shall

/ʃæl/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Early/ʃaʊ̯l/

shall verb: used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.

Verb

shall (third-person singular simple present shall, no present participle, simple past should, no past participle)

(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.
- I hope that we shall win the game.
(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.
- (obligation): Citizens shall provide proof of identity.
(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?
- Shall we go out later?
(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.
- He should þe Princess his Life, for she had deliver'd him from þe Poison deadly.

shall meaning in Malay

shall in Malay

indicating the simple future tense: akan

Examples of shall in a sentence

(obligation): The renter shall be responsible for maintenance of the vehicle.
Things haven't turned out as I intended they should, but I still intend that you shall take over the business.
I'll hold that for you, shall I?
Let us examine that, shall we? - Yeah let's.
Shall we see you before you set out?
"Then, having used up the powers of the Golden Cap, I shall give it to the King of the Monkeys, that he and his band may thereafter be free for evermore."1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, chapter 23, in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill.; New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M[elvin] Hill Co....

All 40 example sentences with shall

Forms of shall

third-person singular present	shall
past	should
alternative form (obsolete)	shal

Past tense of shall: should

Origin of shall

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”)), Low German schall (infinitive schölen (“shall”)), German soll (infinitive sollen (“ought to”)), Danish skal (infinitive skulle (“shall”)), Icelandic skal (infinitive skulu (“shall”)), Afrikaans sal, Swedish skall (“shall”) (infinitive skola).

Words formed from shall

Phrases with shall

Words that rhyme with shall

11 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about shall

What does shall mean?: Shall means used before a verb to indicate the simple future tense in the first person singular or plural.
What is shall in Malay?: Shall in Malay is akan. See Shall meaning in Malay.
How do you use shall in a sentence?: (obligation): The renter shall be responsible for maintenance of the vehicle.
What part of speech is shall?: Shall is a verb.
How do you pronounce shall?: Shall is pronounced /ʃæl/.
What is the past tense of shall?: The past tense of shall is should.

Words near shall in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: shall (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-shall.ogg.

Cite this entry: “shall.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/shall. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.