What does the word 'dost' mean in Shakespearean terms?

Question

Or language. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

do

Dost thou love me? = Do you love me?

Answer 2

Define Dost

Answer 3

I think it is close to "should". I will look it up
ok: Merchant of Venice Portia says
Tarry a little; there is something else.
This bond doth* give thee here no jot of blood;
The words expressly are 'a pound of flesh:'
Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of flesh;
But, in the cutting it, if thou dost* shed (*if you should spill)
One drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods
Are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate
Unto the state of Venice.

*I think it is a Old English form of do like dost would be saying "You do now..."but the -st on the end makes dost seem like it relates personally to one individual rather than plural to many.


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Answer 4

In Shakespeare's time, 'dost' was a verb form that went along with the old forms of the personal pronoun.

Thankfully, we have dropped the thou, thee, thy, thine forms of the personal pronoun.
Where Shakespeare said, "Thou dost ...!', we would say,

'You do...'

Answer 5

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RE:
What does the word 'dost' mean in Shakespearean terms?
Or language. Thanks in advance.

Answer 6

Dost is the present singular second person tense of "do".

In other words, it was used when speaking to a single person directly about something that is current or ongoing.

When using "do" about a single object but not about the person your talking to (present singular 3rd person) it became doth.

In the past tense it became didst when talking to a single person (past singular 2nd person tense).

Dost thou like apples? = Do you like apples?
Doth he like apples? = Does he like apples?
Didst thou like apples? = Did you like apples?

As a side note, "thou" was usually used only when talking to close acquaintances, children, or social inferiors. To a stranger or person of equal rank "you" was already in use by Shakespear's time. The use of "thou" could be used to indicate closeness or as an insult depending on the context.

Also as a clarification, Shakespear wrote in a earlier version of Modern English. Middle English would be harder to read, but generally understandable. Old English would be something of a chore to read without knowing it's word forms and vocabulary.

Answer 7

i see u have the answered covered already. Dost is a grammatical form of do. It can also be used in another tense, hence the use of it to mean does.

Answer 8

Heard.

Answer 9

contraction for 'do you', 'does it', etc.

Answer 10

does
"My heart dost jump at the sight of thee" = my heart does jump at the sight of you.