Definitions for willst
willst

Discuss these willst definitions with the community:

https://www.definitions.net/definition/willst

1 Comment

 

Notify me of new comments via email.

Publish

• 

  ElleMueller

  The verb, will, as in, "Thou [will] be there," wheb appearing next to the word "thou" would have usually been in the form "wilt," as in, "Thou wilt be there."
  
  "Willst/willest" is an informal second person singular present form of the other "will" verb in English which is most well known in our lifetime by its noun form joined with the word "power".
  
  The noun form is used in sentences like, "I have the will[power] to do that/it/anything," & older grammatical constructions use "will" as a verb like, "Thy will be done."
  
  To use a construction similar to modern English's, "you have the willpower to do it", you would write & say something like, "thou hast the will & the power to do/make/________ it."
  
  (Most commonly, a more specific verb would take the place of the word "do" in those constructions, unless it truly was used for grammatical declarations of someone's omnipotence.)
  
  Nowadays, people ask, "do you want [some] [...]?"
  
  However, back then, someone would have used a proper grammatical form of the verb "will" as the old synonym of our modern "want" verb in the older forms of early modern English.
  
  That is when the verb and noun forms of "want" meant "lacking, needing, not having something," & the verb "will" which we are discussing here meant "want/intend/desire/wish to [do something]".
  
  "I shall not want," therefore, means, "I shall not lack [anything]."
  
  Remember:
  
  1. When "will" seems like a synonym of "shall", you use the verb form, "wilt", just as you would use, "shalt". "Shall" is a conditional form of the idea of the verb "will", as in, "Shall we leave in five minutes?"
  
  Modern English in the USA & Canada doesn't tend to use the verb "shall" at all except in legal English, so they would express this question as, "Should/Will we leave in five minutes?"
  
  The fact that you can tell a slight difference in meaning between "will we?" & "shall we?" means you can tell & properly use the different forms, "thou shalt go now," & "thou wilt go now."
  
  2. When "will" is used as a verb synonymous with "desire/wish/(mod.)want" then you use "willst, will'st, or willest".
  
  An unforgettable example of this form, "will(e)st" is a sentence like, "Thou canst make escape from here, thither to be whence thou camest unto us, if thou truly willest, thou wilt escape."
  
  This was an example sentence taught to me in a class on Elizabethan verb & noun differences or similarities with more current forms of English.
  
  It was used as a reminder regarding the usages of hither & thither, the more frequent use of "make" more »

  LikeReply3 years ago