

Pronunciation

• (Gheg) IPA^(key): [tu]

Preposition

tu (dialectal)

1. alternative form of te and tek (“by, at”)
   • Mann (1948), page 528a:

     tu kush? ― at whose [house]? with whom?

2. indicates possession
   • Mann (1948), page 528a:

     tu aj âsht ― he has (literally, “it is by him”)

     tu ju ka ― you have (literally, “there is by you”)

     tuk un nuk ka ― I have not (literally, “there is not by me”)

References

• Elezi (2006), page 1498a: “tu”
• Mann (1948), page 528a: “tu”
• Bashkimi (1908), page 468a: “tu”
• Weigand (1914), page 90b: “tu, tuk”
• Kristoforidhi (1904), page 426: “του”
• Jungg (1895), page 161b: “tu”, “tuk”

Etymology 3

Preposition

tu (dialectal)

1. alternative form of ku (“where”)
   • 1635, Frang Bardhi, Dictionarium Latino Epiroticum, Rome: Propaganda Fide, page 85:

     patria — ɛeu tu aste leem Nieryc

     [dheu tu ashtë lēm ni̯erīu]

     patria: place where the man is born

   • 1937, “Rrëmbimi i së shoqes së Mujit”, in Visaret e Kombit, volume 2, Tirana: Nikaj, page 167, line 314:

     Du m' u pré në fushë t' mejdanit, // Tu përpiqen shtatë krajlnít e mbreti

     I want to fight in te battle field, where the seven kingdoms and the Sultan struggle [i.e. on the European border of the Ottoman Empire]

2. as far as
   • Elezi (2006), page 1498a:

     tu di unë ― as far as I know

     tu dimë na ― as far as we know

References

• Elezi (2006), page 1498a: “tu”
• Mann (1948), page 528a: “tu”

Etymology 4

Adverb

tu (dialectal)

1. alternative form of duke, tue, and tui
   • Bashkimi (1908), page 468a:

     tu kêne [tu kenë] ― being

     tu bâa [tu bâ̄] ― doing

References

• Mann (1948), page 528a: “tu”
• Bashkimi (1908), page 468a: “tu, tui”

Etymology 5

Pronunciation

• (Gheg) IPA^(key): [ˈtũː]

Noun

tû m (plural tunj, definite tuni, definite plural tunjtë) (dialectal, Gheg)

1. alternative form of tun

References

• Svane (1992), page 79: “tun” → “tû”
• Gazulli (1942), page 434: “tû-ni”
• Mann (1948), page 528a: “tû, ni”
• Weigand (1914), page 90b: “tû-na (-ni)”
• Bashkimi (1908), page 470b: “tûu, tûni”, page 468b: “tûn, i”
• Kristoforidhi (1904), page 426: “τοῡ͂ν-ι” → “τοῡ͂τ”
• Jungg (1895), page 163a: “tuu, tuni”

Etymology 6

Adverb

tu (dialectal, Frascineto)

1. alternative form of këtu (“here”)

References

• Giordano (1963), page 506b: “tù”

Etymology 7

Unknown.

Noun

tu

1. pant leg

Aromanian

Etymology 1

From Latin tū, from Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

Related terms

• tini/tine
• ti

See also

Aromanian personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	tonic		clitic
				accusative	dative	accusative	dative
singular
	1st		iou	mini	mie	mi	nji
	2nd		tu	tini	tsãie	ti	tsã
	3rd	m	el / nãs	el	lui	ãl	ãlj
		f	ea / nãsã	ea	ljei	u
plural
	1st		noi	noi	noauã	nã
	2nd		voi	voi	voauã	vã
	3rd	m	elj / nãsh	elj	lor	ãlj	lã
		f	eali / nãsi	eali		li

Etymology 2

Compare tru.

Preposition

tu

1. in
2. into

Synonyms

• tru, ãn

Ashkun

Etymology

From Proto-Nuristani, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *tuHám, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

tu (Sanu)

1. you (singular)

Asturian

Etymology

From Latin tū.

Pronoun

tu

1. (informal) you (singular)

Atong (India)

Etymology

From English two.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: tu

Numeral

tu (Bengali script তু)

1. two

Synonyms

• ni
• rongni
• do

References

• van Breugel, Seino. 2015. Atong-English dictionary, second edition. Available online: https://www.academia.edu/487044/Atong_English_Dictionary. Stated in Appendix 2.

Baltic Romani

Pronoun

tu (second person singular, nominative case)

1. (Litovska) you

Declension

Litovska/Lithuanian Romani personal pronouns

		singular				plural			reflexive
		1st person	2nd person	3rd person		1st person	2nd person	3rd person
				m	f
Nominative		mē	tu	jou	joj	amē	tumē	jonē	-
Accusative/ Independent Oblique		man	tut	lēs	la	amēn	tumēn	lēn	pes
Dative		mange	tuke	lēske	lake	amēnge	tumēnge	lēnge	pēske
Ablative1		mandyr	tutyr	lēstyr	latyr	amēndyr	tumēndyr	lēndyr	pēstyr
Genitive	m	miro	tyro	lēskiro	lakiro	amaro	tumaro	lēngiro	pēskiro
	f	miri	tyri	lēskiri	lakiri	amari	tumari	lēngiri	pēskiri
	pl	mirē	tyrē	lēskirē	lakirē	amarē	tumarē	lēngirē	pēskirē
Locative		mandē	tutē	lēstē	latē	amēndē	tumēndē	lēndē	pēstē
Instrumental		mansa	tusa	lēsa	lasa	amēnca	tumēnca	lēnsa	pēsa
Enclitic Reflexive		man	pe			amēn	pe		-

¹ The ablative is in decline in Lithuanian Romani.

Bambara

Noun

tu

1. forest; thicket

Verb

tu

1. to spit (out)

Batuley

Etymology

Borrowed from Indonesian tua.

Adjective

tu

1. old

References

• Daigle (2015). Cited in: "Batuley" in Greenhill, S.J., Blust, R., & Gray, R.D. (2008). The Austronesian Basic Vocabulary Database: From Bioinformatics to Lexomics. Evolutionary Bioinformatics, 4:271–283.

Bislama

Bislama numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: tu

Etymology 1

From English two.

Numeral

tu

1. two

Etymology 2

From English too.

Adverb

tu

1. too

Borôro

Verb

tu

1. to go

Breton

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tʉβ, from Proto-Celtic *toibos, whence also Old Irish tóeb and Irish taobh. Cognate with Welsh tu, Cornish tu.

Noun

tu m

1. side

Bukhari

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Iranian *tuHám

Middle Persian 𐭫𐭪 (lk)

Classical Persian تُو (tū)

Tajik ту (tu)

Bukhari tu

Inherited from Tajik ту (tu).

Noun

tu (Cyrillic spelling ту)

1. you (singular)

References

• Kimyagarov, Amnun; Kimyagarova, Zoya (2010), Short English - Russian - Bukharian Jewish Dictionary, New York: International Academy for Development Technologies, →ISBN, page 47

Catalan

Etymology

From Old Catalan tu, from Latin tū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern, Balearic, Central, Valencia, Northwestern) [ˈtu]

• Audio (Catalonia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular); thou
2. one (singular, impersonal)

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

number	person		nominative	proclitic		enclitic		possessive
				accusative	dative	accusative	dative
singular	1st	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’		-me, ’m		meu
		majestic1	nós	ens		-nos, ’ns		nostre
	2nd	standard	tu	et, t’		-te, ’t		teu
		formal1	vós	us		-vos, -us		vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	li	-lo, ’l	-li	seu
	3rd	m	ell	el, l’	li	-lo, ’l	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	li	-la	-li	seu
		n	―	ho	li	-ho	-li	seu
plural
	1st		nosaltres	ens		-nos, ’ns		nostre
	2nd	standard	vosaltres	us		-vos, -us		vostre
		formal2	vostès	els		-los, ’ls		seu
	3rd	m	ells	els		-los, ’ls		seu
		f	elles	les	els	-les	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd reflexive			si	es, s’		-se, ’s		seu
adverbial	ablative/genitive		―	en, n’	―	-ne, ’n	―
	locative			hi		-hi

¹ Behaves grammatically as plural.   ² Behaves grammatically as third person.
³ Only as object of a preposition.   ⁴ Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

See also

• vostè, vós (plural or polite)
• vosaltres (plural)

References

• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “tu”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Chavacano

Etymology 1

Inherited from Spanish tú (“you”).

