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couldst

verb, past tense of can, with thou

«couldst» in the English dictionary: Early Modern English — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

Early Modern English

Meaning

Was able to, with "thou" as the subject. tree →

Then and now

No longer used; today we say "could" with "you."

Examples

Thou only couldst have conquered Circe. (Tanglewood Tales) tree →
Pots of money didst thou bury but thou couldst not hide them. (Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore) tree →
"O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, "couldst thou but have seen my sister before this hour!" (Tanglewood Tales) tree →

Note

Today: could.

On Mova

Trees and pragmatics of «couldst» in the Early Modern English dictionary: every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
«couldst» in the Early Modern English dictionary on Mova free.

This page in Markdown → https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/couldst/