shall

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shall

/ʃæl/
/ʃal/
/ʃɛl/
/ʃəl/
/ʃ(ə)/
/ʃaʊ̯l/ Early Modern

Sounds like shell (strong form, salary–celery merger) · Rhymes with -æl

Where it comes from

From Middle English schal (infinitive schulen), from Old English sċeal (infinitive sċulan (“should, must”)), from Proto-West Germanic *skulan, from Proto-Germanic *skal (infinitive *skulaną), from Proto-Indo-European *skel- (“to owe, be under obligation”).

Cognate with Scots sall, sal (“shall”), North Frisian skal, schal, Saterland Frisian skäl, schäl, schal (infinitive skälle, schälle), West Frisian sil (infinitive sille (“shall”)), Dutch zal (infinitive zullen (“shall”)), Afrikaans sal, Low German schall (infinitive schölen (“shall”)), German soll (infinitive sollen (“ought to”)), Danish skal (infinitive skulle (“shall”)), Icelandic skal (infinitive skulu (“shall”)), Swedish skall (“shall”) (infinitive skola).

verb shall · should · shal

auxiliary, defective, modal, no past participle, no present participle Used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural. I shall sing in the choir tomorrow.
auxiliary, defective, modal, no past participle, no present participle Used similarly to indicate determination or obligation in the second and third persons singular or plural. (determination): You shall go to the ball!; He shall be given a fair trial.
auxiliary, defective, modal, no past participle, no present participle Used in questions with the first person singular or plural to suggest a possible future action. What shall I do? Shall I give you a hand?
auxiliary, defective, modal, no past participle, no present participle, obsolete To owe. I thee shall a hundred golden coins; th'amount thou shalt the Queen is much higher.

Thesaurus

Closest in meaning: will, rationale, supposed, fact, ought, advised, namely, needs, needed, required, require, right, done, give, est, owe

Translations

Every language

verb indicating the simple future tense

Deutsch	werden

verb indicating determination or obligation

한국어	-야 되다 -ya doeda, -야 하다 -ya hada
日本語	ものとする -mono to suru
Português	dever, precisar
Français	devoir, être obligé de, tu iras au bal!
Deutsch	sollen
Italiano	dovere, essere obbligato di
Русский	до́лжен dólžen, должна́ dolžná, должно́ dolžnó, должны́ dolžný

verb in questions to suggest a possible future action

한국어	-ᆯ까 -lkka, -ᆯ까요 -lkkayo
日本語	ようか -yōka, ましょうか -mashōka
Français	or, informally
Deutsch	sollen

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MLA

"shall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/shall. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

shall. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/shall

Chicago

"shall." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/shall.

BibTeX

@misc{shall_2026,
  title = {shall},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/shall},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}