This lesson examines one of the most versatile words in Elizabethan English: the verb do in its various forms. For the autodidact student working through Shakespeare, the King James Bible, or other Early Modern English texts, understanding “do” proves essential—it functions both as a main verb meaning “to perform, accomplish, or act” and as an auxiliary verb that was undergoing dramatic grammatical change during the Elizabethan period.
Course Index:
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FAQ: What does “do” mean in Elizabethan English?
In Elizabethan English, “do” (and its conjugated forms “doth,” “dost,” “didst,” “done”) serves multiple grammatical functions: as a main verb meaning to perform or accomplish an action; as an auxiliary verb in questions and negations (though this use was still developing); and as an emphatic marker to stress the verb that follows. The pronunciation followed Early Modern English norms, with the vowel closer to [uː] than modern English.
How This Lesson Uses “Do”
The fifteen examples below demonstrate “do” and its conjugated forms across various grammatical contexts—as main verb, auxiliary, and emphatic marker. You will encounter the characteristic Elizabethan conjugations: “doth” and “does” for third person singular, “dost” for second person singular with “thou,” and “didst” for past tense with “thou.”
Key Takeaways -
“Doth” [dʌθ] represents the older third person singular form, while “does” [dʌz] was increasingly common—Shakespeare uses both -
“Dost” [dʌst] pairs exclusively with “thou” for intimate or inferior address -
Elizabethan speakers could form questions without “do” auxiliary (”Know you the man?”) where modern English requires it -
Emphatic “do” in affirmative statements was far more common than in modern English -
The “-tion” ending in words like “action” was pronounced as two syllables [sɪən], not modern [ʃən]
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Elizabethan English (also called Early Modern English or Original Pronunciation) differed significantly from modern Received Pronunciation or General American. Key features include:
Rhoticity: All written “r” sounds were pronounced, including after vowels. “Lord” sounded closer to [lɔːɹd] with a clear [ɹ].
The “-tion/-sion” Endings: These were pronounced as two distinct syllables [sɪən] or [sjən], not modern [ʃən]. Thus “action” was [ak.sɪən], “passion” was [pa.sɪən].
Vowel Shifts: Many vowels had not yet completed the Great Vowel Shift. The “oo” in “do” was [uː], the “a” in words like “make” was more open [ɛː].
The “Happy” Ending: Final unstressed “-y” was pronounced with a diphthong [əɪ], rhyming roughly with “eye.”
This lesson marks pronunciations in IPA reflecting these period norms.
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1.1a What dost thou here in darkness?
1.1b What (ʍɔt) what dost (dʌst) do-2SG thou (ðaʊ) you-familiar here (hiːɹ) here in (ɪn) in darkness (daɹk.nəs) darkness
1.2a The king doth ride to battle at the morrow.
1.2b The (ðə) the king (kɪŋ) king doth (dʌθ) does ride (ɹəɪd) ride to (tuː) to battle (ba.təl) battle at (at) at the (ðə) the morrow (mɔ.ɹoː) morrow
1.3a I do protest mine innocence before God.
1.3b I (əɪ) I do (duː) do-EMPH protest (pɹoː.tɛst) protest mine (məɪn) my innocence (ɪ.noː.səns) innocence before (bɪ.fɔːɹ) before God (gɔd) God
1.4a Didst thou mark how pale she grew?
1.4b Didst (dɪdst) did-2SG thou (ðaʊ) you-familiar mark (maɹk) mark how (haʊ) how pale (pɛːl) pale she (ʃiː) she grew (gɹuː) grew
1.5a They do nothing but complain of their condition.
1.5b They (ðɛɪ) they do (duː) do nothing (nʌ.θɪŋ) nothing but (bʌt) but complain (kəm.plɛɪn) complain of (ɔv) of their (ðɛːɹ) their condition (kən.dɪ.sɪən) condition
1.6a What hath he done to merit such reward?
1.6b What (ʍɔt) what hath (haθ) has he (hiː) he done (dʌn) done to (tuː) to merit (mɛ.ɹɪt) merit such (sʌtʃ) such reward (ɹɪ.wɔːɹd) reward
1.7a She doth embroider with exceeding skill.