Pronoun

tu

1. (Caviteño, Cotabateño, Zamboangueño) you (singular)

See also

Chavacano personal pronouns

	person	subject	object	possessive
singular	first	yo	conmigo	de mio mio
	second	tu usted vos	contigo con usted con vos	de tuyo de usted de vos tuyo
	third	ele	con ele	de suyo suyo
plural	first	nosotros nisos mihotro motro	con nosotros	de nosotros
	first inclusive	kita	kanaton konaton	de aton
	first exclusive	kame	kanamon konamon	de amon
	second	kamo ustedes vosotros	kaninyo con ustedes	de inyo de ustedes de vosotros
	third	sila ellos esos	kanila con ellos	de ila

Etymology 2

Inherited from Spanish tu (“your”).

Adjective

tu

1. (formal, before a noun, singular) your

   Synonym: de tuyo

Chilcotin

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ.

Noun

tu

1. water

References

• Eung-Do Cook (2013), A Tsilhqút'ín Grammar

Chipewyan

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ; cognate with Hän chuu, Ahtna tuu, Deg Xinag te, Navajo tó, Gwich'in chųų, etc.

Noun

tu

1. water

References

• Eung-Do Cook (2004), A grammar of Dëne Sųłiné (Chipewyan), page 350

Coatecas Altas Zapotec

Numeral

tu

1. one

References

• SIL Zapotec Basic Vocabulary, page 52

Cornish

Etymology 1

From Middle Cornish tu, from Proto-Brythonic *tʉβ, from Proto-Celtic *toibos. Cognate with Breton and Welsh tu, Irish and Scottish Gaelic taobh, and Manx çheu.

Noun

tu m (plural tuyow)

1. side

   Synonyms: amal, parth, tenewen

2. direction, bearing

Derived terms

• an tu aral (“the other side”)
• heptu (“neutral”)
• neb tu (“somewhere”)
• tu a-ves (“exterior”)
• tu dall (“blind side”)
• untu (“one-sided”)
• war-tu (“towards”)

Mutation

Mutation of tu

radical	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed
tu	du	thu	unchanged	unchanged

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

tu

1. hard mutation of du
2. mixed mutation of du

Mutation

Mutation of du

radical	soft	aspirate	hard	mixed
du	dhu	unchanged	tu	tu

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Cornish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtu]

• Audio:

  (file)

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Proto-Slavic *tu

Old Czech tu

Czech tu

Inherited from Old Czech tu, from Proto-Slavic *tu.

Adverb

tu

1. (informal or dialectal) here

   Synonyms: zde, tady

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Pronoun

tu

1. feminine accusative singular of ten

Further reading

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

Drung

Etymology

From Proto-Sino-Tibetan *s-tawŋ.

Numeral

Drung numbers ^(edit)

[a], [b] ←  1	←  100	1,000
Cardinal: tu

tu

1. thousand

References

• Ross Perlin (2019), A Grammar of Trung‎^[6], Santa Barbara: University of California

Ewe

Noun

tu (plural tuwo)

1. gun

Verb

tu

1. to build
2. to close
3. to crush
4. to grind
5. to meet
6. to untie

Fala

Determiner

tu f sg

1. (Lagarteiru) apocopic form of túa (“your”)

Usage notes

• Used in Lagarteiru before a feminine singular noun as part of a noun phrase.

See also

Fala possessive determiners and pronouns

			possessee
			singular		plural
			masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
possessor	first person	singular	mei	miña	meis	miñas
		plural	nosu	nosa	nosus	nosas
	second person	singular	tei	túa, tu1	teis	túas, tus1
		plural	vosu	vosa	vosus	vosas
	third person		sei	súa, su1	seis	súas, sus1

¹ Determiner forms used in Lagarteiru before a noun.

References

• Valeš, Miroslav (2021), Diccionariu de A Fala: lagarteiru, mañegu, valverdeñu (web), 2nd edition, Minde, Portugal: CIDLeS, published 2022, →ISBN, page 266

Fanagalo

Etymology

Borrowed from English two.

Numeral

tu

1. two

Fijian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Verb

tu

1. to stand (to be upright on feet)

   Synonym: wavu

   Tu! Tu cake!

   Stand! Stand up!

   Era tu voli ira na gone.

   The children are standing around.

2. to be, to exist (indicating a state that has existed for a while)

   E lako tu.

   He/she is gone (has been gone).

   E vinaka tu na waqa.

   The boat is (still) in good condition.

   evica na vosa ka sega ni tu eliu

   some words that did not exist before

3. to have, to possess

   Sa tu vei au e dua.

   I have one.

   tu ga e lomana

   have thoughts kept to oneself

4. (in exclamations) to arrive, to appear

   A tu!

   There he/she/it is!

   Sa ra tu na Turaga!

   The chief has arrived!

Usage notes

tu indicates an existing state or condition that has been that way for some time, contrasting with toka (which indicates a changed condition) and tiko (which refers only to the present).

Derived terms

• Matanitu Tu Vakawawa (“Interim Government”)
• tu cake (“to stand up”)
• tu ga e lomana (“to keep thoughts to oneself”)
• tu lo (“to attack under cover of darkness”)
• tu vakai koya (“independent”)
• tu vakarau (“be prepared, to stand ready”)
• tu vakatikitiki (“stand aside”)
• Tu-cake-tale (“Resurrection (Christianity)”)
• tudonu (“adult, mature”)
• veituyaki (“scattered here and there”)

See also

• tiko (“to be (present)”)
• toka (“to be (changed state)”)

References

• Gatty, Ronald (2009), “tu”, in Fijian–English Dictionary‎^[7], Suva, Fiji: Ronald Gatty, →ISBN, pages 275–6

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ty/, [t͡ʃy]

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• (Quebec) IPA^(key): [t͡sy], [t͡sʏ]
• (Louisiana) IPA^(key): [ti], [t͡ʃy]

• Audio (Switzerland (Valais)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Toulouse)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Grenoble)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Vosges)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Hérault)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Saint-Étienne)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

• Audio (France (Massy)):

  (file)

• Homophones: tue, tues, tuent, tus, tut, tût
• Rhymes: -y

Etymology 1

From Old French tu, from Latin tū, from Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Cognates with the exact same usage are the Italian tu, as well as du in German or ты in Russian.

Pronoun

tu (second person informal singular, plural vous, object te, emphatic toi, possessive determiner ton)

1. you (singular)

Usage notes

• When more pronouns are included in the same sentence, it is considered somewhat impolite to say the pronoun moi first: etiquette says it must be the last one, and toi must be said after a third person:
  • Rose, toi et moi irons là-bas., “Rose, you and I will go there.”
• "Tu" is used to address one person in an informal situation. Older people tend to exclusively use it with familiar people, and do not use it with unfamiliar adults unless invited to; but younger people use this pronoun much more, using it together in any informal situation, even if they don't know each other. Using "vous" in this context will be seen as old-fashioned and distant.
• "Tu" is not typically used in formal settings such as business meetings and never in court, regardless of the relationship between the speaker and the listener.
• Using "vous" when "tu" would be more appropriate will come across as rigid and awkward; however, using "tu" when "vous" would be more appropriate could come over as deliberate disrespect. For this reason, as a rule of thumb, it is advised to use "vous" if in doubt, as it is "all-encompassing".
• Children are always addressed using "tu" – vous would come over as comical. In elementary, middle, and high schools, teachers address students using "tu", but students address teachers using vous*. In higher education usage of vous becomes more common in both directions.
• In formal written communication to any adult, use vous. Not doing so may come over as unprofessional at best, deliberately disrespectful at worst.
• However, depending on the region or type of school, other norms may be more used in place. For example, in Quebec (not the rest of Canada), it is more common for students to use "tu" with their teachers.

Inflection

• Nominative: tu
• Emphatic: toi
• Oblique: te
• t' (proclitic form, colloquial)

Derived terms

• tutoyer

Related terms

• vous (plural form and polite singular form)

French personal pronouns

number	person	gender	nominative (subject)	accusative (direct complement)	dative (indirect complement)	locative (at)	genitive (of)	disjunctive (tonic)1	emphatic reflexive
singular	first	—	je, j’	me, m’		—	—	moi	moi-même
	second	—	tu	te, t’		—	—	toi	toi-même
	third	masculine	il2	le, l’	lui	y	en	lui	lui-même
		feminine	elle	la, l’				elle	elle-même
		indeterminate	on3, l’on (formal), ce4, c’, ça	—	—	—	—	—	—
		reflexive	—	se, s’5		—	—	soi	soi-même
plural	first	—	nous	nous		—	—	nous	nous-mêmes
	second6	—	vous	vous		—	—	vous	vous-mêmes, vous-même6
	third	masculine	ils7	les	leur	y	en	eux7	eux-mêmes7
		feminine	elles					elles	elles-mêmes

¹ The disjunctive (tonic) forms are also used after an explicit preposition (de/d’, à, pour, chez, dans, vers, sur, sous, ...), instead the accusative, dative, genitive, locative, or reflexive forms, where a preposition is implied.
² Il is also used as an impersonal nominative-only pronoun.
³ On can also function as a first person plural (although agreeing with third person singular verb forms).
⁴ The nominal indeterminate form ce (demonstrative) can also be used with the auxiliary verb être as a plural, instead of the proximal or distal gendered forms.
⁵ The reflexive third person singular forms (se or s’) for accusative or dative are also used as third person plural reflexive.
⁶ Vous is also used as the polite singular form, in which case the plural disjunctive tonic vous-mêmes becomes singular vous-même.
⁷ Ils, eux and eux-mêmes are also used when a group has a mixture of masculine and feminine members.

