vos

See also: Appendix:Variations of "vos"

Languages (25)

Afrikaans • Aragonese • Catalan • Czech • Danish • Dutch • Fala • Franco-Provençal • French • Galician • Icelandic • Interlingua • Ladino • Latin • Lithuanian • Middle Dutch • Occitan • Old French • Old Occitan • Piedmontese • Portuguese • Sardinian • Slovene • Spanish • Walloon

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Page categories

Afrikaans

Etymology

Inherited from Dutch vos, from Middle Dutch vos, from Old Dutch fus, vus, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fɔs/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

vos (plural vosse, diminutive vossie)

1. fox, carnivore of the tribe Vulpini

Derived terms

• skoolvos

Aragonese

Etymology

From Latin vos. Cognate to Catalan us, Spanish os and French vous.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bos/
• Syllabification: vos
• Rhymes: -os

Pronoun

vos

1. you (second-person plural direct pronoun)
2. (to) you (second-person plural indirect pronoun)

Synonyms

• tos

Catalan

Etymology

Inherited from Latin vōs.

Pronunciation

• (Central) IPA^(key): /bus/ (always unstressed)
• (Balearic) IPA^(key): /vus/ (always unstressed)
• (Valencia) IPA^(key): /vos/ (always unstressed)

Pronoun

vos (enclitic, contracted us, proclitic us)

1. you (plural, direct or indirect object)

Usage notes

• -vos is the full (plena) form of the pronoun. It is normally used after verbs ending with a consonant or ⟨u⟩.

  Heu de quedar-vos aquí. ― You must stay here.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

			strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
				proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
singular	1st person	standard	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
		majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
		formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
	3rd person	m	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
		f	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
		n		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
plural
	1st person		nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
	2nd person	standard	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
		formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
	3rd person	m	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
		f	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive			si	es, s’	-se, ’s	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-.

Further reading

• “vos” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.
• “vos”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2025
• “vos”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈvos]

Noun

vos f

1. genitive plural of vosa

Danish

Pronoun

vos

1. (dialectal) pronunciation spelling of os
   • 1926, Adolph Stender, Skovtrold, Lindhardt og Ringhof, →ISBN:

     Næ, la' vos bare inte skave vos! (...) men saa øver vi vos imens! Naar han ser vos gennem Vindvet, kommer han nok herud ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1973, Bent Rying, Alice Kennebo, København og Københavns amt:

     Han har sæl brunget desse ur te vos; ...

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   • 1906, Maglekilde fortæller: humoristiske fortællinger:

     Jeg ka' kons mindes een eneste Gang a' han roste vos, – de' var en Da' da han ha'de trukket vos rigtig igjennem i Geveereksersis; — — der var inte en tør Trevl paa vos, saatten ha'de vi maattet hænge i en tre, fire Timmer i et Slav.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Dutch

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

Vossen

Wikipedia ^nl

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

Vos (dier)

Wikipedia ^nl

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

Vulpes

Wikipedia ^nl

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔs/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: vos
• Rhymes: -ɔs

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle Dutch vos, from Old Dutch fus, vus, from Proto-West Germanic *fuhs, from Proto-Germanic *fuhsaz.

Noun

vos m (plural vossen, diminutive vosje n, feminine vossin)

1. fox, carnivore of the tribe Vulpini
2. (particularly) red fox (Vulpes vulpes)

   Synonyms: gewone vos, rode vos

3. fox fur
4. a crafty, ingenious person

   Koen is een lepe vos, die laat zich niet in de luren leggen.

   Conrad is a sly fox who does not allow himself to be hoodwinked.