1.7b She (ʃiː) she doth (dʌθ) does embroider (ɛm.bɹɔɪ.dəɹ) embroider with (wɪθ) with exceeding (ɛk.siː.dɪŋ) exceeding skill (skɪl) skill
1.8a Do ye remember when first we met?
1.8b Do (duː) do ye (jiː) you-plural remember (ɹɪ.mɛm.bəɹ) remember when (ʍɛn) when first (fəɹst) first we (wiː) we met (mɛt) met
1.9a The physician doth prescribe a bitter potion.
1.9b The (ðə) the physician (fɪ.zɪ.sɪən) physician doth (dʌθ) does prescribe (pɹɪ.skɹəɪb) prescribe a (ə) a bitter (bɪ.təɹ) bitter potion (poː.sɪən) potion
1.10a How does thy father in his great age?
1.10b How (haʊ) how does (dʌz) does thy (ðəɪ) your-familiar father (fa.ðəɹ) father in (ɪn) in his (hɪz) his great (gɹɛːt) great age (ɛːdʒ) age
1.11a We did feast upon roasted venison and manchet bread.
1.11b We (wiː) we did (dɪd) did feast (fiːst) feast upon (ə.pɔn) upon roasted (ɹoːs.tɪd) roasted venison (vɛ.nɪ.zən) venison and (and) and manchet (man.tʃɪt) manchet bread (bɹɛd) bread
1.12a Dost thou take me for a fool?
1.12b Dost (dʌst) do-2SG thou (ðaʊ) you-familiar take (tɛːk) take me (miː) me for (fɔːɹ) for a (ə) a fool (fuːl) fool
1.13a The players do present a tragedy of blood.
1.13b The (ðə) the players (plɛɪ.əɹz) players do (duː) do present (pɹɪ.zɛnt) present a (ə) a tragedy (tra.dʒə.dəɪ) tragedy of (ɔv) of blood (blʌd) blood
1.14a I do beseech your Grace to hear my petition.
1.14b I (əɪ) I do (duː) do-EMPH beseech (bɪ.siːtʃ) beseech your (jɔːɹ) your Grace (gɹɛːs) Grace to (tuː) to hear (hiːɹ) hear my (məɪ) my petition (pɪ.tɪ.sɪən) petition
1.15a What she doth in private concerneth none but herself.
1.15b What (ʍɔt) what she (ʃiː) she doth (dʌθ) does in (ɪn) in private (pɹəɪ.vət) private concerneth (kən.səɹ.nəθ) concerns none (nʌn) none but (bʌt) but herself (həɹ.sɛlf) herself
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1.1 What dost thou here in darkness?
1.2 The king doth ride to battle at the morrow.
1.3 I do protest mine innocence before God.
1.4 Didst thou mark how pale she grew?
1.5 They do nothing but complain of their condition.
1.6 What hath he done to merit such reward?
1.7 She doth embroider with exceeding skill.
1.8 Do ye remember when first we met?
1.9 The physician doth prescribe a bitter potion.
1.10 How does thy father in his great age?
1.11 We did feast upon roasted venison and manchet bread.
1.12 Dost thou take me for a fool?
1.13 The players do present a tragedy of blood.
1.14 I do beseech your Grace to hear my petition.
1.15 What she doth in private concerneth none but herself.
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What dost thou here in darkness? The king doth ride to battle at the morrow. I do protest mine innocence before God. Didst thou mark how pale she grew? They do nothing but complain of their condition. What hath he done to merit such reward? She doth embroider with exceeding skill. Do ye remember when first we met? The physician doth prescribe a bitter potion. How does thy father in his great age? We did feast upon roasted venison and manchet bread. Dost thou take me for a fool? The players do present a tragedy of blood. I do beseech your Grace to hear my petition. What she doth in private concerneth none but herself.
