Early Modern English Question.?

Question

Im a native English Speaker, but I don't know the difference between Hath and Hast.

I do speak some German so I can relate to that.

Does thou ever go with hath and can you use hast with You.

Answer 1

Hast is 2nd person singular, so you can use it with thou.

Hath is 3rd person singular, so you cannot use it with thou.

You is 2nd person plural, so you must use "have."  In addition, in early Modern English "you" is an object pronoun; the subject pronoun is "ye."

Think of the saying "h**l hath no fury like a woman scorn."  h**l is 3rd person singular, so it goes with "hath."

This article has more information on conjugating for Thou:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thou#Conjug...

This article has a pronoun chart that shows how Ye is a subject pronoun and You is an object pronoun:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ye_(pronoun...

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Remember that back then the so-called T-V distinction still existed in English for the 2nd person.  Thou is a cognate of the German Du, which is informal.  Ye/You was plural (you guys, you all, German ihr, French vous) AND used for formal contexts (like the formal Sie in German).

I hope that makes sense.