King James English


The King James Version was produced in the Elizabethan period of Early Modern English, and so it uses forms of the verbs and pronouns that were characteristic of that period. Below is a paradigm of the verbal and pronominal forms of Elizabethan English.


Verbs

Singular Plural
Present tense I save we save
thou savest ye save
he saveth they save
Future tense I shall/will* save we shall/will save
thou shalt/wilt save ye shall/will save
he shall/will save they shall/will save
Past tense I saved we saved
thou didst save ye saved
he saved they saved
Passive voice I am saved we are saved
thou art saved ye are saved
he is saved they are saved
Imperative mood    --    --
save thou! save ye!
   --    --


Pronouns

Singular Plural
Accusative case saved me saved us
saved thee saved you**
saved him saved them
Dative case salvation to me salvation to us
salvation to thee salvation to you
salvation to him salvation to them
Genitive case my salvation our salvation
thy salvation your salvation
his salvation their salvation



*"shall" and "will" are both used in the KJV for the expression of the future tense. "Will" is also used for the expression of desire, as in Matthew 8:2-3.

**"you" and "your" are always plural.



Bibliography

For the differences between the Early Modern English of the King James Version and the form of English spoken today, the following books will be found helpful:



Valid XHTML