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The Conjugation of “Do” in Elizabethan English
The verb “do” follows the characteristic Early Modern English conjugation pattern, with distinctive forms for second person singular (when used with “thou”) and third person singular:
Present Tense: I do [duː], thou dost [dʌst], he/she/it doth [dʌθ] or does [dʌz], we do, ye do, they do
Past Tense: I did [dɪd], thou didst [dɪdst], he/she/it did, we did, ye did, they did
Past Participle: done [dʌn]
The Three Functions of “Do”
In Elizabethan English, “do” operates in three distinct grammatical roles:
First, as a main verb meaning “to perform, accomplish, or act,” as in “What hath he done to merit such reward?” Here “done” carries full semantic weight, referring to specific actions performed.
Second, as an auxiliary verb in questions and negative statements. However—and this marks a crucial difference from modern English—Elizabethan speakers could form questions without the “do” auxiliary through simple inversion: “Know you the hour?” rather than “Do you know the hour?” Both constructions appear in Shakespeare, with the non-periphrastic form (without “do”) representing older usage that was gradually giving way to the modern pattern.
Third, as an emphatic marker in affirmative statements. Modern English reserves this use for special emphasis (”I do believe you”), but Elizabethan writers employed emphatic “do” far more freely, often for rhythm or slight intensification: “I do protest mine innocence.” This usage was especially common in verse, where it provided poets an additional unstressed syllable for metrical purposes.
Doth vs. Does
Shakespeare uses both “doth” and “does” for third person singular present, sometimes within the same play. The “-th” ending represents the older form, still dominant in formal and literary contexts, while “-s” was increasingly common in everyday speech. The choice between them often depended on metre, register, or regional preference rather than strict grammatical rule.
Questions Without “Do”
Note that many Elizabethan questions omit the auxiliary “do” entirely: “Know you the cause?” “Think you he speaks true?” “Goes he to France?” This older construction, inherited from Middle English, places the main verb before the subject. Modern English has lost this flexibility, requiring “do” support in all such questions except with the verb “to be” and modal auxiliaries.
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The Great Do-Shift
Elizabethan England witnessed one of the most significant syntactic changes in English history: the grammaticalization of “do” as an obligatory auxiliary in questions and negations. In Old and Middle English, speakers formed questions through simple subject-verb inversion: “Knowest thou?” In Early Modern English, this older pattern competed with the emerging “do” periphrasis: “Dost thou know?”
By Shakespeare’s time (late 16th to early 17th century), both constructions coexisted, with the “do” form gradually winning out. Scholars studying Shakespeare’s texts have documented the transition in progress—his earlier plays show more of the older inversions, while his later works increasingly employ “do” support. The King James Bible (1611), deliberately archaic in style, preserves many of the older constructions.
Why This Change Occurred
The rise of “do” periphrasis correlates with the loss of verbal inflections. In Old English, rich verb endings clearly marked person, number, and tense. As these endings eroded through Middle English, speakers needed new ways to signal grammatical relationships. The auxiliary “do” stepped into this gap, carrying tense marking while the main verb appeared in its base form.
“Do” and Social Register
In Shakespeare’s plays, the choice between older and newer grammatical forms often signals character, status, or emotional state. Highly formal or archaic-sounding speech tends toward “doth” and inverted questions without “do”; rapid, colloquial dialogue favors “does” and the newer “do” constructions. Actors and directors studying original pronunciation note how these choices shape character portrayal.
The “-tion” Pronunciation
One of the most striking differences between Elizabethan and modern pronunciation involves the “-tion” and “-sion” endings. Where modern speakers say [ʃən] (as in “nation” = NAY-shun), Elizabethan speakers pronounced these as two syllables: [sɪən] or [sjən] (as in “nation” = NAY-see-un). This affects scansion in Shakespeare’s verse—”passion” counts as three syllables (PA-see-un), not two. Understanding this helps readers appreciate the rhythm of Renaissance poetry.
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William Shakespeare, Hamlet (c. 1600): “What a piece of work is a man! How noble in reason, how infinite in faculty! In form and moving how express and admirable! In action how like an angel, in apprehension how like a god!” Here “action” [ak.sɪən] carries its full Elizabethan three-syllable pronunciation.