5. horse with red or red-brown fur
6. a tortoiseshell (any of various similar nymphalid butterflies)

   Hyponyms: kleine vos, grote vos

Derived terms

• Afghaanse vos
• brandvos
• een vos verliest wel zijn haren, maar niet zijn streken
• eilandvos
• gewone vos
• grijze vos
• grootoorvos
• grote vos
• kamavos
• kitvos
• kleine vos
• kortoorvos
• kruisvos
• moervos
• poolvos
• rode vos
• schoolvos
• sluw als een vos
• vosaap
• vosbelg
• vosbles
• vosgans
• voskleurig
• voskonijn
• vosrekel
• vosruin
• vosschaar
• vosschimmel
• vossen
• vossenbes
• vossengat
• vossengeschreeuw
• vossenhuid
• vossenjacht
• vossenkuil
• vossenstaart
• vossenval
• vossenvel
• woestijnvos
• zilvervos

Descendants

• Afrikaans: vos
• Jersey Dutch: vośe
• Negerhollands: vos

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

vos

1. inflection of vossen:
   1. first-person singular present indicative
   2. (in case of inversion) second-person singular present indicative
   3. imperative

Further reading

• “vos” in Woordenlijst Nederlandse Taal – Officiële Spelling, Nederlandse Taalunie. [the official spelling word list for the Dutch language]

Fala

Etymology

Inherited from Old Galician-Portuguese vos, from Latin vōs.

Pronoun

vos m pl or f pl

1. Second person plural nominative pronoun; you
2. (Mañegu) First person plural dative and accusative pronoun; you

Usage notes

• In Mañegu voshotrus and voshotras are more commonly used as subject pronouns.
• Takes the form -vus when used as an object pronoun suffixed to an impersonal verb form.

See also

Fala personal pronouns

			nominative	dative	accusative	disjunctive
singular	first person		ei	me, -mi		mi
	second person		tú	te, -ti		ti
	third person	m	el	le, -li	uLV, oM	el
		f	ela		a	ela
plural	first person	common	nos	musL nusLV nos, -nusM		nos
		m	noshotrusM			noshotrusM
		f	noshotrasM			noshotrasM
	second person	common	vos	vusLV vos, -vusM		vos
		m	voshotrusM			voshotrusM
		f	voshotrasM			voshotrasM
	third person	m	elis	le, -li	usLV, osM	elis
		f	elas		as	elas
third person reflexive			—	se, -si		sí

Dialects:  ^L Lagarteiru   ^M Mañegu   ^V Valverdeñu

References

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

Franco-Provençal

Etymology

Inherited from Latin vōs (nominative or accusative).

Pronoun

vos (postpositive -vos) (ORB, broad)

1. you (second-person plural nominative, accusative, dative, or tonic)

Derived terms

• se vos plét

See also

Franco-Provençal personal pronouns

			nominative	accusative	dative	tonic1	possessive2
singular	1st person		jo	mè			min
	2nd person		te	tè			tin
	3rd person	masculine	il	lo / le	lui		sin
		feminine	el	la	lyé
		neuter	o		y	—
		reflexive	—	sè
plural	1st person		nos				noutro
	2nd person		vos				voutro
	3rd person	masculine	ils	los / les	lor		lor
		feminine	els	les	lor / lyés
		reflexive	—	sè

¹ Disjunctive or object of a preposition.   ² Generally preceded by a definite article.

References

• vous in DicoFranPro: Dictionnaire Français/Francoprovençal – on dicofranpro.llm.umontreal.ca
• vos in Lo trèsor Arpitan – on arpitan.eu

French

Etymology

Inherited from Old French vos, from Latin vostros (“your, plural accusative”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vo/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -o
• Homophones: vaut, vaux, veau, veaux

Determiner

vos pl

1. plural of votre; your

   Vos parents sont très gentils.

   Your parents are very nice.

Related terms

French possessive determiners

			possessee
			singular		plural
			m	f
possessor	singular	1st	mon1	ma	mes
		2nd	ton1	ta	tes
		3rd	son1	sa	ses
	plural	1st	notre		nos
		2nd	votre2		vos2
		3rd	leur		leurs

¹ Also used before feminine adjectives and nouns beginning with a vowel or mute h.
² Also used as the polite singular form.
For the singular persons there are gender-neutral neologisms man, tan, san. These are extremely rare.

