Translate modern English into Old English, the Anglo-Saxon language of Beowulf, or turn Old English back into the English we use today. This free Old English translator works both ways and explains every word. Whether you call it an Anglo Saxon translator, a Saxon English translator or an ancient English translator, it’s the same language. No signup needed.
1
Choose a direction: English → Old English or Old English → English.
2
Type or paste your text. Short, simple sentences work best. Use the letter buttons for þ, ð, æ and ƿ.
3
Press Translate, then open the word notes to see what each word means.
Use this side for translating into Old English. It works as an English to Anglo-Saxon converter: translate to Old English one sentence at a time. Think of it as an Old English converter for your own words, rather than a word list. Old English changes word endings to show each word’s job, so one modern word can have several Old English forms. Plain sentences work best: “The king gave the warrior a sword” translates far better than “Grab your phone, we’re late.”
Paste a line from a poem, a charter or a riddle to translate Old English to modern English. Copy the spelling exactly, including special letters and long marks over vowels (ā, ē), because they can change the meaning.
Many people search for an “olde English translator” when they want Shakespeare’s style, with thee, thou and hath. That’s Early Modern English, which is much younger. Real Old English looks like a foreign language to most readers.
You want…The language of Beowulf
It looks like
Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum
UseThis Old English translator
You want…“Ye olde” Shakespeare style
It looks like
Prithee, good sir, whither goest thou?
UseOur Shakespearean translator
You want…Old Bibles and prayer books
It looks like
He hath spoken, and ye shall hear.
Old English, also called Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest form of English. It was spoken by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who settled in what became England, and its speakers called it Englisc. It belongs to the Germanic family, alongside the ancestors of German, Dutch and the Scandinavian languages.
It had several dialects, including West Saxon, Mercian, Northumbrian and Kentish. Most surviving texts are in West Saxon, the form most learners study. Contact with Vikings brought Old Norse words into English, and after the Norman Conquest, French influence helped turn Old English into Middle English. For that later stage, see our [internal link: Middle English Translator].
Old English was written in the Latin alphabet, with a few extra letters. Before that, and alongside it, some inscriptions used runes, an alphabet called the futhorc.
Letter
þ
Namethorn
Soundth
Exampleþū (you)
Letter
ð
Nameeth
Soundth
Exampleeorðe (earth)
Letter
æ
Nameash
Sounda as in cat
Exampledæg (day)
Letter
ƿ
Namewynn
Soundw
ExampleUsually printed as w today
Pronunciation tips: sc sounds like sh (scip, ship), c before e or i often sounds like ch (cild, child), and every letter is spoken, even a final -e. A line over a vowel (ā) marks a long vowel.
Three features explain why a translator can’t just swap words one by one.
Cases. Endings show a noun’s role: subject, object, owner or receiver. In Se cyning geaf þǣm beorne sweord (“The king gave the warrior a sword”), þǣm beorne takes an ending because the warrior receives something.
Gender. Every noun is masculine, feminine or neuter, and it doesn’t always match the meaning. Wīf (woman) is neuter. “The” changes too: se, sēo, þæt.
Strong and weak verbs. Some change their vowel (singan, sang); others add an ending (lufian, lufode). We still have both: sing/sang and love/loved.
| Modern English | Old English | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Hello / be well | Wes hāl | Wishes someone good health |
| Thank you | Ic þancie þē | “I thank you” |
| I love you | Ic lufie þē | Lufian means “to love” |
| one, two, three | ān, twā, þrēo | |
| king / queen | cyning / cwēn | |
| lord | hlāford | From hlāf (bread) + weard (guardian) |
| fate | wyrd | The root of weird |
Old English phrases often use kennings, short word pictures: hronrād (“whale-road”) for the sea, and bānhūs (“bone-house”) for the body.
You already know some Old English: word, hand, wæter (water), hūs (house), dæg (day), niht (night), mōdor (mother) and fæder (father). Some words changed meaning: drēam meant joy or music, and sellan meant to give.
Beowulf opens: Hwæt! We Gardena in geardagum, þēodcyninga þrym gefrūnon
— “Listen! We have heard of the glory of the kings of the Spear-Danes in days of old.”
Cædmon’s Hymn begins: Nū sculon herigean heofonrīces Weard
— “Now we must praise the Guardian of heaven’s kingdom.”
The Wanderer, The Seafarer and The Dream of the Rood are poems of loss, exile and faith.
The Exeter Book and the Vercelli Book are manuscripts that preserve many poems and riddles.
The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle records events year by year.
Old English poems rarely rhyme. Each line splits into two halves joined by alliteration, as in Gardena and geardagum. Alfred the Great promoted English translations of key books, and J.R.R. Tolkien, a scholar of Old English, drew on these poems in his writing.
1
Learn the four extra letters and how to say them.
2
Learn common words like se, and, ic, wesan (to be) and habban (to have).
3
Read a parallel text, with Old English and modern English side by side.
4
Check each word in a dictionary such as the Bosworth-Toller Anglo-Saxon Dictionary.
5
Read aloud. The poems were made to be heard.
A word can be right in one sentence and wrong on its own, because endings change. Keep it to one word or a short phrase, check the special letters (a þ misread as p changes the word), and ask an expert before anything permanent.
Yes. You can use it without paying or creating an account.
Yes. They are two names for the same language.
No. Shakespeare wrote in Early Modern English, which is much closer to today’s English.
It’s a helpful first draft, but no tool is perfect. Many modern words have no Old English match, so check important results in a dictionary.
Wes hāl, a greeting that wishes someone good health.
Not directly, because the Anglo-Saxons had no word for them. Use simple, everyday words for the best results.
Use the letter buttons under the translator, or copy them from this page.
This Old English translator is built by Chris to make the language of Beowulf and the Anglo-Saxons easier to explore and understand.
How we check our content: Old English words, meanings, and explanations are reviewed against reputable references on Old English and Anglo-Saxon language. If you spot an error, please contact us so we can review and correct it.
How we test the translator: We test different sentences, vocabulary, grammar, and Old English-style wording to improve the consistency and readability of translations.
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