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shouldst

shouldst

9.9
To be an old form people used with 'thou' to give advice or talk about duty
  • auxiliary
  • /ʃʊdʌst/
  • Archaic
translation icon : deberías
  • Why shouldst thou worry?

Examples

  • Never shouldst thou forget the lessons of the past.

  • Thou shouldst not fear!

  • If thou shouldst find the key, bring it to me at once.

  • He asked, 'What shouldst thou do in such a situation?'

  • If thou shouldst find the key, bring it to me at once.

  • Thou shouldst not fear the unknown.

  • What shouldst thou say to them at the gathering?

Synonyms

shouldest
vsshouldst
  • Archaic
9.9

To be an old second-person form used with thou to show duty or advice

is the same form but spelled in a different way

Surface Forms

shouldst infinitive

Morphology

shouldst = should (transparent) = should + st

Formed by adding the archaic 2nd-person singular inflection '-st' to the modal 'should', preserving the verb's meaning but marking 'thou'.

Etymology

Shouldst is the old form of should made by adding the ending -st that was used with 'thou', the old word for 'you'. So shouldst simply means 'you should' or 'you ought to', and appears in old texts when someone speaks to one person.