Etymology 2

Participle

tu (feminine tue, masculine plural tus, feminine plural tues)

1. past participle of taire

Etymology 3

From t-il.

Particle

tu

2. (Quebec, informal) question marker

   C'est-tu possible ? ― Is it possible?

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• ut

Friulian

Etymology

From Latin tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

Pronoun

tu

1. you

See also

Friulian personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		jo	nô
2nd person	familiar	tu	vô
	polite	lui, jê	lôr
3rd person	m	lui,	lôr
	f	jê	lôr

Galician

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *túh₂

Proto-Italic *tū

Latin tū

Old Galician-Portuguese tu

Galician tu

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/ [ˈt̪u]
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: tu

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

Further reading

• “tu”, in Dicionário Estraviz de galego (in Galician), 2014–2026

Gaulish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

tū (plural suīs)

1. you (singular); thou

Inflection

• Nominative: tū
• Accusative: ti/te
• Dative: toi

References

• Václav Blažek (2008), “Gaulish Language”, in Sborník prací filozofické fakulty brněnské univerzity / Studia minora facultatis philosophicae universitatis brunensis‎^[8], archived from the original on 18 June 2022, page 59

Gende

Etymology

From Proto-Trans-New Guinea *tu (“axe”). Cognate with Fore tu’ (“axe”).

Noun

tu

1. axe

References

• Scott, Graham (1978), the Fore language of Papua New Guinea (Pacific Linguistics, Series B, 47.), Canberra: The Australian National University, →DOI, page 175

German

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuː/

• Audio (Germany (Berlin)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uː

Verb

tu

1. singular imperative of tun

Iban

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuʔ/
• Rhymes: -tu

Determiner

tu

1. this (what is being indicated)

Pronoun

tu

1. this

See also

• hari tu

Ido

Etymology

Borrowed from English thou, French tu, German du, Italian tu, Spanish tú, Russian ты (ty), all ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ with +‎ -u.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Pronoun

tu (second person singular)

1. (informal, familiar) you (singular), thou

   Synonym: (formal) vu

Derived terms

• tua
• tuo

See also

Personal pronouns in Ido

		singular			plural
		nominative	possessive		nominative	possessive
			singular	plural		singular	plural
first person		me	mea	mei	ni	nia	nii
second person	formal	vu	vua	vui	vi	via	vii
	familiar	tu	tua	tui
third person	masculine	ilu, il	ilua	ilui	ili	ilia	ilii
	feminine	elu, el	elua	elui	eli	elia	elii
	neuter	olu, ol	olua	olui	oli	olia	olii
	common	lu	lua	lui	li	lia	lii
	reflexive	su	sua	sui	su	sua	sui
indefinite		onu, on	onua	onui	onu, on	onua	onui

• The possessive plurals are seldom used.
• The shortened forms are preferred.
• The pangendered forms are preferred to the gendered or neuter forms in most scenarios.

Ili'uun

Noun

tu

1. star

References

• Bryan D. Hinton, The languages of Wetar: recent survey results and word lists with notes on Tugun grammar (2000)

Interlingua

Etymology

From Latin and common Romance tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Pronoun

tu (second person singular)

1. you (singular); thou

Inflection

subject	tu
object	te
reflexive	te
possessive	tu, tue

Determiner

tu

1. (possessive) your

Italian

Etymology

Inherited from Latin tū, from Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/^*

  • Audio:

    (file)

• (most parts of Latium) IPA^(key): /ˈtu/^°
• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: tù

Pronoun

tu (second person singular)

1. you (singular); thou

   Synonym: (colloquial and regional) te

Usage notes

• With Italian being a pro-drop language, subject pronouns are mostly omitted, both in the written and spoken language, as the inflected verb is conjugated by person. An example would be: Mangi una mela, which is much more common than Tu mangi una mela, where the subject can be inferred from the inflected form mangi ; similarly È carina instead of Lei è carina. The explicit usage of personal pronouns may sound redundant to a native speaker, except when it is used in order to emphasize the subject. (Tu mangi una mela could be interpreted as You are eating an apple and I am not)..
• The second-person pronoun in particular can sound confidential and, in some cases, even impolite.

See also

Italian personal pronouns

			nominative		atonic (clitic)11						tonic12
					accusative / dative-reflexive	accusative	dative		locative	partitive	prepositional-reflexive	oblique
singular
	first		io		mi, m', -mi, me9				―		―	me
	second		tu		ti, t', -ti, te9							te
	second formal / polite5		Lei, Ella8		―	La, -La, L'	Le, -Le					Lei
	third	m	lui, egli,8 ello,8 elli,3, 8 esso8		si,6 s', -si, se,9 ci13	lo, l', -lo, il4	glie9	gli, -gli, il4	ci, c', vi,1 v'1	ne, n'	sé	lui, esso8
		f	lei, ella,8 essa8			la, l', -la		le, -le, gli,2 -gli2				lei, essa8
plural
	first		noi		ci, c', -ci, ce,9 ne,4 n'4				―		―	noi
	second		voi, Voi7		vi, Vi,7 v', V',7 -vi, -Vi,7 ve9							voi, Voi7
	second formal / polite5		Loro		―	Le, -Le	Loro10					Loro
	third	m	loro	elli,3, 8 ellino,4, 8 eglino,4, 8 essi8	si, s', -si, se9	li, -li	loro,10 gli,2 -gli,2 glie9		ci, c', vi,1 v'1	ne, n'	sé	loro	essi8
		f		elle,3, 8 elleno,4, 8 esse8		le, -le							elle,8 esse8

¹ Formal.
² Informal.
³ Archaic.
⁴ Obsolete or literary.
⁵ Grammatically third person forms used semantically in the second person as a formal or polite way of addressing someone (with the first letter frequently capitalised as a sign of respect, and to distinguish them from third person subjects). Unlike the singular forms, the plural forms are mostly antiquated terms of formal address in the modern language, and second person plural pronouns are almost always used instead.
⁶ Also used as indefinite pronoun meaning “one”, and to form the passive.
⁷ Formal (capitalisation optional); in many regions, can refer to just one person (compare with French vous).
⁸ Traditional grammars still indicate the forms egli (animate), ello / ella (animate), esso / essa and their plurals as the nominative forms of the third person pronouns; outside of very formal or archaizing contexts, all such forms have been replaced by the obliques lui, lei, loro.
⁹ Forms used when followed by a third-person direct object proclitic (lo, la, li, le, or ne).
¹⁰ Used after verbs.
¹¹ Unstressed forms, stand alone forms are found proclitically (except dative loro / Loro), others enclitically (-mi, -ti, etc.).
¹² Disjunctive, emphatic oblique forms used as direct objects placed after verbs (or before them, chiefly in literary Italian), in exclamations, along prepositions (prepositional) and some adverbs (come, quanto, etc.); also used with a to create alternative emphatic dative forms.
¹³ Only in "ci si", replaces indefinite si (“one”) before reflexive si (“oneself”).

Jamaican Creole

Etymology

Derived from English to.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Preposition

tu

1. to
   • 2012, Di Jamiekan Nyuu Testiment, Edinburgh: DJB, published 2012, →ISBN, 3 Jan 1:1:

     Da leta ya a kom fram mi, di elda — tu mi speshal fren, Gaiyos. Mi fren, mi riili riili lov yu.

     This letter comes from the elder to Gaius, my dear friend, whom I love in the truth.

Further reading

• tu at majstro.com

Japanese

Romanization

tu

1. The katakana syllable トゥ (tu) in Hepburn romanization.

Kalasha

Pronoun

tu

1. you (2nd-person personal pronoun)

See also

Kalasha personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		a / آ	ábi / آبی
2nd person		tu / تُو	ábi / آبی
3rd person	near	ía / اِیا	émi / ایمی
	far	ása / آسا	éḷi / ایࣇی
	absent	se / سے	te / تے

Kalo Finnish Romani

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

References

• “tu” in Finnish Romani-English Dictionary, ROMLEX – the Romani Lexicon Project, 2000.

