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As a greeting in parting you often say "Take care" (at least in the US, I am not so sure about the UK).

Can you also say "Take you care" or answer with "Take you care, too"?

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You can say it if you want. But if you do, you may not be understood. – GEdgar Jul 20 '12 at 16:48
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...except in Norfolk, England where it's standard in the local dialect! – Tony Balmforth Jul 20 '12 at 17:57
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"You take care [now]" is reasonable, but "Take you care" isn't something any native speaker would say. – FumbleFingers Jul 20 '12 at 18:17
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Every once in a while, I might hear, "Take care of yourself..." – J.R. Jul 20 '12 at 20:34
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I just say "You too!". Works for me. – SidCool Jul 20 '12 at 20:54

7 Answers

up vote 18 down vote accepted

I'll second take care as popular in the US.

As far as

"take you care" or "take you care, too"

this construction isn't standard. That said,

"you take care" and "you take care, too"

are often heard.

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17  
Not only isn't it standard, it's ungrammatical. English does not allow subject-verb inversion with non-auxiliary verbs. – John Lawler Jul 20 '12 at 16:44
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@JohnLawler: bit sweeping. Sit ye down and Haste ye back may be twee, but not ungrammatical. – TimLymington Jul 20 '12 at 17:44
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Modern English grammar? Thinkest thou this useful be? – John Lawler Jul 20 '12 at 17:47
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Consult Yoda shall we? – Tolerance72 Jul 20 '12 at 17:55
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@Tolerance72 would that we could, believe you me. – cornbread ninja 麵包忍者 Jul 20 '12 at 19:40
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up vote 4 down vote

"Take care" is in the imperative, i.e. it is a command or request. "You" is assumed as the subject and not normally included. This is the same for all imperatives. "Sit down", "Pass the salt", "Bring a friend", etc., you do not include an explicit subject except in rare cases where it is needed for clarity or emphasis.

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up vote 3 down vote

It is:

(You) Take care.

I have no idea what your native tongue is. But you might be interested in the subject of word order. If you find yourself switching the order of words in a sentence (usually because you are mentally translating on the fly), then it is very likely because your native language follows a word order different from English.

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up vote 2 down vote

The simple answer is "No" you cannot say "Take you care" in any context.

In this context, "You" is implied because the construction is an imperative, and modern English does not compose 'you' in the ways of Middle English. The correct for, is "Take care of yourself" since the subject is now explicit.

"You take care" is an imperative (order-instruction) that can gain tremendous (and socially awkward) force through inflection.

Colloquially, "take you care" is an expression I have most-often heard used in the 'middle US' states. I feel that moving the "you" to from the beginning to the middle of the expression does the action of 'softening', and thus personalizing (de-formalize), the culturally-uncouth nature of an imperative construction. Like most colloquial expressions, users are likely to bond more with speaker.

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-1 Per my comment to Wade. Forget the meaningless "Boxes take care", and consider the military command "Company... Halt!". As with all imperatives, there's an implied "you", as "You (the Company) Halt!". – FumbleFingers Jul 21 '12 at 2:03
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The imperative is fine, but the placement of "you" in the middle is not an allowed construction. – NewAlexandria Jul 21 '12 at 2:21
I've removed the downvote because following the edit you're no longer saying anything I think is actually wrong, but I don't really think it's relevant to bring up the "reflexive" extension. In practice, when people add "of yourself" they normally mean something significantly different - either implying that they don't trust you to look after yourself without being reminded, or that you are in a particularly vulnerable state at the time. – FumbleFingers Jul 21 '12 at 2:37
More normally, and sounding like something a little child would say to set everyone roaring [with laughter], it would be "Company, you halt"! – Arlen Beiler Jul 21 '12 at 2:44
up vote 1 down vote

I would likely use and you in a reply to take care

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up vote 0 down vote

I'm not an English native speaker, but I believe that "Take care" is popular – not "You take care" or "You take care, too".

What would be the point of "you"?

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Go first, no, you go first - same idea. Wishing the same back to the person initiating the dialogue – mplungjan Jul 20 '12 at 18:06
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If someone says "take care" and you just reply "take care", it just sounds like an echo. So a person might respond "you take care" or "you take care too". – David Schwartz Jul 20 '12 at 19:52
Please re-read the question. It's not about "You take care". – Jim Balter Jul 21 '12 at 1:29
@Jim Balter: Don't be so sure! Firstly, OP specifically asks if he can legitimately transform his original "Take care" into two different versions both including the word you. Secondly, as should not have escaped your notice, my first sentence here is structurally identical to OP's original - it's an imperative, with you implied. – FumbleFingers Jul 21 '12 at 1:54
"Don't be so sure" -- I am well advised to be sure that the question is not about "You take care". "my first sentence" -- I was not aware that MustafaJF was your sockpuppet. ""as should not have escaped your notice" -- what has not escaped my notice is that you are very confused. – Jim Balter Jul 23 '12 at 7:41
up vote -1 down vote

If the intent is for "you" to be the subject of your imperative, then the usage is "You take care" as coleopterist mentioned. However, if the intent is for "you" to be the object, then it is "Take care of yourself."

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-1 The "subject" of an imperative is always you (singular or plural) regardless of whether it's explicitly stated or not. – FumbleFingers Jul 21 '12 at 1:58
And when you say "[you] take care" it is assumed that you mean of themself. – Arlen Beiler Jul 21 '12 at 2:49

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