Further reading

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

Galician

Pronoun

vos

1. inflection of vós:
   1. accusative/dative
   2. reflexive

Icelandic

Etymology

Inherited from Old Norse vás, which is related to vaska (“to wash”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vɔs/

Noun

vos n (genitive singular voss, nominative plural vos)

1. wetness, toil, fatigue (from storm, sea, frost, bad weather)

Declension

Declension of vos (neuter)

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative	vos	vosið	vos	vosin
accusative	vos	vosið	vos	vosin
dative	vosi	vosinu	vosum	vosunum
genitive	voss	vossins	vosa	vosanna

References

• Mallet, P. H. (1847). Northern Antiquities, Or, an Historical Account of the Manners, Customs, Religion, and Laws, Maritime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians ... with a Translation of the Prose Edda from the Original Old Norse Text ... to which is Added, an Abstract of the Eyrbyggja Saga. United Kingdom: Bohn, p. 509

Interlingua

Etymology

From Latin vōs (“you, plural”).

Pronoun

vos

1. you (plural)

Ladino

Etymology

From Old Spanish vosotros.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /vos/

Pronoun

vos (Hebrew spelling בﬞוס)

1. you (formal singular, nominative and accusative)
2. accusative of vozotros
3. accusative of vozotras

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *wōs, from the oblique case forms of Proto-Indo-European *yúHs.

Pronunciation

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

Pronoun

vōs

1. you, ye, you all; nominative/accusative/vocative plural of tū
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.200–202:

     “Vōs et Scyllaeam rabiem penitusque sonantīs
     accēstis scopulōs, vōs et Cyclōpēa saxa
     expertī [...].”

     “You neared mad Scylla and heard the howls within her cliffs, and you experienced the rocks of the Cyclops.”
     (Note: “accestis” is a syncopated form of “accessistis.” The “vos et … vos et” repetition exemplifies anaphora.)

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

	plural
nominative	vōs
genitive	vestrī vestrum
dative	vōbīs
accusative	vōs
ablative	vōbīs
vocative	vōs

Derived terms

• vōbīscum
• vōsmet

Descendants

• Aromanian: voi, voauã
• Catalan: vós, vosaltres
• Dalmatian: vu, voi
• Franco-Provençal: vos
• Friulian: vô, voaltris
• Italian: voi, voialtri
• Judeo-Italian: ווּאִי (wuʔi /⁠vui⁠/) (Rome)
• Mirandese: bós
• Neapolitan: vuje
• Occitan: vos, vosautres
• Old French: vos
  • Middle French: vous
    • French: vous
  • Walloon: vos
• Old Leonese: vos
  • Asturian: vós, vosotros
  • Leonese: vós, vosoutros
  • Mirandese: bós
• Old Galician-Portuguese: vos
  • Galician: vós, vosoutros
  • Portuguese: vós
• Romanian: voi, vouă
• Romansch: vus
• Sardinian: bosatrus
• Sicilian: vui, vuàutri
• Spanish: vos, vosotros, os

See also

Latin personal pronouns together with the possessive and reflexive pronouns

			pronoun						possessive
number	person		nominative	genitive	dative	accusative	ablative
singular	first		ego	meī	mihi	mē			meus, -a, -um
	second		tū	tuī	tibi	tē			tuus, -a, -um
	third	m	is	ēius	eī	eum	eō		—
		f	ea			eam	eā
		n	id			id	eō
plural	first		nōs	nostrī, nostrum	nōbīs	nōs	nōbīs		noster, -tra, -trum
	second		vōs	vestrī, vestrum	vōbīs	vōs	vōbīs		vester, -tra, -trum
	third	m	eī, iī	eōrum	eīs	eōs	eīs		—
		f	eae	eārum		eās
		n	ea	eōrum		ea
reflexive			—	suī	sibi	sē, sēsē			suus, -a, -um

References

• “vos”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “vos”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "vos", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “vos”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • picture to yourselves the circumstances: ante oculos vestros (not vobis) res gestas proponite
    
  • not to be prolix: ne diutius vos demorer