Kashubian

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: tu

Adverb

tu (not comparable)

1. here (at this place)

   Synonym: tuwò

   Coordinate term: tam

Further reading

• Stefan Ramułt (1893), “tu”, in Słownik języka pomorskiego czyli kaszubskiego (in Kashubian), page 216
• Eùgeniusz Gòłąbk (2011), “tu”, in Słownik Polsko-Kaszubski / Słowôrz Pòlskò-Kaszëbsczi‎^[9]
• “tu”, in Internetowi Słowôrz Kaszëbsczégò Jãzëka [Internet Dictionary of the Kashubian Language], Fundacja Kaszuby, 2022

Khumi Chin

Etymology

From Proto-Kuki-Chin [Term?], from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *tu. Cognates include Burmese တူ (tu) and Chinese 錘 / 锤 (chuí).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu˩/

Noun

tu

1. hammer

References

• K. E. Herr (2011), The phonological interpretation of minor syllables, applied to Lemi Chin‎^[10], Payap University, page 48

Ladino

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Pronoun

tu

1. (informal) you (singular)

See also

• vozotros (masculine plural)
• vozotras (feminine plural)
• vos (formal singular)

Adjective

tu

1. your

Latgalian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *tū, Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Cognates include Latvian tu and Lithuanian tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtu]
• Hyphenation: tu

Pronoun

tu

1. thou, you (singular)
2. (in reported speech) he, she (that is addressed)

Declension

Declension of tu

	singular	plural
nominative	tu	jius
genitive	teve, tevi	juisu
dative	tev	jums
accusative	tevi	jius
locative	tevī	jiusūs

See also

Latgalian personal pronouns

	first	second	third
			anaphoric		logophoric
			m	f	m	f
singular	es	tu	jis	jei	šys	šei
plural	mes	jius	jī	juos	šī	šuos

References

• A. Andronov; L. Leikuma (2008), Latgalīšu-Latvīšu-Krīvu sarunu vuordineica, Lvava, →ISBN, page 10
• Nicole Nau (2011), A short grammar of Latgalian, München: LINCOM GmbH, →ISBN, page 35

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *túh₂

Proto-Italic *tū

Latin tu

From Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ or *tū.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtuː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtuː]

Pronoun

tū (second person singular, possessive adjective tuus)

1. you (singular); thou

   Mē tuī pudet.

   I am ashamed of you.

   Medice, cura teipsum.(Lucas 4:23)

   Doctor, heal thyself.(Luke 4:23)

Usage notes

When used in the plural genitive, vestrī is used when it is the object of an action, especially when used with a gerund or gerundive. When used in such a construction, the gerund or gerundive takes on the masculine genitive singular. Vestrum is used as a partitive genitive, used in constructions such as (one of you).

Declension

	singular
nominative	tū
genitive	tuī
dative	tibī̆
accusative	tē tētē
ablative	tē tētē
vocative	tū

• Plautus sometimes has genitive singular tīs.
• tēd is an early form of tē.

Quotations

• For quotations using this term, see Citations:tu.

Derived terms

• quid tibi est
• tecum
• temet
• tepte
• tete
• tute
• tutemet
• tutimet

Descendants

descendants

• Aromanian: tu
• Corsican: tù
• Dalmatian: te
• Franco-Provençal: te
• Friulian: tu
• Istro-Romanian: tú
• Italian: tu
• Judeo-Italian: טוּ (ṭu /⁠tu⁠/)
• Ladin: tu
• Ligurian: ti, (Monaco) tü
• Megleno-Romanian: tu
• Mozarabic: ت (tu)
• Old Navarro-Aragonese: tu
  • Aragonese: tu
• Neapolitan: tu
• Old French: tu
  • Gallo: tu
  • Middle French:
    • French: tu
  • Norman: tu, tu (Guernésiais)
  • Picard: tu
  • Walloon: tu
• Old Leonese:
  • Asturian: tu
  • Leonese: tu
  • Mirandese: tu
• Old Occitan: tu
  • Occitan: tu
  • Old Catalan: tu
    • Catalan: tu
• Old Galician-Portuguese: tu
  • Fala: tu
  • Galician: tu, ti
  • Portuguese: tu
• Old Spanish: tu
  • Extremaduran: tú
  • Ladino: tu
  • Spanish: tú
    • Chavacano: tu
• Romanian: tu
• Romansh: tu, tü
• Sardinian: tue
• Sicilian: tu
• Venetan: ti

See also

Latin personal and reflexive pronouns

		singular							plural
		first	second	third			reflexive		first	second	third			reflexive
				m	f	n					m	f	n
nominative		egō̆	tū	is	ea	id	—		nōs	vōs	eī iī	eae	ea	—
genitive	objective	meī mīs1	tuī tīs1	eius			suī		nostrī	vestrī vostrī1	eōrum eum	eārum	eōrum eum	suī
	partitive								nostrum	vestrum vostrum1
dative		mihī̆ mī	tibī̆	eī			sibī̆		nōbīs	vōbīs	eīs			sibī̆
accusative		mē mēmē2+3 mēd1	tē tētē2+3 tēd1	eum	eam	id	sē sēsē2		nōs	vōs	eōs	eās	ea	sē sēsē2
ablative		mē mēmē2+3 mēd1	tē tētē2+3 tēd1	eō	eā	eō	sē sēsē2		nōbīs	vōbīs	eīs			sē sēsē2
vocative		egō̆	tū	—					nōs	vōs	—

1. Pre-classical.
2. Emphatic.
3. Rare.

References

• “tu”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tu”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers

Latvian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *tū, Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

The Latvian tevis comes from *tevens, with an -en-increased form showing an additional s by analogy with other genitive plurals. The dative form was originally closer to Old Prussian tebbei; the current form tev has a v due to influence from other declension forms, and the ending was reduced. The accusative tevi comes from *teven, with n by analogy to the accusative form of other words. The locative tevī was formed by analogy with i-stem nouns.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tu]

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: tu

Pronoun

tu (personal, 2nd person singular)

1. (informal in the singular) you; (dated) thou; second person pronoun, referring to the addressee

   vai tu nāksi man līdzi? ― are you coming with me?

   pieder tautai, tad tauta piederēs tev! ― belong to the people, and then the people will belong to you!

   būt uz tu ar kādu ― to be on intimate terms (lit. to be on thou) with someone

2. (in the expression “ak tu...”) used to strengthen the meaning of a word or expression

   "ak tu to skaļo gaiļa rīkli!" māte priecājas ― "oh you loud rooster throat!" mother said happily

   ak tu mūžs! cūka izlauzusies no aizgalda! ― ah (you) life! the pig escaped from the pen!

Usage notes

The dative form tevim is used only optionally, with prepositions.

Declension

nominative	tu
genitive	tevis
dative	tev (tevim)
accusative	tevi
instrumental	tevi
locative	tevī

Related terms

• tavējs

See also

• vietniekvārds

Latvian personal pronouns

		singular	plural
1st person		es	mēs
2nd person	familiar	tu	jūs
	polite	jūs
3rd person	m	viņš	viņi
	f	viņa	viņas

Lithuanian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *tuˀ (“you”), from Proto-Indo-European *tuH. The oblique stem tav- has been generalized from the Proto-Indo-European genitive *téwe. For a discussion of the case endings, see àš (“I”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈtʊ]

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʊ
• Syllabification: tù

Pronoun

tù

1. you (singular)

Declension

Declension of tu

	singular	dual	plural
nominative	tù	jùdu m, jùdvi f	jū̃s
genitive	tavę̃s	jùdviejų	jū́sų
dative	táu	jùdviem	jùms
accusative	tavè	jùdu m, jùdvi f	jùs
instrumental	tavimì, tavim̃	jùdviem	jumìs
locative	tavyjè, tavỹ	jùdviese	jumysè