William Shakespeare, Macbeth (c. 1606): “If it were done when ‘tis done, then ‘twere well / It were done quickly.” This famous passage plays on “done” as both completed action and moral deed—the word’s semantic range encompassing accomplishment, performance, and finished state.
William Shakespeare, The Tempest (c. 1611): “What seest thou else / In the dark backward and abysm of time?” The older form “seest” appears without “do” auxiliary, demonstrating the question-by-inversion pattern.
The Book of Common Prayer (1549, revised 1559): “We have left undone those things which we ought to have done; and we have done those things which we ought not to have done.” This liturgical parallel structure exploits the full range of “do/done” in its performative sense.
King James Bible (1611), Ecclesiastes 3:14: “I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it.” The formal “doeth” represents the elevated register appropriate to scripture, where “does” would sound too colloquial.
Christopher Marlowe, Doctor Faustus (c. 1592): “What doctrine call you this, Che sera, sera, / What will be, shall be? Divinity, adieu!” Marlowe’s Faustus employs the inverted question “What doctrine call you this?” without “do” auxiliary.
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The following dialogue demonstrates “do” in its various functions within a theatrical context, representing the kind of speech audiences would have heard at the Globe Theatre circa 1600.
2.1a What dost thou think of this new play?
2.1b What (ʍɔt) what dost (dʌst) do-2SG thou (ðaʊ) you-familiar think (θɪŋk) think of (ɔv) of this (ðɪs) this new (njuː) new play (plɛɪ) play
2.2a Marry, I do like it passing well.
2.2b Marry (ma.ɹəɪ) indeed I (əɪ) I do (duː) do-EMPH like (ləɪk) like it (ɪt) it passing (pa.sɪŋ) surpassingly well (wɛl) well
2.3a The groundlings do grow restless in the yard.
2.3b The (ðə) the groundlings (gɹaʊnd.lɪŋz) groundlings do (duː) do grow (gɹoː) grow restless (ɹɛst.ləs) restless in (ɪn) in the (ðə) the yard (jaɹd) yard
2.4a Doth the clown come on anon?
2.4b Doth (dʌθ) does the (ðə) the clown (klaʊn) clown come (kʌm) come on (ɔn) on anon (ə.nɔn) soon
2.5a Aye, he doth murder the King’s English most grievously.
2.5b Aye (əɪ) yes he (hiː) he doth (dʌθ) does murder (mʌɹ.dəɹ) murder the (ðə) the King’s (kɪŋz) King’s English (ɪŋ.glɪʃ) English most (moːst) most grievously (gɹiː.vəs.ləɪ) grievously
2.6a Did Will Kemp play this part aforetime?
2.6b Did (dɪd) did Will (wɪl) Will Kemp (kɛmp) Kemp play (plɛɪ) play this (ðɪs) this part (paɹt) part aforetime (ə.fɔːɹ.təɪm) formerly
2.7a Nay, Robert Armin does it now with subtler wit.
2.7b Nay (nɛɪ) no Robert (ɹɔ.bəɹt) Robert Armin (aɹ.mɪn) Armin does (dʌz) does it (ɪt) it now (naʊ) now with (wɪθ) with subtler (sʌt.ləɹ) subtler wit (wɪt) wit
2.8a What do they call this tragedy?
2.8b What (ʍɔt) what do (duː) do they (ðɛɪ) they call (kɔːl) call this (ðɪs) this tragedy (tra.dʒə.dəɪ) tragedy
2.9a They do name it the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
2.9b They (ðɛɪ) they do (duː) do name (nɛːm) name it (ɪt) it the (ðə) the Tragedy (tra.dʒə.dəɪ) Tragedy of (ɔv) of Hamlet (ham.lət) Hamlet Prince (pɹɪns) Prince of (ɔv) of Denmark (dɛn.maɹk) Denmark
2.10a Dost thou know the action of the plot?
