Re^2: Moose in a module created with h2xs

French and German in particular have an interesting feature that you can use the plural form of you when talking to a single person to convey extra respect.

That's definitely true in French (using vous instead of tu to convey extra respect), but that's somewhat inaccurate in German, where the "respectful" form of du is, as far as I can tell, Sie, which is more like the German for "they" (and also for "she" *). But I'll leave it to German native-speaking monks to confirm and elaborate further if needed.

Update: * But the verb is conjugated at the 3rd person plural, so it appears it's really "they," not "she."

Comment on Re^2: Moose in a module created with h2xs

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Re^3: Moose in a module created with h2xs by tobyink (Canon) on Feb 23, 2019 at 10:52 UTC
No, you're right. It's a long time since I studied German. "Sie" means "they", but can be used as the polite form for singular or plural you. toby döt ink	[reply]
Re^4: Moose in a module created with h2xs by soonix (Chancellor) on Feb 23, 2019 at 11:51 UTC
That stems from a time, when the normal "Ihr" (plural 'you') was considered somehow "reserved" for nobility, so for "normal" people, one resorted to "Er" ('he') / "Sie" ('she') as a polite form for singular 'you', with the corresponding plural "Sie" ('they') even more polite. Nowadays we are using plural "Sie" nearly exclusively. The French were able to stay with 'tu'/'vous' because they abolished their nobility instead ; -)	[reply]