Derived terms

• tavaip
• tavas
• tavasis
• taviškas
• taviškis
• tavo
• tavoji

See also

Lithuanian personal pronouns

			nominative (vardininkas)	genitive (kilmininkas)	dative (naudininkas)	accusative (galininkas)	instrumental (įnagininkas)	locative (vietininkas)		possessive (savybiniai)
singular (vienaskaita)	1st person		àš	manę̃s	mán	manè	manimi̇̀, manim̃	manyjè, manỹ		màno
	2nd person		tù	tavę̃s	táu	tavè	tavimi̇̀, tavim̃	tavyjè, tavỹ		tàvo
	3rd person	m	ji̇̀s, jisai̇̃	jõ	jám	jį̇̃	juõ	jamè		jõ
		f	ji̇̀, jinai̇̃	jõs	jái	ją̃	jà	jojè		jõs
dual (dviskaita)	1st person	m	mùdu	mùdviejų	mùdviem	mùdu	mùdviem	mùdviese		mùdviejų
		f	mùdvi			mùdvi
	2nd person	m	jùdu	jùdviejų	jùdviem	jùdu	jùdviem	jùdviese		jùdviejų
		f	jùdvi			jùdvi
	3rd person	m	juõdu, jiẽdu	jų̃dviejų	jõdviem	juõdu	jõdviem	jiẽdviese		jų̃dviejų
		f	jiẽdvi			jiẽdvi
plural (daugiskaita)	1st person		mẽs	mū́sų	mùms	mùs	mumi̇̀s	mumysè		mū́sų
	2nd person		jū̃s	jū́sų	jùms	jùs	jumi̇̀s	jumysè		jū́sų
	3rd person	m	jiẽ	jų̃	ji̇́ems	juõs	jai̇̃s	juosè		jų̃
		f	jõs		jóms	jàs	jomi̇̀s	josè
reflexive (sangrąžiniai)			—	savę̃s	sáu	savè	savimi̇̀, savim̃	savyjè, savỹ		sàvo

Lower Sorbian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Determiner

tu

1. accusative feminine singular of ten

Lower Tanana

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ. Cognate with Ahtna tuu, Navajo tó.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʰu/

Noun

tu

1. water
2. (in compounds) juice, liquid, soup, broth

Derived terms

• beyi tu tadhdleni (“waterpipe”)
• chenh tu' (“swamp water”)
• dechetu' (“spruce-bark tea”)
• jega tu' (“berry juice, wine”)
• kwn' tu' (“whiskey”)
• notu' (“salt, saltwater”)
• ntudh'o' (“navigable water routes”)
• ok tu' (“condensation from fog”)
• trex tu' (“tears”)
• Tth'itu Xwt'anayi (“Dene people of the Tanana River Valley”)
• tth'itu' (“(in) a major river in a drainage system”)
• Tth'itu' (“Tanana River”)
• tu dodilenhde (“culvert”)
• tu ghwni (“moose in late spring”)
• tu k'a (“(at the) waterhole, well”)
• tu k'o' (“arrow for hunting ducks”)
• tu kachenh (“waterproof boots”)
• tu katreth (“waterproof boots”)
• tu nadheɬde (“hot springs”)
• tu nedza' (“blister”)
• tu t'on' (“flower of yellow pond lily”)
• tu tth'ok (“birch basket”)
• tu yich'elayenh (“priest”)
• tuchwx (“ocean”)
• tudi (“whale, aquatic mammal”)
• tuteneɬ (“cup”)

Related terms

• to-

Root

tu

1. to harvest or peel cottonwood or birch sap

Stem set

Aspect	Imperfective	Perfective	Future	Optative
Durative	tu'	tu'	tu'	tu'

Derived terms

• ch'eɬtu' (“he/she is peeling off birch sap”)
• deltu'i (“drawn birch or cottonwood sap”)

References

• James Kari (1991), Lower Tanana Athabaskan Listening and Writing Exercises
• Kari, James et al. (2024), Kari, James, editor, Lower Tanana Dene Dictionary, Fairbanks, Alaska: Alaska Native Language Center, →ISBN, pages 366-368

Malay

Alternative forms

• itu, تو, ايت

Etymology

Shortened form of itu, from Proto-Malayic *(i)tu(ʔ), from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *(i-)tu, from Proto-Austronesian *(i-)Cu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/
• Rhymes: -tu, -u
• Rhymes: -u

Determiner

tu

1. (colloquial) that (what is being indicated)

Pronoun

tu

1. (colloquial) that (that thing)

Mandarin

Romanization

tu

1. nonstandard spelling of tū
2. nonstandard spelling of tú
3. nonstandard spelling of tǔ
4. nonstandard spelling of tù

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Mauritian Creole

Determiner

tu

1. alternative spelling of tou (“all”)

References

• Baker, Philip; Hookoomsing, Vinesh Y. (1987), Diksiyoner kreol morisyeṅ [Mauritian Creole Dictionary] (in French and English), Paris: L'Harmattan, →ISBN, page 326

Mezquital Otomi

Etymology 1

From Proto-Otomi *dų, from Proto-Otomian [Term?], from Proto-Oto-Pamean *tõ, from Proto-Oto-Manguean *ti(n).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tù/

Verb

tu (intransitive)

1. die

Etymology 2

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tǔ/

Verb

tu

1. contain
2. exist

Etymology 3

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tǔ/

Verb

tu

1. owe

Middle English

Pronoun

tu

1. alternative form of þou (“thou”)

Mirandese

Pronoun

tu

1. you (the second-person singular pronoun)

Mizo

Etymology 1

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *tuu.

Noun

tu

1. grandchild

Etymology 2

From Proto-Kuki-Chin *tuu, whence also the agentive suffix -tu.

Pronoun

tu

1. who?

   Tu nge i nih?

   Who are you?

Further reading

• Lorrain, J. Herbert (1940), “tu”, in Dictionary of the Lushai language, Calcutta: Asiatic Society

Neapolitan

Etymology

From Latin tū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

Pronoun

tu

1. you (second-person singular nominative pronoun)

Coordinate terms

Neapolitan personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	prepositional	accusative	dative	reflexive
singular	1st		io	me, méne	m' (me)
	2nd		tu, vuje1	te, téne, vuje1	t' (te), v' (ve)1
	3rd	m	ìsso		'o, 'u (lo, lu)	'i, 'e (li, le)	se
		f	éssa		'a (la)	'e (le)
		n	ésso		'o (lo)	'e (le)
plural	1st		nuje		c' (nce, ce)
	2nd		vuje		v' (ve)
	3rd	m	ìsse / llòro		'e, 'i (le, li)	le, li / llòro	se
		f	ésse / llòro		'e (le)	le / llòro
		n	éssa / llòro		'a (la)	le / llòro

¹ Formal.

References

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz [Linguistic and Ethnographic Atlas of Italy and Southern Switzerland] – map 1653: “voglio che tu finisca” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it

Nigerian Pidgin

Etymology 1

From English too.

Adverb

tu

1. too
2. very

Etymology 2

From English two.

Numeral

tu

1. two

North Frisian

Alternative forms

• tö (Sylt)

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *tō.

Preposition

tu

1. (Föhr-Amrum, Mooring) to
   • 1867, Kleine Mittheilungen. Zur Sammlung der Sagen, Märchen und Lieder, der Sitten und Gebräuche der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg. Nachträge, herausgegeben von Dr. Handelmann in Jahrbücher für die Landeskunde der Herzogthümer Schleswig, Holstein und Lauenburg herausgegeben von der S. H. L. Gesellschaft für vaterländische Geschichte. Band IX., p. 126 (Von der Insel Amrum. Mitgetheilt von Chr. Johansen)

     Gung am tu Sam
     Am an Tram;

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Northern Kurdish

Etymology

From Proto-Iranian *tuHám, from Proto-Indo-Iranian *túH, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʊ]

Pronoun

Central Kurdish	تۆ (to)
Southern Kurdish	ت (ti)

tu (second person singular)

1. you (singular); thou

Related terms

• te

See also

• hûn

See also

Kurmanji Kurdish personal pronouns

	singular	plural
1st person	ez (æz)	em (æm)
2nd person	tu (tu)	hûn (huːn)
3rd person	ew (æw)	ew (æw)

Norwegian Nynorsk

Alternative forms

• oto, otor, tur, to, tor

Etymology

Rebracketing of ut+or, similar in its genesis to på, poinni, ti and tå.