2.10b Dost (dʌst) do-2SG thou (ðaʊ) you-familiar know (noː) know the (ðə) the action (ak.sɪən) action of (ɔv) of the (ðə) the plot (plɔt) plot
2.11a A ghost doth walk, and murder most foul is done.
2.11b A (ə) a ghost (goːst) ghost doth (dʌθ) does walk (wɔːk) walk and (and) and murder (mʌɹ.dəɹ) murder most (moːst) most foul (faʊl) foul is (ɪz) is done (dʌn) done
2.12a Do the players perform it well?
2.12b Do (duː) do the (ðə) the players (plɛɪ.əɹz) players perform (pəɹ.fɔːɹm) perform it (ɪt) it well (wɛl) well
2.13a Burbage doth excel in the mad passion of the prince.
2.13b Burbage (bʌɹ.bɪdʒ) Burbage doth (dʌθ) does excel (ɛk.sɛl) excel in (ɪn) in the (ðə) the mad (mad) mad passion (pa.sɪən) passion of (ɔv) of the (ðə) the prince (pɹɪns) prince
2.14a Hark, the trumpet sounds—the next scene doth begin.
2.14b Hark (haɹk) listen the (ðə) the trumpet (tɹʌm.pɪt) trumpet sounds (saʊndz) sounds the (ðə) the next (nɛkst) next scene (siːn) scene doth (dʌθ) does begin (bɪ.gɪn) begin
2.15a Then let us do as the prince doth counsel: give it our attention.
2.15b Then (ðɛn) then let (lɛt) let us (ʌs) us do (duː) do as (az) as the (ðə) the prince (pɹɪns) prince doth (dʌθ) does counsel (kaʊn.səl) counsel give (gɪv) give it (ɪt) it our (aʊɹ) our attention (ə.tɛn.sɪən) attention
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2.1 What dost thou think of this new play?
2.2 Marry, I do like it passing well.
2.3 The groundlings do grow restless in the yard.
2.4 Doth the clown come on anon?
2.5 Aye, he doth murder the King’s English most grievously.
2.6 Did Will Kemp play this part aforetime?
2.7 Nay, Robert Armin does it now with subtler wit.
2.8 What do they call this tragedy?
2.9 They do name it the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark.
2.10 Dost thou know the action of the plot?
2.11 A ghost doth walk, and murder most foul is done.
2.12 Do the players perform it well?
2.13 Burbage doth excel in the mad passion of the prince.
2.14 Hark, the trumpet sounds—the next scene doth begin.
2.15 Then let us do as the prince doth counsel: give it our attention.
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What dost thou think of this new play? Marry, I do like it passing well. The groundlings do grow restless in the yard. Doth the clown come on anon? Aye, he doth murder the King’s English most grievously. Did Will Kemp play this part aforetime? Nay, Robert Armin does it now with subtler wit. What do they call this tragedy? They do name it the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. Dost thou know the action of the plot? A ghost doth walk, and murder most foul is done. Do the players perform it well? Burbage doth excel in the mad passion of the prince. Hark, the trumpet sounds—the next scene doth begin. Then let us do as the prince doth counsel: give it our attention.
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This lesson forms part of the Latinum Institute’s Elizabethan English course, designed for autodidact learners who wish to read Shakespeare, the King James Bible, and other Early Modern English texts with deeper comprehension.
The course follows a frequency-based vocabulary curriculum of 1000 words, progressing from the most common English words through increasingly specialized vocabulary. Each lesson presents a single topic word in authentic period context, with interlinear glossing that makes the grammatical and semantic structure transparent to modern readers.
The pronunciation guide employs the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) to represent Original Pronunciation (OP)—the sound of English as spoken in Shakespeare’s London. Key features include full rhoticity, the two-syllable “-tion/-sion” endings, and vowel qualities that predate the completion of the Great Vowel Shift.
Course Index:
https://latinum.substack.com/p/index
Trustpilot Reviews: https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/latinum.org.uk
By mastering these frequency words in their Elizabethan forms, students build the foundation for fluent reading of Renaissance literature, developing an intuitive feel for Early Modern English grammar, vocabulary, and style.
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