Mental Floss

From Y’all To Youse: 8 English Ways to Make ‘You’ Plural

Hey youse guys!
ByArika Okrent|
You might be familiar with a few of these.
You might be familiar with a few of these. | Carol Yepes/Moment/Getty Images

Lots of languages have distinct plural forms for you. When talking to more than one person, the French use vous; the Italians, voi; the Spanish, ustedes; and the Germans, ihr. Wouldn't it be useful if English had one too?

In fact, English speakers have come up with a bunch of words for plural you. Snooty grammar teachers might not like them, but they get the job done.

  1. Y’all
  2. Yinz
  3. You-uns
  4. You Guys
  5. You Lot
  6. Yous/Youse
  7. Ye
  8. Super Plurals

Y’all

Used primarily in the Southern U.S., y’all is a shortening of the phrase you all," which is also used in its full form as a plural address. It may have been introduced to America by Ulster Scots immigrants who used the phrase ye aw. Y’all also has a possessive form, as in, “How was y’all’s day?”

Yinz

Yinz is a hallmark of the dialect known as Pittsburghese. People who speak this dialect are referred to as yinzers.

You-uns

Yinz originates from this form, which is also used in the Ohio River Valley around Pittsburgh. You-uns is a shortening of you ones. “There’s a camp of our men out there, two hundred of them, and they will pay you’ns for pestering me!” someone wrote in The Atlantic in 1865.

You Guys

According to the Dictionary of American Regional English, you guys was originally found mostly in the Northern areas of the U.S. but is “now widespread ... esp{ecially} freq{uently} among younger speakers.” DARE cites usages for the phrase as far back as 1894.

You Lot

The you guys of Britain.

Yous/Youse

This one is found all over the English-speaking world, from Ireland to South Africa to New Zealand to New Jersey. It makes a lot of sense. How do you make something plural? Add an s!

Ye

When English had a plural form back in the Renaissance, this was it. Ye came into English from Germanic, and it’s still used in Ireland.

Super Plurals

Sometimes a plural is simply not plural enough. That’s when it's time to pull out yees, all y’all, and youse guys.

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A version of this story ran in 2012; it has been updated for 2025.

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