Basic Details
Word: Hath
Part of Speech: Verb
Meaning: An old form of has, used with he, she or it. Children meet it in Shakespeare, old poems and the Bible.
Synonyms: has
How to Spell Hath
Syllables: hath
Tricky part: It ends in th, not s. Students who know had and has sometimes write hadth, or add an e as in bathe.
Watch out for: hathe, hadth
Memory tip: Take has, drop the s and put the th of thou and thee in its place: ha + th. Old-style English loves its th.
Usage Examples
Example 1: In the old ballad, the king hath three daughters and a crumbling castle.
Example 2: Our English teacher read out a line from Shakespeare in which a character says 'hath'.
Example 3: We giggled when Ravi said, 'The canteen hath no samosas today.'
Fun Fact
Hath belongs to an old set of -th verbs, with doth and saith; during the 1600s the -s forms has, does and says, which came from northern English, slowly took their place.
Practise the CREST Way
Word Connection
Choose the synonym of the word hath as used in the sentence:
The storyteller began, 'The old miller hath a donkey that can count to ten.'
a) has
b) hates
c) seeks
d) lacks
Show answer
a) has. Hath is simply the old way of writing has; lacks means the opposite.
Spell-o-Spell
Choose the meaning of the only correctly spelt word:
1. tresure 2. hath 3. ancester 4. knoledge
a) has (an old form used in poems and plays)
b) information and understanding gained by learning
c) a person in your family who lived long ago
d) gold, jewels or other valuable things
Show answer
a) has (an old form used in poems and plays). Tresure has lost the a of treasure, ancestor ends in tor and knowledge needs its w, so only hath is spelt as it should be.
Word Cookie
Find the misspelt word in the sentence:
In the ballad, the poet writes that the moon hathe hidden her silver face behind the dark monsoon clouds.
a) clouds
b) hidden
c) poet
d) hathe
Show answer
d) hathe. Hath ends with th; there is no e after it.
Multiple Choice Questions
1. Which of these is another old verb form like hath?
a) does
b) doth
c) done
d) did
Show answer
b) doth
2. Where are you most likely to read the word hath?
a) in a text message
b) in a cricket score
c) in a train ticket
d) in a Shakespeare play
Show answer
d) in a Shakespeare play
