Home › Text Tools › Shakespearean English Translator
Shakespearean English Translator
Write a sentence the way you would say it today and get it back in the style of Shakespeare's plays: you becomes thou or thee, are becomes art, does becomes doth, and hello becomes good morrow. A table lists every change so you can learn the patterns.
Last updated:
Enter your values to see the result.
Advertisement
Advertisement
How to use the Shakespearean English Translator
- Type or paste modern English into the box.
- Read the translation, which updates as you type.
- Tick “Add flourishes” for extra theatrical flavor.
- Check the changes table to see each modern → Shakespearean swap.
- Click Copy results to copy the text.
Pronouns and verbs: the core rules
| Modern | Shakespearean | Example |
|---|---|---|
| you (subject) | thou | Thou art my friend. |
| you (object) | thee | I thank thee. |
| your | thy / thine (before a vowel) | thy sister, thine eyes |
| yours | thine | The choice is thine. |
| you all | ye | Hear me, ye people. |
| you are / were | thou art / wert | Where art thou? |
| you have / do / will / can | thou hast / dost / wilt / canst | Dost thou know? |
| you + verb | verb + -est | thou lovest, thou knowest |
| he/she does / has / says | doth / hath / saith | She hath a cat. |
| he/she + verb-s | verb + -eth | He loveth, she goeth |
Handy Shakespearean words
| Modern | Shakespearean | Modern | Shakespearean |
|---|---|---|---|
| hello | good morrow | goodbye | fare thee well |
| yes / no | aye / nay | why | wherefore |
| maybe | perchance | before | ere |
| I think | methinks | please | prithee |
| often | oft | soon | anon |
| nothing | naught | between | betwixt |
| it is / it was | ’tis / ’twas | listen | hark |
| come here | come hither | from where | whence |
Frequently asked questions
Is Shakespeare's English the same as Old English?
No. Shakespeare (1564–1616) wrote Early Modern English, which modern readers can mostly understand. Old English (Anglo-Saxon, roughly 450–1150) is a very different language that needs real translation; this tool produces Early Modern English.
When do you use thou and when thee?
Thou is the subject (thou art kind) and thee is the object (I love thee), just like I and me. Thy and thine mean your: thy before a consonant (thy book) and thine before a vowel sound or on its own (thine eyes, the book is thine).
Why does the verb change after thou?
In Early Modern English, verbs after thou take -est or -st: thou lovest, thou knowest, thou art, thou hast, thou dost, thou wilt, thou canst. The translator adds these endings automatically.
What does -eth mean in doth and loveth?
-eth was the third-person singular ending used where we now use -s: he loveth (he loves), she goeth (she goes), it doth (it does), he hath (he has). Shakespeare used both -eth and -s forms.
Does wherefore mean where?
No, wherefore means why. Juliet's “Wherefore art thou Romeo?” asks why he is Romeo (a Montague), not where he is. The translator converts why to wherefore.
Is the translation historically perfect?
It is a rule-based approximation for fun, school projects and writing practice. Real Early Modern English also differs in vocabulary, word order and spelling, so a scholar would phrase some sentences differently.
Are all the tools on FreeToolCabin tested for quality and accuracy?
Yes! Every tool on our site undergoes automated Q/A testing in real browser environments to ensure high precision, correct output, and zero errors. If you happen to spot a bug or have a suggestion, please contact us at [email protected] and our team will review it right away.
Related tools
Pirate Speak TranslatorTranslate English into pirate talk with a 500+ phrase dictionary, exclamations and read aloud.Old English Text GeneratorConvert text to Old English Unicode letters you can copy and paste anywhere.Pig Latin TranslatorTranslate English to Pig Latin and back, keeping capital letters and punctuation intact.Leet Speak TranslatorTurn text into 1337 speak at basic, medium or advanced level, or decode leet back to English.Bibliography GeneratorBuild an alphabetized bibliography in APA 7, MLA 9, Chicago or Harvard style.Accent KeyboardClick to insert é, ñ, ü, ç, ß and other accented letters for 11 languages, then copy.Cyrillic TransliterationConvert Bulgarian, Russian and Ukrainian Cyrillic to Latin and back using official rules.Arabic KeyboardType Arabic online with a full on-screen keyboard, harakat and Arabic-Indic digits, then copy.Russian KeyboardType Russian online with a ЙЦУКЕН or phonetic on-screen keyboard, then copy your Cyrillic text.NATO Phonetic Alphabet TranslatorSpell any text as Alfa, Bravo, Charlie, hear it spoken, or decode code words back to text.Hindi KeyboardType Hindi online with an InScript or phonetic Devanagari keyboard, then copy your text.Urdu KeyboardType Urdu online with a phonetic keyboard or Roman Urdu typing, then copy your Urdu text.Persian KeyboardType Persian (Farsi) online with the standard ISIRI layout or Finglish typing, then copy.Greek KeyboardType Greek online with the standard Greek layout or Greeklish, accents included, then copy.Hebrew KeyboardType Hebrew online with the standard Israeli layout or phonetic typing, with niqqud.Korean KeyboardType Korean Hangul online with the 2-set Dubeolsik keyboard; jamo combine automatically.Ukrainian KeyboardType Ukrainian online with the ЙЦУКЕН keyboard or Latin translit, incl. ї, є, ґ and