The history of Old English and its development

                         Class IV
stelan (to steal), stæ'l, stæ'lon, stolen
beran (to bear), bæ'r, bæ'ron, boren
    More: cwelan (die), helan (conceal), teran (tear), brecan (break).

                         Class V
tredan (to tread), træ'd,  træ'don, treden
cweþan (to say), cwæ'þ,  cwæ'don, cweden
    More: metan (measure), swefan (sleep), wefan (weave), sprecan (to speak), wrecan (persecute), lesan (gather), etan (eat), wesan (be).

                         Class VI
faran (to go), fór, fóron, faren
    More: galan (sing), grafan (dig), hladan (lade), wadan (walk), dragan (drag), gnagan (gnaw), bacan (bake), scacan (shake), wascan (wash).

                         Class VII
hátan (to call), hét, héton, háten
feallan (to fall), feoll, feollon, feallen
cnéawan (to know), cnéow, cnéowon, cnáwen
    More: blondan (blend), ondræ'dan (fear), lácan (jump), scadan (divide), fealdan (fold), healdan (hold), sponnan (span), béatan (beat), blówan (flourish), hlówan (low), spówan (flourish), máwan (mow), sáwan (sow), ráwan (turn).

So the rule from the table above is observed carefully. The VII class was made especially for those verbs which did not fit into any of the six classes. In fact the verbs of the VII class are irregular and cannot be explained by a certain exact rule, though they are quite numerous in the language.

Examining verbs of Old English comparing to those of Modern English it is easy to catch the point of transformation. Not only the ending -an in the infinitive has dropped, but the stems were subject to many changes some of which are not hard to find. For example, the long í in the stem gives i with an open syllable in the modern language (wrítan > write, scínan > shine). The same can be said about a, which nowadays is a in open syllables pronounced [æ] (hladan > lade). The initial combination sc turns to sh; the open e was transformed into ea practically everywhere (sprecan > speak, tredan > tread, etc.). Such laws of transformation which you can gather into a small table help to recreate the Old word from a Modern English one in case you do not have a dictionary in hand, and therefore are important for reconstruction of the languages.

Weak verbs in Old English (today's English regular verbs) were conjugated in a simpler way than the strong ones, and did not use the ablaut interchanges of the vowel stems. Weak verbs are divided into three classes which had only slight differences though. They did have the three forms - the infinitive, the past tense, the participle II. Here is the table.

                         Class I
                          Regular verbs
      Inf.            Past             PP
déman (to judge), démde, démed
híeran (to hear), híerde, híered
nerian (to save), nerede, nered
styrian (to stir), styrede, styred
fremman (to commit), fremede, fremed
cnyssan (to push), cnysede, cnysed

  When the suffix is preceded by a voiceless consonant the ending changes a little bit:
cépan (to keep), cépte, cépt / céped
grétan (to greet), grétte, grét / gréted

  If the verb stem ends in consonant plus d or t:
sendan (to send), sende, send / sended
restan (to rest), reste, rest / rested

                          Irregular
sellan (to give), sealde, seald
tellan (to tell), tealde, teald
cwellan (to kill), cwealde, cweald
tæ'can (to teach), táhte, táht
ræ'can (to reach), ráhte, ráht
bycgan (to buy), bohte, boht
sécan (to seek), sóhte, sóht
wyrcan (to work), worhte, worht
þencan (to think), þóhte, þóht
bringan (to bring), bróhte, bróht

Other examples of the I class weak verbs just for your interest: berian (beat), derian (harm), erian (plough), ferian (go), herian (praise), gremman (be angry), wennan (accustom), clynnan (sound), dynnan (resound), hlynnan (roar), hrissan (tremble), sceþþan (harm), wecgean (move), féran (go), læ'ran (teach), dræfan (drive), fýsan (hurry), drýgean (dry), híepan (heap), métan (to meet), wýscean (wish), byldan (build), wendan (turn), efstan (hurry). All these are regular.

                           Class II
macian (to make), macode, macod
lufian (to love), lufode, lufod
hopian (to hope), hopode, hopod

Tis class makes quite a small group of verbs, all of them having -o- before the past endings. Other samples: lofian (praise), stician (pierce), eardian (dwell), scéawian (look), weorþian (honour), wundrian (wonder), fæstnian (fasten), mærsian (glorify).

                           Class III
habban (to have), hæfde, hæfd
libban (to live), lifde, lifd
secgan (to say), sægde, sægd
hycgan (to think), hogde, hogod
þréagan (to threaten), þréade, þréad
sméagan (to think), sméade, sméad
fréogan (to free), fréode, fréod
féogan (to hate), féode, féod

Old English verbs are conjugated having two tenses - the Present tense and the Past tense, and three moods - indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Of these, only the subjunctive mood has disappeared in the English language, acquiring an analytic construction instead of inflections; and the imperative mood has coincided with the infinitive form (to write - write!). In the Old English period they all looked different.

The common table of the verb conjugation is given below. Here you should notice that the Present tense has the conjugation for all three moods, while the Past tense - for only two moods (no imperative in the Past tense, naturally). Some more explanation should be given about the stem types.

