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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 →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/C/couldst/#m1)

### Then and now

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

### Examples

- Thou only couldst have conquered Circe. (Tanglewood Tales) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/C/couldst/#x1)
- Pots of money didst thou bury but thou couldst not hide them. (Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/C/couldst/#x2)
- "O mother, mother," cried Cadmus, "couldst thou but have seen my sister before this hour!" (Tanglewood Tales) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/C/couldst/#x3)

### Note

Today: could.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «couldst» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/emode/C/couldst/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«couldst» in the Early Modern English dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/emode/w/couldst.html) on Mova free.