# How doth Shakespeare decide which verbs end in "-th"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 19, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013 "2010-03-19T14:52:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ITR\_champion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c67d28/32.png) [@ITR\_champion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ITR_champion)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/1 "2010-03-19T14:52:07Z")
When reading Shakespeare or the King James Version of the Bible or any other English text from that period, some verbs end in “-th” or “-st” while others don’t. [This page](http://www.kjv-only.com/theethou.html) explains the grammatical basis, namely that only third person singular verbs should end in “-th” and second person singular verbs should end in “-st”. However, these endings are used only part of the time even in those cases. Was there any rule or convention for determining when these endings were used, or was it random? PS: Could a mod please fix the thread title? Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/2 "2010-03-19T14:56:01Z")
The English language was changing in Shakespeare’s time and so to a degree, it was all in flux. Add to that the fact that Shakespeare was a poet and regularly took license not only with all kinds of grammatical “rules” but also with syntax in the construction of his verse. The KJV is considerably more staid in its grammar and syntax, despite also being verse. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/3 "2010-03-19T14:58:49Z")
The -th for the third-person singular changed into -s in present-day English: “He loveth” became “He loves”. So they knew when to do it much in the same way as you know when to add -s to verbs: by hearing it many times, and generalising the practice to all but some irregular exceptions (like “He is” and “He has”). ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/4 "2010-03-19T15:33:34Z")
To put the two posts above together, both “he hath” and “he has” would have sounded “right” to Shakespeare, much the same way that “either” can be (eye-thur) or (ee-thur) to us. In his day, “has” (and -s in general) was spreading at the expense of “hath,” so “hath” may have nuances for his audience (class, region, old-fashioned). And sometimes the choice of [-s] or [-th] isn’t Shakesey so much as the editor of the First Folio or even the Folger Shakespeare Library. What he did NOT do is the modern practice of sticking a -th on the end of verbs whenever he wanted sound old-fashioned, e.g. “Goeth to the store and getteth me some pop-tarts.” That would have sounded as stupid to him as it does to us. He also didn’t rhyme “doth” with “moth,” one of my pet peeves. (Cite: [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doth](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/doth)) ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Robson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gary_robson/32/3448_2.png) [@Gary\_Robson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Robson)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/5 "2010-03-19T17:29:51Z")
> [@ITR\_champion](#): > > PS: Could a mod please fix the thread title? Thank you. [moderating] Spelling in title changed from “Skaespeare” to “Shakespeare.” [/moderating] ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/6 "2010-03-19T18:00:55Z")
[quote=“Gary “Wombat” Robson, post:5, topic:533013”] [moderating] Spelling in title changed from “Skaespeare” to “Shakespeare.” [/moderating] [/QUOTE] Maybe the OP fell aspleep[.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=555278) ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/7 "2010-03-19T19:44:39Z")
oops ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/8 "2010-03-19T23:33:21Z")
> [@Dr Drake](#): > > To put the two posts above together, both “he hath” and “he has” would have sounded “right” to Shakespeare, much the same way that “either” can be (eye-thur) or (ee-thur) to us. Extreme example in _Taming of the Shrew_ I.i: > [@](#): > > PETRUCHIO: Why does the world report that Kate doth limp? “Does” and “doth” are exactly the same word in meaning, person and number; the choice of different conjugation endings for it in different instances seems to be a purely aesthetic decision. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/9 "2010-03-20T14:36:53Z")
Maybe Saekspere hathed the same keyeborad I doth. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2010, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-doth-shakespeare-decide-which-verbs-end-in-th/533013/10 "2010-03-20T15:30:31Z")
> [@md2000](#): > > Maybe Saekspere hathed the same keyeborad I doth. Or he just guesthed.