ʼ.Bulgarian KeyboardType Bulgarian online with the BDS or phonetic keyboard or Latin typing, then copy.Bengali KeyboardType Bengali (Bangla) online with InScript or phonetic typing, then copy your text.Tamil KeyboardType Tamil online with the InScript layout or phonetic (Tanglish) typing, then copy.Thai KeyboardType Thai online with the standard Kedmanee keyboard layout, then copy your Thai text.Gujarati KeyboardType Gujarati online with InScript or phonetic English typing, then copy your text.Punjabi KeyboardType Punjabi (Gurmukhi) online with InScript or phonetic typing, then copy your text.Armenian KeyboardType Armenian online with the phonetic keyboard or Latin typing, then copy your text.Amharic KeyboardType Amharic online in Ge’ez script (ፊደል): consonant + vowel phonetic typing, then copy.Burmese KeyboardType Burmese (Myanmar Unicode) online with the standard layout, then copy your text.Czech KeyboardType Czech online with č, ř, š, ž, ě, ů and á using the Czech QWERTZ layout or shortcuts.French KeyboardType French online with é, è, ç, à, ê and œ: AZERTY layout, accent shortcuts and buttons.Georgian KeyboardType Georgian online (Mkhedruli) with a phonetic QWERTY keyboard and copy your text.German KeyboardType German online with ä, ö, ü and ß: QWERTZ layout, umlaut shortcuts and quick buttons.Hieroglyphics TranslatorWrite your name in Egyptian hieroglyphs with a cartouche, key chart and PNG download.Hungarian KeyboardType Hungarian online with ő, ű, á, é and ö using the Hungarian QWERTZ layout or shortcuts.Italian KeyboardType Italian online with à, è, é, ì, ò and ù using the Italian layout or accent shortcuts.Japanese KeyboardType Japanese hiragana and katakana online from romaji or the JIS kana layout, then copy.Kannada KeyboardType Kannada online with phonetic English typing or the InScript Kannada layout, then copy.Kazakh KeyboardType Kazakh online in Cyrillic with ә, і, ң, ғ, ү, ұ, қ, ө and һ, or phonetically.Khmer KeyboardType Khmer (Cambodian) online with the standard NiDA keyboard, subscripts and copy.Kurdish KeyboardType Kurdish online: Sorani (Arabic script, right to left) or Kurmanji (Latin with ç ê î ş û).Your Name in JapaneseWrite your name in Japanese katakana with romaji reading, spelling options and a name card.Lao KeyboardType Lao online with the standard Lao keyboard layout, tone marks and Lao digits, then copy.Macedonian KeyboardType Macedonian online in Cyrillic with ѓ, ќ, ѕ, џ, љ, њ, using the layout or phonetic Latin.Malayalam KeyboardType Malayalam online with phonetic English typing or InScript, including chillu letters.Marathi KeyboardType Marathi online with the InScript Devanagari keyboard or phonetic typing, then copy.Mongolian KeyboardType Mongolian Cyrillic online with ө and ү, using the Mongolian layout or phonetic Latin.Nepali KeyboardType Nepali online with Romanized phonetic typing or InScript Devanagari, then copy.Pashto KeyboardType Pashto online right-to-left with ټ, ډ, ړ, ږ, ښ, ځ, څ, ڼ, ګ, ې and ۍ, then copy.Polish KeyboardType Polish online with ą, ć, ę, ł, ń, ó, ś, ź and ż using shortcuts or the Polish layout.Portuguese KeyboardType Portuguese online with ã, õ, ç, á and ê: Brazilian ABNT2, Portugal layout and shortcuts.Romanian KeyboardType Romanian online with ă, â, î, ș and ț (comma below) with the standard layout or shortcuts.Rune TranslatorWrite English in Elder Futhark, Younger Futhark or Anglo-Saxon runes and read runes back.Serbian KeyboardType Serbian online in Cyrillic or Latin, or convert Latin typing to Cyrillic as you type.Sign Language Alphabet TranslatorTurn English text into ASL fingerspelling hand signs, play them letter by letter, save as PNG.Sindhi KeyboardType Sindhi online right-to-left with all 52 letters, including ٻ ڄ ڏ ڳ and ڪ, then copy.Sinhala KeyboardType Sinhala online with Singlish phonetic typing or the Wijesekara layout, then copy.Spanish KeyboardType Spanish online with ñ, á, é, ¿ and ¡: Spanish layout, accent shortcuts and quick buttons.Telugu KeyboardType Telugu online with phonetic English typing or the InScript Telugu layout, then copy.Turkish KeyboardType Turkish online with ç, ğ, ı, İ, ö, ş and ü using the Turkish Q layout or shortcuts.Vietnamese KeyboardType Vietnamese online with Telex, VNI or the Vietnamese layout, with every tone mark.Greek AlphabetAll 24 Greek letters with names, pronunciation and uses; copy symbols, LaTeX and HTML codes.Simplified to Traditional Chinese ConverterConvert Simplified Chinese to Traditional (Taiwan, Hong Kong) and back, live, in your browser.Chinese Stroke OrderAnimated stroke order for any Chinese character, with practice mode and printable grids.Chinese to Pinyin ConverterConvert Chinese characters to pinyin with tone marks, numbers or none, shown above each character.DNA to Protein TranslatorTranslate DNA or RNA into protein in all six reading frames with stop codons highlighted.English Verb ConjugatorConjugate any English verb in all 12 tenses, with past tense, participles and irregular forms.Gematria CalculatorGematria values for words and phrases in English, Simple, Jewish and Hebrew ciphers.Gen Z Slang TranslatorTranslate Gen Z slang to plain English and back, with a definition for every term on hover.Hiragana and Katakana QuizLearn the Japanese kana with a chart, flashcards and a timed typing quiz that tracks your mistakes.Korean Romanization ConverterConvert Hangul to Revised Romanization with sound-change rules, plus McCune–Reischauer.