The literal meaning is the same. But "thee" hasn't been used in normal conversation by most people for hundreds of years.

Today, in the US, you hear "thee" only in quotations from the Bible and among a few religious communities. (I have Quaker relatives who still use it, but only when talking to each other, not to outsiders.)

It does mean the same, however the 'feel' is slightly different.

"Thee" is only really used today to make it sound very official and archaic. "You" is the normal form in use today.


Thee/thou/thine is only in common use these days in religious usage (e.g. "Our father, who art in heaven, hallowed be THY name, THY kingdom come, THY will be done, etc.", or "Hail Mary full of grace, blessed art THOU amnongst women, etc.").


It bears a slight similarity to "Ihr" in Germany (Hiermit werdet Ihr ersucht, am 10. Tage des Monats vor dem Herzog zu erscheinen...), although "thou" was a less formal form originally (comparable to the German 'Du')

In the UK, you may still hear people speak like that - at least in Yorkshire, where I come from. But even there it's probably pretty rare nowadays *sigh*

"thee" is singular; "you" is either singular or plural.

No, it isn't the same.

The difference is as per modern German.
'Thee' is archaic and was used as 'Du' and 'you' was used as 'Sie'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thee

For info

I would not say that it was similar to "Ihr" in German, but rather the old equivalent of "du" (second person singular). "You" (formerly also "ye") is in fact the equivalent of "Ihr"; it was formerly the plural (as is still evident from the verb forms, e.g. are, were) and the polite form of 2nd person singular and plural. The polite form took over, and the familiar form "thou" died out (except, as mentioned, in some dialects.)

(That's what comes of (the English) being too polite. In a few hundred years, no doubt, "Sorry" will mean "Good day" and/or "get lost" depending on context, and the words "please queue here" will be considered a public outrage. ;-) )

http://mrffriends.tripod.com/language/thou.html

Check out this link, too. Further confirms my theory about excessive politeness.

http://mrffriends.tripod.com/language/you.html

Another interesting one on the same subject.

Information about the Quakers and the use of thee-thou:
http://www.quaker.org/thee-thou.html