Shall

How to spell shall

5 letters · 1 syllable

How to pronounce shall

What does shall mean?

1. verbA modal verb used to express the future tense, a firm intention, or an obligation.

Shall in a sentence

• The contract states that the tenant shall pay rent on the first of each month.

• We shall arrive at the office before the meeting begins.

Where does shall come from?

Language of origin: Germanic

Shall comes from the Old English sceal, the first and third person singular of sculan, a verb that originally meant 'to owe' or 'to be obliged'. That sense of obligation explains why shall still carries a flavour of duty, command, or firm intention rather than mere prediction. The word is purely Germanic, sharing its ancestry with the Dutch zal and the German soll, both of which descend from a common Germanic root tied to owing and being bound. Over the centuries the sense of literally owing money faded, and shall settled into its modern role as a modal verb pointing to the future or expressing determination. The spelling is unusual because the doubled 'l' was fixed in Middle English even though only one 'l' is sounded, which is the small trap that occasionally trips up writers.

How the word is built

• shall (a complete word; from Old English sceal, a modal verb with no separable prefix or suffix)