Preposition

tu

1. (dialectal, Trøndelag, Eastern Norway) alternative form of or (“out of”)

Occitan

Etymology

From Old Occitan tu, from Latin tū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ty/

• Audio (Béarn):

  (file)

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

Old Czech

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (13^th CE) /ˈtu/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /ˈtu/

Adverb

tu

1. here, there

   Synonyms: tuto, tuž, tuže, sde

Coordinate terms

Type		interrogative		relative	demonstrative			indefinite
		kto/ký qualitative	který selective	jen	sen proximal	ten	onen distal	jiný alternative	veš every
Time		k(eh)dy	-kterdy	jedy	—	t(eh)dy	on(eh)dy	jindy	v(e)šdy
Place	in	kde	-kterde	—	sde	tu	onde	jinde	vešde
	to	kam(o)	—	jam(o)	sěm(o)	tam(o)	onam(o)	jinam(o)	všam(o)
	through	kudy, kady	—	jady	sudy	tudy, tady	onudy, onady	jinudy, jinady	všudy, všady
	with prepositions	-kud, -kad	—	-ňud, -ňad	-sud, -sad	-tud, -tad	-onud, -onad	-jinud, -jinad	-všud, -všad
Manner	Way	kak(o)	kterak(o)	jak(o)	sic(e)	tak(o)	onak(o)	jinak(o)	však(o)
	Amount	kolik(o)	—	jelik(o)	—	tolik(o)	—	—	všelik(o)
Indefinite prefixes: ně-, leda-, neda-, ni- Indefinite suffixes: -koli, -si

Descendants

• Czech: tu

Further reading

• Jan Gebauer (1903–1916), “tu”, in Slovník staročeský (in Czech), Prague: Česká grafická společnost "unie", Česká akademie císaře Františka Josefa pro vědy, slovesnost a umění

Old English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *twō, neuter of *twai.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tuː/
• Rhymes: -uː

Numeral

tū

1. nominative/accusative neuter plural of twēġen

Old Galician-Portuguese

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *túh₂

Proto-Italic *tū

Latin tū

Old Galician-Portuguese tu

Inherited from Latin tū, from Proto-Italic *tū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

Pronoun

tu

1. thou, you (singular second person pronoun)
   • a. 1284, Alfonso X of Castile, Cantigas de Santa Maria, Códice de los músicos, cantiga 149 (facsimile):

     eu te rogo / ſeñor que me tu leues Deſta carcer eſcura / E que ueia no Ceo a ta face velida.

     Lady, I beg you, please take me out of this dark prison and let me see your beautiful face in Heaven.

Descendants

• Fala: tu
• Galician: tu, ti
• Portuguese: tu

Old Irish

Pronoun

tu

1. alternative spelling of tú

Mutation

Mutation of tu

radical	lenition	nasalization
tu	thu	tu pronounced with /d̪-/

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in Old Irish.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Old Polish

Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Slavic *tu. First attested in the 14th century.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (10^th–15^th CE) /tu/
• IPA^(key): (15^th CE) /tu/

Pronoun

tu

1. here (at this place)

   Synonym: tuta

2. here, hither (to this place)
3. then (at that time)
4. here (in this situation)

Descendants

• Polish: tu
• Silesian: tu

References

• Bożena Sieradzka-Baziur, et al., editors (2011–2015), “tu”, in Słownik pojęciowy języka staropolskiego [Conceptual Dictionary of Old Polish] (in Polish), Kraków: IJP PAN, →ISBN

Old Swedish

Pronoun

tu

1. alternative form of þū

Palula

Etymology

From Sanskrit तुवम् (tuvam, “thou”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Pronoun

tu (personal, Perso-Arabic spelling توۡ)

1. you (2sg nom subject or direct object)

References

• Henrik Liljegren; Naseem Haider (2011), “tu”, in Palula Vocabulary (FLI Language and Culture Series; 7)‎^[11], Islamabad, Pakistan: Forum for Language Initiatives, →ISBN
• Turner, Ralph Lilley (1969–1985), “tu”, in A Comparative Dictionary of the Indo-Aryan Languages, London: Oxford University Press

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Slavic *tu

Old Polish tu

Polish tu

Inherited from Old Polish tu.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

• (Middle Polish) IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

• Audio 1:

  (file)

• Audio 2:

  (file)

• Audio 3:

  (file)

• Audio 4:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: tu

Adverb

tu

1. here (at this place)

   Synonym: tutaj

   Coordinate term: tam

2. here; hither (to this place)

   Synonym: tutaj

   Coordinate term: tam

3. here; now (at this time)

   Synonym: tutaj

Derived terms

adverbs

• tu i tam

Particle

tu

1. (colloquial, telephony) used by the speaker to introduce themselves on the telephone; speaking

   Synonyms: tutaj, z tej strony

   Tu Janek! ― Janek speaking!

2. used by the speaker to indicate they are thinking
3. (colloquial) expressive particle, usually of anger
4. (colloquial) particle of uncertainty of success on the speaker's part

Trivia

According to Słownik frekwencyjny polszczyzny współczesnej (1990), tu is one of the most used words in Polish, appearing 1-2 times in scientific texts, 42 times in news, 113 times in essays, 169 times in fiction, and 353 times in plays, each out of a corpus of 100,000 words, totaling 779 times, making it the 57th most common word in a corpus of 500,000 words.

Further reading

• “tu”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[12] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “tu”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[13] (in Polish)
• “TU”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 30.03.2020
• “TU”, in Elektroniczny Słownik Języka Polskiego XVII i XVIII Wieku [Electronic Dictionary of the Polish Language of the XVII and XVIII Century], 06.09.2008
• Samuel Bogumił Linde (1807–1814), “tu”, in Słownik języka polskiego
• Aleksander Zdanowicz (1861), “tu”, in Słownik języka polskiego, Wilno 1861
• J. Karłowicz, A. Kryński, W. Niedźwiedzki, editors (1919), “tu”, in Słownik języka polskiego (in Polish), volume 7, Warsaw, page 162

Portuguese

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

• (São Miguel, Azores) IPA^(key): /ˈty/

• Audio (Brazil (São Paulo)):

  (file)

• Audio (Portugal (Porto)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Hyphenation: tu

Etymology 1

From Old Galician-Portuguese tu, from Latin tū (“you”), from Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂ (“you”).

Pronoun

tu

1. (informal in Portugal, literary, archaic or regional in Brazil) you; thou (singular second person pronoun)

   Synonyms: (Brazil, formal) o senhor, (formal in Portugal, neutral in Brazil) você, (formal, archaic) vossa mercê, (formal, archaic) vosmecê, (formal, obsolete) vossemecê

2. (Brazil, colloquial, proscribed) second-person singular prepositional pronoun

   Ela gosta de tu. ― She's into you.

Usage notes

• Tu has fallen out of use in some regions of Brazil, including most of the Southeast and the Centre-West, where "você" has taken its place. It is still very commonly used in various regions of the country though, such as most of Santa Catarina and Rio Grande do Sul, parts of Paraná, Rio de Janeiro city and most of the Northeast and North regions. It should be noted that in Rio de Janeiro the pronoun is frequently employed interchangeably with você. Despite the media's preference for "você", the usage of "tu" seems to have been gaining ground throughout the last few decades in Rio (see [14], a linguistic research on the topic in Portuguese), being most frequent among younger speakers.
• According to grammars, tu should always take second person singular verbs, as is the case in Portugal and some parts of Brazil. However, in most Brazilian dialects which employ tu, it now takes third person singular verbs, like você.

See also

Portuguese personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	prepositional	accusative	dative	prepositional with com	non-declining
singular	1st		eu	mim	me		comigo	—
	2nd		tu	ti	te		contigo	você o senhor m a senhora f
	3rd	m	ele		o (lo, no)	lhe	com ele	o mesmo
		f	ela		a (la, na)		com ela	a mesma
plural	1st		nós		nos		connosco (Portugal) conosco (Brazil)	a gente
	2nd		vós		vos		convosco com vós	vocês os senhores m as senhoras f
	3rd	m	eles		os (los, nos)	lhes	com eles	os mesmos
		f	elas		as (las, nas)		com elas	as mesmas
reflexive 3rd / indefinite			—	si	se		consigo	o mesmo etc. (reflexive)

Etymology 2

Interjection

tu

1. (onomatopoeia) the sound produced by a telephone after one of the callers hangs up

Further reading

• “tu”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “tu”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Réunion Creole French

Verb

tu

1. (High Creole) alternative form of tié (“to kill”)

References

• Armand, Alain (1987), Dictionnaire Kréol rénioné/Français [Reunionese Creole-French Dictionary] (in French), Océan Éditions, →ISBN, page 353

Romani

Etymology

From Sanskrit त्वम् (tvam), from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

See also

Romani personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	accusative	dative	locative	ablative	instrumental	possessive
singular	first		me	man	manqe	manθe	manθar	mança	miro, -i, -e
	second		tu	tut	tuqe	tuθe	tuθar	tuça	tiro, -i, -e
	reflexive third		—	pes	pesqe	pesθe	pesθar	peça	pesqero, -i, -e
	third	m	ov	les	lesqe	lesθe	lesθar	leça	lesqero, -i, -e
		f	oj	la	laqe	laθe	laθar	laça	laqero, -i, -e
plural	first		amen		amenqe	amenθe	amenθar	amença	amaro, -i, -e
	second		tumen		tumenqe	tumenθe	tumenθar	tumença	tumaro, -i, -e
	reflexive third		—	pen	penqe	penθe	penθar	pença	penqero, -i, -e
	third		on	len	lenqe	lenθe	lenθar	lença	lenqero, -i, -e