In fact all verbal forms were generated in Old English from three verb stems, and each verb had its own three ones: the Infinitive stem, the Past Singular stem, the Past Plural stem. For the verb wrítan, for example, those three stems are: wrít- (infinitive without the ending -an), wrát- (the Past singular), writ- (the Past plural without the ending -on). The table below explains where to use this or that stem.

Additionally, the participles (Participle I and Participle II) are formed by the suffix -ende to the Infinitive stem (participle I), or the prefix ge- + the Past Plural stem + the ending -en (Participle II).

Tired of the theory? Here is the preactice. We give several examples of the typical verbs - first strong, then weak, then irregular.

     Class I strong - wrítan (to write)
       Pres.                                     Past
       Ind.       Subj.      Imper.   ¦   Ind.          Subj.
Sg. 1 wríte                  -           ¦  wrát
     2 wrítest  wríte    wrít         ¦  write         } wríte
     3 wríteþ               -             ¦  wrát
Pl.  wrítaþ   wríten  2 wrítaþ     ¦  writon        writen

        Infinitive               Participle
   wrítan                   I wrítende   II gewriten

     Class II weak - lufian (to love)
         Pres.                                Past
    Ind.         Subj.       Imp.         Ind.        Subj.
Sg. 1 lufie                  -             lufode
      2 lufast }lufie       lufa          lufodest } lufode
      3 lufaþ                 -             lufode
Pl.   lufiaþ    lufien    2 lufiaþ      lufodon    lufoden
        Part.
   I lufiende  II gelufod

     Class III strong - bindan (to bind)
       Pres.                                           Past
      Ind.          Subj.      Imp.         Ind.              Subj.
Sg. 1 binde                      -        ¦  band, bond
      2 bindest } binde     bind      ¦  bunde        } bunde
     3 bindeþ                     -        ¦  band, bond
Pl.    bindaþ   binden     bindaþ   ¦  bundon         bunden

            Inf.            Part.
  bindan               I bindende  II gebunden

     Class V strong - séon (to see)
         Pres.                                        Past
    Ind.         Subj.       Imp.         Ind.          Subj.
Sg.1 séo                    -              seah
    2 síehst   } séo      seoh         sáwe      } sáwe,
    3 síehþ                  -               seah           sæge
Pl.   séoþ     séon    2 séoþ        sawon       sáwen
      Participle
  I séonde  II gesewen, gesegen

     Class VII strong - fón (to catch)
         Pres.                                Past
    Ind.         Subj.       Imp.      Ind.         Subj.
Sg. 1 fó                     -            feng
     2 féhst  } fó         fóh         fenge     } fenge
     3 féhþ                  -            feng
Pl.   fóþ       fón      2 fóþ        fengon      fengen
       Participle
  I fónde  II gefangen, gefongen

     Class III weak - secgan (to say)
         Pres.                                      Past
       Ind.         Subj.       Imp.         Ind.        Subj.
Sg.1 secge                   -              sægde
     2 sægst  }secge      sæge        sægdest  }sægde
     3 sægþ                  -               sægde
Pl.  secgaþ    secgen   2 secgaþ   sægdon     sægden
      Part.
   I secgende  II gesægd

     Class III weak - libban (to live)
         Pres.                                Past
    Ind.          Subj.       Imp.         Ind.        Subj.
Sg.1 libbe                   -             lifde
     2 liofast  }libbe     liofa         lifdest    } lifde
     3 liofaþ                 -              lifde
Pl.   libbaþ    libben    2 libbaþ   lifdon       lifden
      Part.
   I libbende  II gelifd

    A special group is made by the so-called Present-Preterite verbs, which are conjugated combining two varieties of the usual verb conjugation: strong and weak. These verbs, at all not more than seven, are nowadays called modal verbs in English.

Present-Preterite verbs have their Present tense forms generated from the Strong Past, and the Past tense, instead, looks like the Present Tense of the Weak verbs. The verbs we present here are the following: witan (to know), cunnan (can), þurfan (to need), dearan (to dare), munan (to remember), sculan (shall), magan (may).

              Present  of witan (= strong Past)
        Ind.        Subj.       Imp.
Sg.  1 wát                      -
     2 wast      } wite        wite
     3 wát                         -
Pl.    witon     2 witen      witaþ
              Past (= Weak)
        Ind.                         Subj.
Sg.1 wisse, wiste
     2 wissest, wistest  } wisse, wiste
     3 wisse, wiste
Pl.    wisson, wiston      wissen, wisten
    Participles: I witende, II witen, gewiten

     cunnan (can)
             Pres.                     Past
    Ind.             Subj.        Ind.         Subj.
Sg. 1 cann                     cúþe
      2 canst    } cunne     cúþest   } cúþe
      3 cann                     cúþe
Pl.   cunnon     cunnen    cúþon      cúþen

     þurfan (need)
Sg. 1 þearf                    þorfte
      2 þearft  } þurfe      þorftest   } þorfte
      3 þearf                    þorfte
Pl.    þurfon    þurfen     þorfton      þorften

     magan (may)
Sg. 1 mæg                    meahte       mihte, mihten
      2 meaht    } mæge  meahtest
      3 mæg                    meahte
Pl.   magon       mægen  meahton
 
The main difference of verbs of this type in modern English is their expressing modality, i.e. possibility, obligation, necessity. They do not require the particle to before the infinitive which follows them. In Old English in general no verb requires this particle before the infinitive. In fact, this to before the infinitive form meant the preposition of direction.

