Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English, and most of what makes his language hard for modern readers comes from a small set of patterns: old pronouns and verb endings, familiar words that have changed meaning, and a freer word order.
Those patterns are few, and they can be learned. Once you recognize them, a line that looked impenetrable usually turns out to say something quite direct. This guide explains how the language works. For individual words, from “anon” to “wherefore,” see our A to Z glossary of archaic words.
At a Glance
Here are the key features of Shakespeare’s language for quick reference.
What Early Modern English Is
Shakespeare’s English is an early form of the language we speak today, not a different language.
Early Modern English was used from roughly 1500 to 1700. It is the English of Shakespeare, of Marlowe and Jonson, and of the King James Bible of 1611. Its grammar and most of its vocabulary are the same as ours, which is why so much of Shakespeare can be followed without help. The differences cluster in a few places: pronouns, verb endings, some word meanings, and word order.
Spelling was not yet standardized, so the original printed texts spell the same word in several ways. Modern editions, including the texts on this site, update the spelling but keep Shakespeare’s words and grammar. What you are reading, then, is his language with only the surface modernized.
Thou and You
The first thing most readers notice is thou, and it is also the easiest pattern to learn.
In Shakespeare’s English, there were two ways to say “you.” You was used for more than one person, and also for one person as a mark of respect or distance. Thou was used for one person you were close to, or felt superior to, or wanted to insult. Each has its own forms:
The choice between the two carries meaning. When a character switches from you to thou, or back, the relationship has usually shifted: a sudden thou can signal tenderness, anger, or contempt, and a sudden you can signal a cooling. In the sonnets, the speaker addresses the young man as thou in some poems and you in others, and readers still debate what the changes mean.
Verb Endings
Verbs in Shakespeare take two endings that have since disappeared, and each follows a simple rule.
With thou, verbs end in -st or -est: thou art, thou hast, thou dost, thou canst, thou wilt, thou shalt, thou lovest. With he, she, or it, verbs often end in -th or -eth, where we now use -s: he hath for “he has,” she doth for “she does,” it loveth for “it loves.” Shakespeare uses both -th and -s, sometimes in the same play.
Once these substitutions become automatic, which usually takes a few pages, the endings stop registering as strange at all.
Word Order and Negatives
Shakespeare arranges words more freely than modern English does, especially in verse.
To fit the meter, or to put a key word in a strong position, he often moves the object or the verb. Sonnet 20 opens with its object, “A woman’s face with Nature’s own hand painted / Hast thou,” meaning “You have a woman’s face,” and Sonnet 30 puts the verb before its subject in “Then can I drown an eye.” The fix is to find the subject and the verb first, then put the rest in place around them. Questions and negatives also work differently. Where we add “do,” Shakespeare often does not: “I know not” for “I don’t know,” “Love alters not” in Sonnet 116, and “What say you?” for “What do you say?”
Two smaller patterns are worth knowing. After if, verbs often take the plain form be, as in “If this be error and upon me proved” in Sonnet 116. And double negatives add emphasis rather than cancel out, as in “I never writ, nor no man ever loved.” For the full picture of how his sentences are built, see our guide to Shakespeare’s grammar and syntax.
Contractions and Dropped Syllables
Apostrophes in Shakespeare usually mean that a letter or a syllable has been dropped to fit the rhythm of the line.
Some are familiar: ’tis for “it is,” ’twas for “it was,” o’er for “over,” e’en for “even,” and ne’er for “never.” Others join words: th’ for “the,” as in “Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame,” the opening of Sonnet 129. The ending -’d, as in lov’d, shows that -ed is not pronounced as a separate syllable. When a modern edition prints -èd instead, as in stretchèd, the syllable is sounded. These marks are there to help you hear the iambic pentameter.
Words That Changed Meaning
The most misleading words in Shakespeare are not the strange ones but the familiar ones whose meanings have shifted.
A reader who meets an unknown word knows to look it up. A reader who meets fond assumes it means affectionate and misreads the line without noticing. These words are worth learning on purpose, because they cause confident mistakes rather than obvious confusion.
Fond is the classic case. In Sonnet 3, “who is he so fond will be the tomb / Of his self-love” asks what man would be foolish enough, not affectionate enough, to let his line die with him.
Small Words Worth Knowing
A handful of short words appear so often that learning them removes a surprising amount of difficulty.
Wherefore is the most famous misreading in Shakespeare. When Juliet asks, “O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?” she is not asking where he is. She is asking why he has to be Romeo, a Montague, the son of her family’s enemy. For hundreds more words like these, see the A to Z glossary.
How to Read Without Getting Stuck
You do not need to translate Shakespeare word by word, and trying to usually makes reading slower.
Read a whole sentence first, to the full stop rather than the end of the line, and get its general direction. Then go back for the words that did not make sense. Reading aloud helps more than most people expect: Shakespeare wrote for the ear, and rhythm and emphasis often carry the meaning even when a word or two is unclear. It also helps to find the one or two words that carry the weight of a line, since the rest often adds tone rather than sense.
The language does not become modern, but it does become readable, and then more than readable. For a step-by-step approach to the poems, see how to read a Shakespeare sonnet.
Common Questions
The questions readers ask most often about Shakespeare’s language, answered briefly.
Did Shakespeare Write in Old English?
No. He wrote in Early Modern English, an early form of the English we speak today. Old English is the much older language of Beowulf, and it is unreadable without special study.
What Is the Difference Between Thou and You?
Thou addresses one person familiarly, whether a friend, a lover, a child, or someone being insulted. You addresses more than one person, or one person politely.
What Does “Wherefore Art Thou Romeo” Mean?
“Why are you Romeo?” Juliet is asking why the man she loves has to belong to her family’s enemy, not where he is.
What Does “Doth” Mean?
Does. Doth is the old form used with he, she, or it, as in “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”
Did Shakespeare Invent Words?
Many words and phrases are first recorded in his work, though some were probably already in use and simply not written down earlier. Our guide to words and phrases Shakespeare gave us covers the best-known examples.
Related Reading
Three guides that take the language further.