Shakespearean Translator
Write like a character in a Shakespeare play. This translator swaps in words from his time (fair, merry, methinks, hark, foe) and uses thee-and-thou grammar. It also turns Shakespearean lines back into modern English.
About Shakespearean Translator
Shakespeare wrote most of his plays and poems between 1589 and 1613, in Early Modern English. Much of his vocabulary is still ours, but the pronouns, verb endings and a set of everyday words have changed. Swapping those back in is what makes a line sound like it came from the Globe stage.
This translator works in two steps. First it swaps modern words for ones common in his time: beautiful → fair, happy → merry, I think → methinks, listen → hark, enemy → foe, before → ere, never → ne'er. Then it applies the thee-and-thou grammar: you are → thou art, do you → dost thou, your → thy.
Lines to try
I think you are beautiful → Methinks thou art fair You are a liar → Thou art a knave Where are you going tonight? → Whither art thou going this night? I will kill my enemy → I shall slay my foe She is a pretty girl → She is a comely maiden Listen to me → Hark to me I love you always → I love thee evermore
Reading Shakespeare the other way
Switch the direction to turn old lines into modern English. "Wherefore art thou Romeo?" comes back as "Why are you Romeo?", and that is what Juliet means. She is not asking where he is. She is asking why he has to be a Montague.
Other words you will meet in the plays: anon (soon), ere (before), hark (listen), methinks (I think), perchance (maybe), forsooth (truly), naught (nothing) and oft (often). Paste a line and each word the translator knows is turned back.
What a word swap can't do
Shakespeare's power is in his rhythm and his images, not just his words. Much of his verse is iambic pentameter: ten syllables to a line, with the beat da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM da-DUM. A translator can swap words, but it can't count beats or invent a metaphor.
Use the output as a first draft. Read it out loud, move words until the beat feels right, and add an image of your own. That is the part that makes it sound like him.
Questions people ask
How do you say hello in Shakespearean English?▼
Hail works for any time of day, and it is what this translator uses. Good morrow was a common morning greeting in his plays.
What is "you are beautiful" in Shakespearean?▼
Thou art fair. Fair meant beautiful, and art is the form of are that goes with thou.
What does methinks mean?▼
It means "it seems to me" or "I think". The translator turns "I think" into methinks.
Is Shakespearean English the same as Old English?▼
No. Shakespeare wrote Early Modern English, which most people can read today. Old English is the Anglo-Saxon language of about 450 to 1100, which needs study to read.
How do I write a Shakespearean insult?▼
Start with thou and a strong noun. The translator turns liar into knave and stupid into addle-pated, so "You are stupid" becomes "Thou art addle-pated".