Conjugation of Strong and Weak Verbs

It greatly differs in OE from the Modern English paradigm. Verbs had fairly distinct personal endings in OE though their system was already disintegrating.

The conjugation of the following verbs will show the personal endings of strong and weak verbs:

Strong Verb, class I: ridan

Principal forms: Infinitive – ridan

Preterite Sg. – rad

Preterite Pl. – ridon

Past Participle – (ʒe)riden

Present Participle – ridende

Indicative

Present                                                           Past

Sg.         Pl.                                      Sg.         Pl.

 I ride        ridath                      I   rad        ridon

II ridest               ridath                       II ride        ridon

III rideth     ridath                       III rad        ridon

 

Subjunctive

Present                                                           Past

I                      riden                        I   ride        riden

II  ride        riden                          II  ride        riden

III                    riden                          III ride        ridden

 

Imperative

Sg. rid

Pl. ridath

 

Weak Verb, class I: hieran (to hear)

Main Forms:   Infinitive – hieran

Preterite Sg. – hierde

Past Participle – (ʒe)hierod

Present Participle – hierde

Indicative

Present                                                           Past

     Sg.        Pl.                                     Sg.         Pl.

I   hiere      hierath                       I hierde    hierdon

II hierest    hierath                      II hieidest hierdon

III hier(e)th hierath                     III hierde    hierdon

 

Subjunctive                                                   Imperative

Present

I   hiere      hieren                                Sg. hier

II hiere      hieren                                Pl. hierath

III hiere      hieren

 

Past

I   hierdea hierden

II hierde    hierden

III hierde    hierden

 

Singular: personal endings: I person – e

II person – st

III person – th

Plural: the forms of the plural of the 1st and 2nd persons had disappeared already in the oldest periods of the language, their place having been taken by the form of the 3rd person.

 

Minor Groups of Verbs

Some minor groups of verbs of diverse origin could be referred to neither weak nor strong verbs. A few anomalous or irregular verbs in OE combined both ways of form building, i.e. of strong and weak verbs. The following classes were observed:

1. Preterite-Present Verbs

2. Suppletive Verbs

3. Anomalous Verbs

The most interesting group was the so-called Preterite-Present Verbs.

Preterite-Present Verbs

These are very old verbs. Originally they were strong verbs. Their old past tense had become the present tense. It acquired the meaning of the Present. Therefore a new Past Tense was formed according to the paradigm of weak verbs. They are inflected in the present like the preterite of strong verbs and have no ending in the 3rd pers. sg. he cann (he can). That is why the NE modal verbs can, may, must, shall, which descend from them have no s-ending in the 3rd pers. sg. in the Present Tense.

Most of the Preterite-Present verbs are characterized by a modal meaning and are usually followed by a nominative infinitive or another verb, e.g. is cann singan. Dative infinitive with the preposition to is not used after them. Therefore in NE modal verbs are followed by the infinitive without the particle “to”. Some of the Preterite-Present verbs lack past participle and infinitives.

There were 12 verbs of this kind in OE.

OE                                     ME

1. cunnan                               can

2. aʒan                                   ought

3. maʒan                                may

4. mot                                    must

5. dearr                                           dare

6. sculan                                shall

7. munan                               remember

8. ðeorfan                              need

9. unnan                                          wish

10. witan                                           know

11. ʒeneah                               to be enough

12. duʒan                                 to be fit

 

Infinitive	Present Sg.	Past Sg.	Past Part.
cunnan sculan aʒan maʒan	can(n) sceal aʒ, ah mæʒ mot	cuthe sceolde ahte meahte most	cuþ, cunnen aʒen

 

Suppletive Verbs

There were 2 suppletive verbs in OE: wesan, beon (to be) and ʒan (to go). These verbs differ from other verbs. Their forms are derived from different roots, their system is based on suppletivity.

The forms of the verb be are derived from 3 roots -wes, -es, -be. Similar phenomena are found in other IE languages, e.g. Russian быть – есть, etc. The suppletive system of these verbs seems to be due to the fact, that its elements originally had different meanings, which were more concrete than the abstract meaning be. One of these roots had the meaning grow.

The verb go is also suppletive in many IE languages, e.g. Russian иду – шел. The process seems to be similar to that of the verb be. The system of this verb seems to have developed from different roots, which originally had more concrete meanings than the abstract “ go”. They denoted more concrete kinds of movement.

The Verb wesan, beon