Thread: Usage of вы or ты?

The difference between ты and вы can be difficult to translate into English, because (A) our ancient equivalent to ты, namely thou, was already becoming устаревший (obsolete) in the lifetime of Shakespeare; and (B) even today, traditional Christian prayers and church hymns often refer to God or Jesus using the old "на ты forms" ("And sings my soul, my savior God, to thee -- how great thou art!"). Because God is called "thou," many modern English speakers mistakenly think that thou was a very formal term used for speaking to royalty -- when, of course, the opposite was true.

Even so, I have attempted to translate the Pushkin poem into English. First, the whole eight-line original, with literal line-by-line translation:

Пустое «вы» сердечным «ты» (Empty "you" with warmhearted "thou")
Она, обмолвясь, заменила (She, making a slip-of-the-tongue, replaced)
И все счастливые мечты (And all the happy daydreams)
В душе влюблённой возбудила! (In a soul that had fallen in love, she awoke )

Пред ней задумчиво стою (Before her, lost in thought / thinking deeply, I stand)
Свести очей с неё нет силы; (To pull my eyes away from her there is no strength)
И говорю ей: как «вы» милы! (And I say to her: "How nice YOU are")
И мыслю: как «тебя» люблю! (And I think: "How I love THEE")

And here's my own poetic translation, with some liberties taken to preserve the rhyme-scheme (ABAB CDDC) and meter (iambic) of the original:

The dryish "you" with flirty "thee"
She (just by slip-of-tongue?!?) replaces.
And filled anew with dreamy glee,
A lovestruck fellow's heartbeat races.

My eyes transfixed, I lose my breath.
I stand before her -- helpless, mute.
I finally gulp, "YOU'RE kinda cute."
But think, "I'll love THEE unto death!"

And just for completeness, here's a "gender bender" version of the Russian, with "she" turned into "he" by making the necessary changes to the past-tense verbs and pronouns:

Пустое «вы» сердечным «ты»
Он_, обмолвясь, заменил_
И все счастливые мечты
В душе влюблённой возбудил_!

Пред ним задумчиво стою
Свести очей с него нет силы;
Ему шептаю: как «вы» милы! (I whisper to him)
И мыслю: как «тебя» люблю!

But notice that no changes are necessary for the person speaking, because all the verbs are first-person and present-tense, such as стою, and therefore don't show gender.

Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

The dryish "you" with flirty "thee"
She (just by slip-of-tongue?!?) replaces.
And filled anew with dreamy glee,
A lovestruck fellow's heartbeat races.

My eyes transfixed, I lose my breath.
I stand before her -- helpless, mute.
I finally gulp, "YOU'RE kinda cute."
But think, "I'll love THEE unto death!"

Thank you so much for the very helpful answer.

And dude - you're a genius! The poem translation is awesome. .. Now where's that little sheriff-badge button? =)