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In order to express "Y'all", do you simply say "vi ĉiuj"?

Addendum: I thought my question was clear - I know "you" and "vi" are equivalent - both used for singular and plural "yous" (hihi). Language use can be very creative and I was wondering what other fun ways Esperanto speakers have found to express the plural you, as well as, if there are any, fun ways of also conveying the dialectal beauty of "How are y'all doing?", "How are y'all's dogs?".

Some words and expressions can't be translated, I know. Sometimes it might just be my imagination that is lacking. Hence my question.

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  • Sorry if I misinterpreted your question: many English speakers in y'all-using regions find it hard to believe that any language can fail to make this (to them essential) distinction, and are not even aware that other speakers of their own language use the same word for y'all and you.
    – Max
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 16:07
  • @max No problem! Just thought it better to add that in.
    – Charlotte SL
    Commented Oct 24, 2016 at 16:09

6 Answers 6

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The simple plural of vi in Esperanto is vi, as it is in many versions of English (that don't use y'all, youse, yins, etc.). To particularly emphasise all of you (or all of y'all) as opposed to you and some others, you can say vi ĉiuj.

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Yes, that or ĉiuj vi.

Ni bonvenigas vin ĉiujn! We welcome all of you!

In English, y'all is a regionalism but I'm not sure there's an easy way to convey that directly. (One not entirely serious suggestion: ĉvin?)

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I understand the question to be less about English and more about how to say "plural you" in Esperanto. If so:

Vi is already both plural and singular. Often the context makes it clear.

  • Vi estas bonvenaj.
  • Via familio estas tre kara al mi. Mi esperas revidi vin.

If it's ever not clear, it can be made clear with vi ĉiuj as you suggested.

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  • "often the context makes it clear" - Esperanto should generally seek to avoid relying on this IMO, since requiring context makes it harder to cross cultures. The explicit distinction of singular vs plural "you" is sadly lacking from (modern) English, and Esperanto can do better.
    – ThrawnCA
    Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 1:12
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    The original question has been edited, and I don't quite remember what I was thinking when I answered it - but it seems to me that I understood the question in terms of "what Esperanto is like". To say that "Esperanto can do better" shifts the discussion. Questions along the lines of "what could an international language be like" may well be interesting questions, but they're not really questions about Esperanto, which is what this board is about.
    – Tomaso Alexander
    Commented Dec 20, 2017 at 8:12
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Well, are we talking about dialects of English where y'all is a fully-fledged personal pronoun? They use you as the singular pronoun and y'all as the plural pronoun. Since Esperanto doesn't have equivalent dialects, both the singular (you) and the plural form (y'all) should be translated as vi.

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Perhaps an ad hoc solution is in order. Vi cxiuj could stand in for Y'all (referring to one person) and Cxiuj Vi could be used for All y'all (referring to a group). It's really a simplistic solution, I'll grant, but it is the product of much the same mechanic as gave us Y'all and all y'all in the first place.

Why not?

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  • I'm not quite sure I understand. Can "y'all" refer to a single person? I thought it was a way to explicitly express plural "you" in some dialects of English. And what does "all y'all" mean?
    – das-g ♦
    Commented Apr 17, 2021 at 21:35
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The non-distinction between second persons singular and plural was already criticised back in 1888. Zamenhof then reluctantly introduced "ci" for the singular. After that unfortunately some German Esperantists started equating ci/vi to their du/Sie, and some French ones equated it to their tu/vous :-(.

So you can use "ci" to emphasise the singular, but it can give strange reactions. Some people use(d) "ivi" to emphasise the plural, but that may get you even more "flak"...

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