---

Kalderash Romani personal pronouns

number	person		nominative	accusative (long and short forms)	dative	locative	ablative	instrumental	possessive
singular	first		me	man, ma	mánge	mánde	mándar	mánsa	múrro, -i, -e
	second		tu	tut, tu	túke	túte	tútar	túsa	tíro, -i, -e
	reflexive third		—	pês, pe	pêske	pêste	pêstar	pêsa	pêsko, -i, -e
	third	m	wo	lês, le	lêske	lêste	lêstar	lêsa	lêsko, -i, -e
		f	woi	la, la	láke	láte	látar	lása	láko, -i, -e
plural	first		ame	amên, ame	amênge	amênde	amêndar	amênsa	amáro, -i, -e
	second		tume	tumên, tume	tumênge	tumênde	tumêndar	tumênsa	tumáro, -i, -e
	reflexive third		—	pên, pe	pênge	pênde	pêndar	pênsa	pêngo, -i, -e
	third		won	lên, le	lênge	lênde	lêndar	lênsa	lêngo, -i, -e

Romanian

Etymology

From Latin tū, from Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

• Audio:

  (file)

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular), thou

   Synonyms: (semi-polite form) dumneata, (polite form) dumneavoastră

Declension

Declension of tu

	stressed	unstressed
nominative	tu
accusative	tine	te
dative	ție	îți
possessive forms
	singular	plural
masculine	tău	tăi
neuter		tale
feminine	ta

See also

Romanian personal pronouns

number	person			nominative	stressed		unstressed
					accusative	dative	accusative	dative
singular
	1st			eu	mine	mie	mă	îmi
	2nd	plain		tu	tine	ție	te	îți
		semi-polite		dumneata		dumitale
		polite		dumneavoastră			vă
	3rd	plain	m	el	e	lui	îl	îi
			f	ea		ei	o
		polite	m	dumnealui			îl
			f	dumneaei			o
plural
	1st			noi		nouă	ne
	2nd	plain		voi		vouă	vă
		polite		dumneavoastră
	3rd	plain	m	ei		lor	îi	le
			f	ele			le
		polite	m	dumnealor			îi
			f				le

Sassarese

Etymology

From Latin tū, from Proto-Italic *tū, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

   Synonym: (formal, now rare) vosthè

Related terms

• ti
• to'
• tóiu

See also

• edda
• eddi
• eddu
• noi
• voi
• éiu

References

• Rubattu, Antoninu (2006), Dizionario universale della lingua di Sardegna, 2nd edition, Sassari: Edes

Savi

Etymology

Inherited from Sanskrit त्वम् (tvam).

Pronoun

tu

1. you; second-person singular and plural personal pronoun

References

• Knobloch, Nina (2020), A grammar sketch of Sauji: An Indo-Aryan language of Afghanistan‎^[15], Stockholm: Stockholm University

Scottish Gaelic

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d̪̊u/, (accented) /d̪̊uː/, (rarely) /t̪ʰu/, /t̪ʰuː/

Pronoun

tu (emphatic tusa)

1. Form of thu (“thou, you”) used after verb forms ending in -n, -s or -dh.

See also

Scottish Gaelic personal pronouns

		simple		emphatic
		singular	plural	singular	plural
first person		mi	sinn	mise	sinne
second person		thu, tu1	sibh2	thusa, tusa1	sibhse2
third person	m	e	iad	esan	iadsan
	f	i		ise

¹ Used when following a verb ending in -n, -s or -dh.
² sibh and sibhse also act as the polite singular pronouns.
To mark a direct object of a verbal noun, the derivatives of gam are used.

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *tu.

Adverb

tȗ (Cyrillic spelling ту̑)

1. here (in this place)

   Tu nikad nismo bili. ― We have never been here.

2. (proximal) here, over here (in the indicated place nearby)

   Eno ih tu! ― Here they are!

3. over here (to, towards this place)

   Dođi tu! ― Come over here!

Synonyms

• (Croatia) tuj

See also

• (here, over here): óvdje
• (there, over there): tȁmo, ondje

Sicilian

Alternative forms

• tuni

Etymology

From Latin tū.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Pronoun

tu (second person singular)

1. you (informal); thou

Inflection

nominative	tu
prepositional	tia
object, reflexive	ti

Silesian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Slavic *tu

Old Polish tu

Silesian tu

Inherited from Old Polish tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: tu

Adverb

tu

1. here (at this place)

   Synonyms: sam, tukej, samtukej

   Coordinate terms: (regional) hań, (Cieszyń) hanej, (Cieszyń) han, tam

Further reading

• tu in silling.org

Sinte Romani

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

References

• “tu” in Sinte Romani-English Dictionary, ROMLEX – the Romani Lexicon Project, 2000.

Slovene

Etymology

From Proto-Slavic *tu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tú/

Adverb

tȕ

1. here, in this place

Synonyms

• tȗkaj

Further reading

• “tu”, in Slovarji Inštituta za slovenski jezik Frana Ramovša ZRC SAZU, portal Fran
• “tu”, in Termania, Amebis
• See also the general references

South Slavey

Alternative forms

• (Jean Marie River) ti

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ. Cognates include Navajo tó and Chipewyan tuu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [tʰù(ʔ)]
• Hyphenation: tu

Noun

tu (stem -tu-)

1. water

Inflection

Possessive inflection of tu (-tué)

		singular	plural
1st person		setué	naxetué
2nd person		netué
3rd person	1)	—	gitué
	2)	metué	gotué
4th person		yetué
reflexive	sp.	ɂedetué	kedetué
	unsp.	detué
reciprocal		—	ɂełetué
indefinite		ɂetué
areal		gotué

¹⁾ Used when the subject is a group of human beings
and the object is singular.
²⁾ Used when the previous condition does not apply.

Derived terms

• jíyetú
• kǫ́tu

References

• Keren Rice (1989), A Grammar of Slave, Berlin, West Germany: Mouton de Gruyter, →ISBN, page 90

Spanish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *téwe

Proto-Indo-European *tewós

Proto-Italic *towosder.

Latin tuus

Spanish tu

Inherited from Latin tuus, from Proto-Italic *towos.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/ [t̪u]

• Audio (Colombia):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: tu
• Homophone: tú

Determiner

tu sg (second person singular possessive of singular, of plural tus)

1. (before the noun) apocopic form of tuyo, your

   Synonym: (parts of Central and South America) su

Usage notes

• The forms tu and tus are only used before and within the noun phrase of the modified noun. In other positions, a form of tuyo is used instead:

Son tus libros. ― They are your books.

Son los libros tuyos. ― They are your books. (literally, “They are the books of yours.”)

Besides being a pronoun, because tu occurs in a noun phrase and expresses reference, it also grammatically classifies as a determiner (specifically a possessive/genitive determiner).

Related terms

Spanish possessive determiners

Possessor		Preposed		Postposed or standalone
		Singular possessee	Plural possessee	Singular possessee		Plural possessee
				masculine	feminine	masculine	feminine
First-person	Singular	mi	mis	mío	mía	míos	mías
	Plural	(same as postposed/standalone)		nuestro	nuestra	nuestros	nuestras
Second-person	Singular	tu	tus	tuyo	tuya	tuyos	tuyas
	Plural	(same as postposed/standalone)		vuestro	vuestra	vuestros	vuestras
Third-person		su	sus	suyo	suya	suyos	suyas

See also

• tú
• vos

Further reading

• “tu”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

Sranan Tongo

Etymology 1

From English two.

Number

tu

1. two

Descendants

• Saramaccan: tú

Etymology 2

From English too.

Adverb

tu

1. too, also, as well

   Synonym: owktu

Sudovian

Etymology

From Proto-Balto-Slavic *tūˀ, from Proto-Indo-European *túh₂. Compare Lithuanian tù, Latvian tu, Old Prussian tu, tou.

Pronoun

tu

1. (second-person singular) you, thou
   • 1985 [1984], Pogańske gwary z Narewu [Pagan dialects from Narew], sourced from copy by V. Zinow, line 2:

     ty — tu

     you

Swahili

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Maybe Proto-Bantu, see BLR3 4837?”)

Pronunciation

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

Adverb

tu

1. only

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Norse tvau, neuter nominative/accusative of tveir.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtʉː/
• Rhymes: -ʉː

Numeral

tu

1. (archaic, in the neuter) two

   Synonym: två

Usage notes

• tu was the old neuter of två. Thus, one would say "ett hus" (one house), "tu hus" (two houses). The equivalent for the number three was try or tri, which is likewise archaic.

Related terms

• ett, tu, tre
• itu
• på tu man hand
• tudela

Further reading

• “tu”, in Svensk ordbok [Dictionary of Swedish] (in Swedish)

Anagrams

• ut

Tanacross

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ.

