# Second Person, Not First

**SHOULD** · **ID:** `content-second-person-voice` · **Category:** content
**Source:** [Vercel](https://github.com/vercel-labs/agent-skills/blob/main/skills/web-design-guidelines/SKILL.md)
**Interactive version:** https://ui-guides-agent-rules.netlify.app/principles/content-second-person-voice

> SHOULD: Address the reader as "you" and avoid "we"/"I" in product copy — "your build failed", not "we were unable to complete the build".

Address the reader as "you" and avoid "we" or "I" in product copy

First-person copy quietly recenters the interface on the company instead of the person trying to finish a task. Second person keeps the subject on the reader — your build, your key, your next step — and usually shortens the sentence, since "we were unable to complete the build" collapses to "your build failed".

## Bad — do not do this

`content-second-person-voice-bad`

```tsx
export function SecondPersonVoiceBad() {
  return (
    <div className="w-full max-w-sm space-y-4">
      <div className="bg-card border border-border rounded-lg p-4 space-y-3">
        <h4 className="font-medium text-foreground">Build Failed</h4>
        <p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">
          We were unable to complete the build. I would recommend that we check
          the logs together. We have saved our progress, and we will notify our
          team if we detect the issue again.
        </p>
        <button className="px-3 py-2 bg-muted text-foreground text-sm rounded-md focus-visible:outline-hidden focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-ring">
          Let Us Retry
        </button>
      </div>
      <p className="text-xs text-error">
        Six first-person pronouns, zero "you" — the copy is about the product,
        not about the person who has to fix the build
      </p>
    </div>
  );
}
```

## Good — do this

`content-second-person-voice-good`

```tsx
export function SecondPersonVoiceGood() {
  return (
    <div className="w-full max-w-sm space-y-4">
      <div className="bg-card border border-border rounded-lg p-4 space-y-3">
        <h4 className="font-medium text-foreground">Build Failed</h4>
        <p className="text-sm text-muted-foreground">
          Your build stopped at the install step. Check the logs to see which
          package failed, then retry. Your changes are saved.
        </p>
        <button className="px-3 py-2 bg-primary text-primary-foreground text-sm rounded-md focus-visible:outline-hidden focus-visible:ring-2 focus-visible:ring-ring">
          View Build Logs
        </button>
      </div>
      <p className="text-xs text-success">
        Second person keeps the subject on the reader: your build, your logs,
        your next move
      </p>
    </div>
  );
}
```

## References

- [Vercel Web Interface Guidelines](https://github.com/vercel-labs/web-interface-guidelines)
- [Google Style: Second Person](https://developers.google.com/style/person)