Shakespearean English Translator
Translate modern English into Shakespearean English with thou, thee, thy, -est and -eth endings and period words like prithee and anon.
Translations come from our own dictionaries and grammar rules for this language. Short phrases are most reliable; check important text, such as tattoos, with an expert. Send feedback
What is Shakespearean English?
Shakespearean English is the Early Modern English of William Shakespeare’s plays and poems, written between about 1590 and 1613. It is modern English in grammar and most vocabulary, but with features that have since disappeared: thou and thee for one familiar person, verb endings like -est and -eth, and words such as prithee, anon and wherefore.
This translator rewrites modern English in a natural Shakespearean style, without parody, and explains Shakespearean lines in plain modern English.
How to use the Shakespearean English translator
- Type or paste English. Up to 500 characters per translation on the free credits: a name, a motto, a message or a short passage.
- Pick the direction. English โ Shakespearean English is the default. Press โ to read Shakespearean English words back into English.
- Press Translate (or Ctrl + Enter). The result appears at once, with a reading line where the script needs one.
- Listen. Press ๐ Listen to hear it. Where your device has no voice for this language, it reads the transliteration with the closest voice and says “approximate”.
- Copy it and read the notes under the result: they name any word we kept in English.
How the Shakespearean English translator works
This translator runs on our own server from a Shakespearean English dictionary and a set of grammar rules written for this language. It does not send your text to an outside service or an AI model, so results are instant and the same every time. The dictionary holds 158 words, 147 set phrases and 32 conjugated verbs.
For each sentence it first looks for the longest known phrase, then translates word by word and applies the rules below:
- thou, thee, thy and thine used for “you” and “your”
- -est and -eth verb endings: thou knowest, she walketh
- period words such as prithee, ere, anon and methinks
- contractions of the time: ’tis, ’twas, o’er, ne’er
Examples: real Shakespearean English output
These results come straight from the tool, unedited:
| You type | Result | Reading / script |
|---|---|---|
| Hello, how are you today? | Good morrow, how dost thou this day? | โ |
| You are my best friend and I love you. | Thou art my dearest friend and I love thee. | โ |
| She walks to the market every morning. | She walketh to the market every morn. | โ |
Names, and any word the dictionary does not have, are kept as you wrote them and listed in the notes, so you never get an invented word.
Is this the best Shakespearean English translator?
Translation apps such as Google Translate only translate between languages, so they cannot turn everyday English into Shakespearean English. Chatbots can rewrite a style, but the result changes every time and is easy to overdo. This tool is predictable: each change comes from a written list of phrases and words, the same input always gives the same result, and anything it does not recognise is left exactly as you wrote it. It works best on short messages, captions and sentences. Read the result once before you use it, and adjust any line where the tone is not quite right.
Common Shakespearean English words and phrases
Common Shakespearean words with their modern meaning.
| English | Shakespearean English | Reading / note |
|---|---|---|
| Why | wherefore | “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” means “why are you Romeo?” |
| Please | prithee | from “I pray thee” |
| Soon, at once | anon | |
| Indeed, truly | forsooth | |
| Good morning | good morrow | |
| You are (one friend) | thou art | |
| Farewell | fare thee well / adieu | |
| Perhaps | perchance | |
| Listen! | hark | |
| Nothing | naught |
History and origins
Early Modern English runs from about 1500 to 1700. Printing standardised spelling, the Great Vowel Shift changed long vowels, and Renaissance writers coined or borrowed thousands of words. Shakespeare is credited with the first recorded use of many words and phrases, though some were probably already in speech. The King James Bible (1611) is the other great text of the period.
Writing system
Spelling was not yet fixed. The First Folio of 1623 prints “loue” for love and “vpon” for upon, because u and v were still variants of one letter, as were i and j. Modern editions update the spelling but keep the grammar and words, as this translator does.
How Shakespearean English sounded
Scholars such as David Crystal have reconstructed “Original Pronunciation”: r was pronounced after vowels, and many words rhymed that don’t today (“love” with “prove”). Some theatres, including Shakespeare’s Globe in London, have staged plays this way.
Famous texts
- Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Othello.
- Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- The 154 Sonnets (published 1609).
- The King James Bible (1611), the same stage of English.
Is Shakespearean English still used today?
Early Modern English is the direct ancestor of today’s English, so it is still understood with effort. Some features survive: thou in a few Yorkshire and Lancashire dialects, and many idioms such as “break the ice” and “wild-goose chase”.
How to learn Shakespearean English
Read the plays in an edition with notes on the facing page (the Folger and Arden editions are excellent), and watch performances. The free Folger Shakespeare website has the full texts.
Before you use a translation for a tattoo, motto or gift
- Thou is not “more polite”. It was familiar or intimate; use you for a formal address.
- Match verbs to pronouns: thou art, thou hast, thou wilt.
- Don’t overdo it. One or two archaic words read better than a sentence full of them.
Sources
David Crystal and Ben Crystal, Shakespeare’s Words (2002); Folger Shakespeare Library digital texts; Oxford English Dictionary.