And now finally a few irregular verbs, which used several different stems for their tenses. These verbs are very important in Old English and are met very often in the texts: wesan (to be), béon (to be), gán (to go), dón (to do), willan (will). Mind that there was no Future tense in the Old English language, and the future action was expressed by the Present forms, just sometimes using verbs of modality, willan (lit. "to wish to do") or sculan (lit. "to have to do").

wesan (to be) - has got only the Present tense forms, uses the verb béon in the Past
    Present
        Ind.      Subj.      Imp.
Sg.1 eom     -
     2 eart  }  síe, sý     wes
     3 is          -
Pl. sind       síen, sýn  2 wesaþ

béon (to be)
                      Present
        Ind.      Subj.    Imp.
Sg. 1 béo                  -
      2 bist    }béo      béo
      3 biþ                   -
Pl.   béoþ     béon    2 béoþ
                      Past
    Ind.              Subj.
Sg. 1 wæs
      2 wære    } wære
      3 wæs
Pl.   wæron     wæren
    Participle I is béonde (being).

gán (to go)
      Pres.                                 Past
     Ind.         Subj.    Imp.        Ind.           Subj.
Sg.1 gá                      -           éode
     2 gæ'st  } gá         gá         éodest     } éode
     3 gæ'þ                  -           éode
Pl.   gáþ      2 gán      gáþ       éodon       éoden
       Participles:
  I gánde, gangende    II gegán
 

So there were in fact two verbs meaning 'to be', and both were colloquial. In Middle English, however, the verb wesan replaced fully the forms of béon, and the words béo (I am), bist (thou art) fell out of use. The Past tense forms was and were are also derivatives from wesan.

Syntactically, the language had only two main tenses - the Present and the Past. No progressive (or Continuous) tenses were used, they were invented only in the Early Middle English period. Such complex tenses as modern Future in the Past, Future Perfect Continuous did not exist either. However, some analytic construction were in use, and first of all the perfective constructions. The example Hie geweorc geworhten hæfdon 'they have build a fortress' shows the exact Perfect tense, but at that time it was not the tense really, just a participle construction showing that the action has been done. Seldom you can also find such Past constructions, which later became the Past Perfect Tense.

Verb syntax includes a number of suffices and prefixes which can be met in Old English texts and especially in poetry:

        Suffices:
  1. -s- (from substantive or adjective stems) - mæ'rsian (to announce; from mæ're - famous)
  2. -læc- - néálæcan (to approach)
  3. -ett- - bliccettan (to sparkle)
 
        Prefixes
  1. á- = out of, from - árísan (arise), áwakan (awake), áberan (sustain)
  2. be- = over, around, by - begán (go around), beþencan (think over), behéafdian (behead)
  3. for- = destruction or loss - fordón (destroy), forweorþan (perish)
  4. mis- = negation or bad quality - mislícian (displease)
  5. of- = reinfors - ofsléan (kill), oftéon (take away)
  6. on- = change or separation - onbindan (unbind), onlúcan (unlock)
  7. tó- = destruction - tóbrecan (break)

The Old English Auxiliary Words.

 
These traditionally include prepositions, conjunctions, different particles and

interjections. All Indo-European languages have this system of auxiliary parts of speech, though there are languages which lack some of them. Japanese, for example, has no prepositions, and the service function in the sentence belongs to postpositive words which have cases, the same as nouns. Korean does not use any conjunctions, replacing them by about 50 different kinds of verbal adverbs. As for Chinese, it simply does not make any distinction in the sentence between basic and auxiliary words.

Most of Old English prepositions are easily recognizable:

Primary: of (of, out of), æt (to), fram (from), tó (to), wiþ (against), in, of, mid (with), on (on, at), be (by, near, to, because of, about), þurh (through), under, ofer (over), æfter (after), bufan (above), út (out).

Secondary: beforan (before), bútan (without), benorþan (north of), etc.

æt means 'to' and wiþ means 'against'. In Germanic all prepositions divided into those who used nouns in dative, accusative or genitive. But in the Old English period this distinction begins to disappear, and only some of the prepositions use dative (mid, bútan, sometimes on, in) or genitive (fram, út, æfter).

Conjunctions included the following:

Primary: and / ond (and) , ac (but), gif (if), or.
Secondary: ægþer ge... ge (both... and..., either ... or...), hwonne (when), þa (when), þonne (when),  þéáh (though), þætte (that), ær (before), swá... swá... (so... as...).

And a few interjections: iá (yes), wá (woe!, wow!), hwæt (there! what!).

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