Noun

tu

1. water

References

• Jeff Leer, Proto-Athabaskan verb stem variation (1979), page 83

Tày

Etymology

From Proto-Tai *tuːᴬ. Cognate with Thai ตู (dtuu), Northern Thai ᨲᩪ, Lao ຕູ (tū), Lü ᦎᦴ (ṫuu), Tai Dam ꪔꪴ, Shan တူ (tǔu), Tai Nüa ᥖᥧ (tu), Ahom 𑜄𑜥 (tū), Zhuang dou.

Pronunciation

• (Thạch An – Tràng Định) IPA^(key): [tu˧˧]
• (Trùng Khánh) IPA^(key): [tu˦˥]

Noun

tu (Nôm form 閗, 須)

1. door

References

• Dương Nhật Thanh; Hoàng Tuấn Nam (2003), Hoàng Triều Ân, editor, Từ điển chữ Nôm Tày [A Dictionary of (chữ) Nôm Tày]‎^[16] (in Tày and Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Khoa học xã hội [Social Sciences Publishing House]
• Hoàng Văn Ma; Lục Văn Pảo; Hoàng Chí (2006), Từ điển Tày-Nùng-Việt [Tay-Nung-Vietnamese dictionary] (in Vietnamese), Hanoi: Nhà xuất bản Từ điển Bách khoa Hà Nội
• Lương Bèn (2011), Từ điển Tày-Việt [Tay-Vietnamese dictionary]‎^[17][18] (in Vietnamese), Thái Nguyên: Nhà Xuất bản Đại học Thái Nguyên

Tejalapan Zapotec

Numeral

tu

1. one

References

• SIL Zapotec Basic Vocabulary, page 53

Timbe

Noun

tu

1. water

References

• Michael Foster, Timbe grammar sketch - cohesion in Timbe texts (1981, online 2009), page 10

Tocharian A

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *tuwe, from Proto-Indo-European *tuh₂óm. Cognate with Tocharian B tuwe.

Pronoun

tu

1. you, thou

Tok Pisin

Tok Pisin numbers ^(edit)

	20
←  1	2	3  →
Cardinal: tu

Etymology 1

From English two.

Numeral

tu

1. two

Usage notes

Used when counting; see also tupela.

Coordinate terms

Tok Pisin cardinal numbers from 1 to 99

	—0	—1	—2	—3	—4	—5	—6	—7	—8	—9
0—	—	wan	tu	tri	foa	faiv	sikis	seven	et	nain
10—	ten	eleven	twelv	tetin	fotin	fiftin	sikistin	seventin	etin	naintin
20—	twenti	tupela ten wan	tupela ten tu	tupela ten tri	tupela ten foa	tupela ten faiv	tupela ten sikis	tupela ten seven	tupela ten et	tupela ten nain
30—	teti	tripela ten wan	tripela ten tu	tripela ten tri	tripela ten foa	tripela ten faiv	tripela ten sikis	tripela ten seven	tripela ten et	tripela ten nain
40—	foti	fopela ten wan	fopela ten tu	fopela ten tri	fopela ten foa	fopela ten faiv	fopela ten sikis	fopela ten seven	fopela ten et	fopela ten nain
50—	fifti	faivpela ten wan	faivpela ten tu	faivpela ten tri	faivpela ten foa	faivpela ten faiv	faivpela ten sikis	faivpela ten seven	faivpela ten et	faivpela ten nain
60—	sikisti	sikispela ten wan	sikispela ten tu	sikispela ten tri	sikispela ten foa	sikispela ten faiv	sikispela ten sikis	sikispela ten seven	sikispela ten et	sikispela ten nain
70—	seventi	sevenpela ten wan	sevenpela ten tu	sevenpela ten tri	sevenpela ten foa	sevenpela ten faiv	sevenpela ten sikis	sevenpela ten seven	sevenpela ten et	sevenpela ten nain
80—	eti	etpela ten wan	etpela ten tu	etpela ten tri	etpela ten foa	etpela ten faiv	etpela ten sikis	etpela ten seven	etpela ten et	etpela ten nain
90—	nainti	nainpela ten wan	nainpela ten tu	nainpela ten tri	nainpela ten foa	nainpela ten faiv	nainpela ten sikis	nainpela ten seven	nainpela ten et	nainpela ten nain

Etymology 2

From English too.

Adverb

tu

1. too; also; as well
   • 1989, Buk Baibel long Tok Pisin, Port Moresby: Bible Society of Papua New Guinea, Jenesis 1:15:

     God i mekim kamap tupela bikpela lait. Bikpela em san bilong givim lait long de, na liklik em mun bilong givim lait long nait. Na God i mekim kamap ol sta tu.

     →New International Version translation

   • 1995, John Verhaar, Toward a reference grammar of Tok Pisin: an experiment in corpus linguistics‎^[19], →ISBN, page 433:

     Mekim olsem pinis, orait tupela i planim taro na banana, na kumu, painap, kon, tomato, na kaukau tu.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Tonga (Zambia)

Pronoun

tu

1. we (first-person plural pronoun)

See also

Tonga personal pronouns

	Personal	Emphatic	Possessive	Separable
1st person sing.	n, ndi	mebo	-angu	ndime
1st person plural	tu	swebo	-esu	ndiswe
2nd person	mu	nyebo	-enu	ndinywe
3rd person	ba	aaba	-abo	aaba

References

• Aaron Cass Harris (2013), Tonga-English English-Tonga Dictionary and Phrasebook‎^[20], page 227

Tsuut'ina

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ. Cognate with Navajo tó, Dogrib ti, Gwich'in chųų

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tʰu/

Noun

tú

1. water

References

• Gūnáhà. Tsuut'ina Gunaha Institute. https://gunaha.altlab.app/

Upper Kuskokwim

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *tuˑ.

Noun

tu

1. water

References

• Raymond L. Collins, Betty Petruska, Dinak'i (our Words): Upper Kuskokwim Athabaskan Junior Dictionary (1979)

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [tu˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [tʊw˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [tʊw˧˧]

• Audio (Hà Nội):

  (file)

Etymology 1

Sino-Vietnamese word from 修.

Verb

tu

1. (intransitive) to isolate oneself from other people to follow rules in a philosophy or religion
2. (ambitransitive, by extension) to self-improve (in studying, life skills, etc.)

Derived terms

• đi tu
• khổ tu
• nhà tu
• tu bổ
• tu chỉnh
• tu chính
• tu chính án
• tu hành
• tu luyện
• tu nghiệp
• tu tâm dưỡng tính
• tu tập
• tu thành chánh quả
• tu thành chính quả
• tu thân dưỡng tính
• tu tiên
• tu viện

Etymology 2

Verb

tu

1. (transitive) to drink directly from a bottle by holding bottle mouth in one's mouth

Volapük

Etymology

Borrowed from English too.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu/

Adverb

tu

1. (degree) too, excessively.

Derived terms

• tumödo

Welsh

Etymology

From Proto-Brythonic *tʉβ, from Proto-Celtic *toibos, whence also Old Irish tóeb and Irish taobh. Cognate with Breton tu, Cornish tu.

Pronunciation

• (North Wales) IPA^(key): /tɨː/
• (South Wales) IPA^(key): /tiː/
• Homophone: tŷ; (South Wales) ti

Noun

tu m (uncountable)

1. side

Derived terms

• tu allan i
• tu allan, tu fas
• tu draw
• tu hwnt
• tu mewn
• tu ôl
• tua
• tudalen
• y tu draw i
• y tu mewn i
• y tu ôl i

Preposition

tu

1. beside, next to

Derived terms

• tu cefn (“behind”)

Mutation

Mutated forms of tu

radical	soft	nasal	aspirate
tu	du	nhu	thu

Note: Certain mutated forms of some words can never occur in standard Welsh.
All possible mutated forms are displayed for convenience.

Further reading

• R. J. Thomas, G. A. Bevan, P. J. Donovan, A. Hawke, et al., editors (1950–present), “tu”, in Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru Online (in Welsh), University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

Welsh Romani

Pronoun

tu

1. you (singular)

References

• “tu” in Welsh Romani-English Dictionary, ROMLEX – the Romani Lexicon Project, 2000.

White Hmong

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /tu˧/

Etymology 1

From Proto-Hmong-Mien *tɛŋH (“to snap”).

Verb

tu

1. to snap, break apart

Derived terms

• tu siab

Etymology 2

Verb

tu

1. to look after, care for, prepare
2. to clean, clear

References

• Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979), White Hmong — English Dictionary‎^[21], SEAP Publications, →ISBN, pages 324-5.

Yale

Noun

tu

1. water

References

• Carl Campbell, Jody Campbell, Yale Grammar Essentials (1987), page 4