Do You Capitalize You When Referring To Someone?

Use Find & Replace, confirm house style, or rephrase to avoid starting with a verb.

• Force capitalization with Find & Replace. In Microsoft Word, Excel, or Google Docs, run: Find: ^you → Replace: You Find: you$ → Replace: You Then eyeball each change—context matters.
• Settle style-guide disputes. If an editor insists on lowercase mid-title pronouns, peek at the latest AP Stylebook. If house style still disagrees, go with the publisher’s or professor’s most recent guide.
• Rewrite for clarity. Screen readers can misread You as a verb. If that’s a risk, tweak the title: “Your Guide to the Galaxy” beats “Guide You Through the Galaxy.”

Capitalize first/last “You”; lowercase mid-title; match house style; rephrase if needed.

For sacred or biblical contexts, consult denominational guidelines or Christianity Today style when the pronoun refers to the Deity.

For broader linguistic context on pronoun capitalization in titles, see Merriam-Webster’s title-capitalization rules and the GrammarBook capitalization guide.

Yes — capitalize “Savior” when referring to Jesus.

Savior is a noun. It can mean a person who rescues someone—or, as a proper noun, the title Christians use for Jesus Christ. In that second sense, it’s properly capitalized as Savior. “And in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, amen,” said the reverend at the end of a lengthy prayer.

Not usually — pronouns referring to Jesus aren’t capitalized unless a publisher or author chooses to.

Pronouns that refer to God or Jesus—like him—aren’t automatically capitalized. That’s only done if a specific author or publisher makes that stylistic call.

Tradition says no — pronouns like he, him, his, you, your referring to the Trinity aren’t capitalized in Christian texts.

Capitalizing pronouns for the Blessed Trinity hasn’t been standard practice. In fact, those pronouns never appear capitalized in the source documents—not in the Greek Scriptures or early manuscripts.

Ten core rules govern capitalization in English.

• Capitalize the first word of every sentence.
• The pronoun “I” is always capitalized, along with contractions like I’m or I’ll.
• Capitalize the first word of a quoted sentence.
• Proper nouns—names of specific people, places, or things—get capitals.
• Capitalize a person’s title when it comes before their name, like “President Lincoln.”
• Capitalize days of the week, months, and holidays—but not seasons like spring.
• Capitalize most words in titles (but articles, conjunctions, and short prepositions usually don’t unless they’re first or last).
• Capitalize the names of languages, nationalities, and religions.
• Capitalize compass directions only when they refer to regions, like the South, not when they indicate direction, like drive south.
• Capitalize the first word after a colon only if what follows is a full sentence.

Always — “Bible” is a proper noun and should be capitalized when referring to the holy Christian book.

Whenever you’re talking about the Christian holy book itself, capitalize Bible. That includes all versions—from the King James Version to the Jewish Tanakh. No exceptions.

No — the adjective “biblical” stays lowercase.

Capitalize Bible and all nouns that name sacred texts. But the adjective biblical—and similar words—stay lowercase. Think “biblical times,” not “Biblical times.”

Five key rules shape standard capitalization.

• Capitalize the first word of a sentence.
• Capitalize names and all proper nouns.
• Don’t capitalize after a colon—usually.
• Capitalize the first word of a quote—sometimes.
• Capitalize days, months, and holidays, but not seasons.
• Capitalize most words in titles.

Writing in uppercase letters is what capitalization means in grammar.

In writing, capitalization refers to using uppercase letters. It can also mean the total value of a company’s stock or the funds invested in a business. So if someone says a company’s capitalization is $100,000, they mean the total value of all outstanding shares.

Articles, conjunctions, and the word “to” usually stay lowercase in titles.

Avoid capitalizing a, an, or the unless they’re the first or last word. Same goes for coordinating conjunctions like and, or, nor, but, for, yet, so. And the word to—with or without an infinitive—gets lowercase unless it’s at the start or end of a title.

Always — “Bible” is capitalized when referring to sacred Christian writings.

Bible is always capitalized when you’re talking about the Old and New Testaments. But don’t capitalize biblical or biblically—they’re adjectives, not proper nouns.

Yes — capitalize “Bible” without quotation marks when referring to Scripture.

Under AP style, capitalize Bible and leave off the quotation marks. Example: “We read the Bible in church every Sunday.”

No — don’t italicize, underline, or use quotes for the Bible itself.

Books and versions of the Bible don’t get italics, underlines, or quotation marks. Only the titles of individual published editions do—like The Holy Bible: New International Version.

Relating to or in line with the Bible is what “biblically” means.

As an adjective, biblical describes things that relate to or agree with the Bible. So a “biblical passage” fits with Scripture, and someone with a “biblical beard” looks like figures from Bible times. Other examples: biblical history, biblical archaeology.

Usually — “Scripture” is capitalized in the Chicago Manual of Style.

In Chicago style, terms like the Hebrew scriptures or the Old Testament are usually capitalized—and they’re not italicized. Same goes for the Christian scriptures or the New Testament.