(no subject)

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

What is the difference between тобой and тобою? Is it just that тобою is more colloquial (I was never taught it in class), or are there more regular reasons to use one or the other?

Comments

[trepang.livejournal.com]

тобою is more archaic. nowadays in russian colloquial speech it is used very rarely. still, it can be found in poems.

[neckapb.livejournal.com]

"Тобою" is more poetic, not very colloquial.

[madrumos.livejournal.com]

these forms are still useful to know, though, either when reading literature or hanging out with people who might use them in a high-mannered or ironic way.

also note:
с мамою
с твоею кошкою
я пользовался ею
со мною
and other similar forms

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

«Тобою» is just an older form of «тобой», rarely used as colloquial. I use such forms really often in my LiveJournal, for example, because I am fond of old Russian speech of XIX century. I like when my sentence feels like a hundred or more years ago. However, I also use (though not so often) four Russian old (pre-1918) letters («ѣ», «ѳ», «ѵ», «i») — see example (http://mithgol.livejournal.com/637093.html) — and you cannot expect a typical «тобою»-user to go so far...

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

There is, as previous posters correctly state, no reason of using the archaic/poetic тобою (along with мною and ею) in modern speech; it's a good thing to be aware of the existence of such forms, though, because one can still encounter them in the literature, especially that of the 19th century. As of modern colloquiall speech, тобой, мной and ей have replaced those archaic forms completely.

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

Thanks! Mostly I hear them in pop songs and that's why I wondered if they were colloquial or something. :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

They probably use them because they fit better with the number of syllables needed in each verse :)

also...

[im-such-a-slav.livejournal.com]

тобою is the ukrainian equivalent of russian's тобой. just so you know.

[vasyl.livejournal.com]

Зо што миня зобанил, сцуко?

[wire-shock.livejournal.com]

...and that's probably why one still sees such forms in real poetry too...

[beekjuffer.livejournal.com]

1. "тобой" - разговорная и письменная форма, "тобою" - письменная, устаревшая, со скрытым эмфазисом.
2. в разговоре форма "тобою" может употребляться перед словом с первым согласным звуком или как элемент эмфатического оборота.