Old English morphology
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The morphology of the Old English language is quite different from that of Modern English, predominantly by being much more highly inflected. It more closely resembles modern German, which has over the centuries been more conservative than English.
Contents |
[edit] Verbs
Verbs in Old English are divided into strong or weak verbs. For a fuller discussion of these, see Germanic weak verb and Germanic strong verb.
[edit] Strong verbs
Strong verbs use the Germanic form of conjugation (known as Ablaut). In this form of conjugation, the stem of the word changes to indicate the tense. Verbs like this persist in modern English, for example "sing, sang, sung" is a strong verb, as are swim/swam/swum and choose/chose/chosen. The root portion of the word changes rather than its ending. In Old English, there were seven major classes of strong verb; each class has its own pattern of stem changes. Learning these is a challenge for students of the language.
The classes had the following distinguishing features to their infinitive stems:
- ī + 1 consonant.
- ēo or ū + 1 consonant.
- Originally e + 2 consonants (This was no longer the case by the time of written Old English).
- e + 1 consonant (usually l or r, plus the verb brecan 'to break').
- e + 1 consonant (usually a stop or a fricative).
- a + 1 consonant.
- No specific rule – first and second have identical stems (ē or ēo), and the infinitive and the past participle also have the same stem.
| Stem Changes in Strong Verbs | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Class | Infinitive | First Preterite | Second Preterite | Past Participle |
| I | ī | ā | i | i |
| II | ēo or ū | ēa | u | o |
| III | see table below | |||
| IV | e | æ | ǣ | o |
| V | e | æ | ǣ | e |
| VI | a | ō | ō | a |
| VII | – | ē or ēo | ē or ēo | – |
The first preterite stem is used in the preterite tense, for the first and third persons singular. The second preterite stem is used for second person singular, and all persons in the plural (as well as the preterite subjunctive). Strong verbs also exhibit i-mutation of the stem in the second and third persons singular in the present tense.
The third class went through so many sound changes that it was barely recognisable as a single class. The first was a process called 'breaking'. Before <h>, and <r> + another consonant, <æ> turned into <ea>, and <e> to <eo>. Also, before <l> + another consonant, the same happened to <æ>, but <e> remained unchanged (except before combination <lh>).
The second sound-change to affect it was the influence of palatal sounds <g>, <c>, and <sc>. These turned anteceding <e> and <æ> to <ie> and <ea>, respectively.
The third sound change turned <e> to <i>, <æ> to <a>, and <o> to <u> before nasals.
Altogether, this split the third class into five sub-classes:
- e + two consonants (apart from clusters beginning with l).
- eo + r or h + another consonant.
- e + l + another consonant.
- g, c, or sc + ie + two consonants.
- i + nasal + another consonant.
| Stem Changes in Class III | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sub-class | Infinitive | First Preterite | Second Preterite | Past Participle |
| a | e | æ | u | o |
| b | eo | ea | u | o |
| c | e | ea | u | o |
| d | ie | ea | u | o |
| e | i | a | u | u |
Regular strong verbs were all conjugated roughly the same, with the main differences being in the stem vowel. Thus stelan 'to steal' represents the strong verb conjugation paradigm.
| Conjugation | Pronoun | 'steal' |
|---|---|---|
| Infinitives | stelan | |
| tō stelanne | ||
| Present Indicative | ||
| ic | stele | |
| þū | stilst | |
| hē/hit/hēo | stilð | |
| wē/gē/hīe | stelaþ | |
| Past Indicative | ic | stæl |
| þū | stæle | |
| hē/hit/hēo | stæl | |
| wē/gē/hīe | stælon | |
| Present Subjunctive | ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | stele |
| wē/gē/hīe | stelen | |
| Past Subjunctive | ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | stǣle |
| wē/gē/hīe | stǣlen | |
| Imperative | Singular | stel |
| Plural | stelaþ | |
| Present Participle | stelende | |
| Past Participle | stolen | |
[edit] Weak verbs
Weak verbs are formed principally by adding endings to past and participles. An example is walk/walked or look/looked. There are only three different classes of weak verb.
Linguistic trends have greatly favoured weak verbs over the last 1200 years. In Old English, especially early on, strong verbs were the dominant form of verb. Today, there are many more weak verbs than strong verbs. Some verbs that were originally strong (for example help) have become weak; most foreign verbs are adopted as weak verbs; and when verbs are made from nouns (for example "to scroll" or "to water") the resulting verb is weak. Additionally, weak verbs are easier to conjugate, since there are fewer different classes of them. In combination, these factors have drastically reduced the number of strong verbs, so that in modern English weak verbs are the dominant form (although occasionally a weak verb may turn into a strong verb through the process of analogy, such as spit or sneak, where spat and snuck are analogical formations rather than survivals from Old English).
There are three major classes of weak verbs. The first class displays i-mutation in the root, and the second class none. There is also a third class explained below.
Class one verbs with short roots exhibit gemination of the final stem consonant in certain forms. With verbs in <r> this appears as <ri> or <rg>, where <i> and <g> are pronounced [j]. Geminated <f> appears as <bb>, and that of <g> appears as <cg>. Class one verbs may receive an epenthetic vowel before endings beginning in a consonant.
Where class one verbs have gemination, class two verbs have <i> or <ig>, which is a separate syllable pronounced [i]. All class two verbs have an epenthetic vowel, which appears as <a> or <o>.
In the following table, three verbs are conjugated. Swebban 'to put to sleep' is a class one verb exhibiting gemination and an epenthetic vowel. Hǣlan 'to heal' is a class one verb exhibiting neither gemination nor an epenthetic vowel. Sīðian 'to journey' is a class two verb.
| Conjugation | Pronoun | 'put to sleep' | 'heal' | 'journey' |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitives | swebban | hǣlan | sīðian | |
| tō swebbanne | tō hǣlanne | tō sīðianne | ||
| Present Indicative | ||||
| ic | swebbe | hǣle | sīðie | |
| þū | swefest | hǣlst | sīðast | |
| hē/hit/hēo | swefeþ | hǣlþ | sīðað | |
| wē/gē/hīe | swebbaþ | hǣlaþ | sīðiað | |
| Past Indicative | ic | swefede | hǣlde | sīðode |
| þū | swefedest | hǣldest | sīðodest | |
| hē/hit/hēo | swefede | hǣle | sīðode | |
| wē/gē/hīe | swefedon | hǣlon | sīðodon | |
| Present Subjunctive | ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | swebbe | hǣle | sīðie |
| wē/gē/hīe | swebben | hǣlen | sīðien | |
| Past Subjunctive | ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | swefede | hǣlde | sīðode |
| wē/gē/hīe | swefeden | hǣlden | sīðoden | |
| Imperative | Singular | swefe | hǣl | sīða |
| Plural | swebbaþ | hǣlaþ | sīðiað | |
| Present Participle | swefende | hǣlende | sīðiende | |
| Past Participle | swefed | hǣled | sīðod | |
During the Old English period the third class was significantly reduced; only four verbs belonged to this group: habban 'have', libban 'live', secgan 'say', and hycgan 'think'. Each of these verbs is distinctly irregular, though share some commonalities.
| Conjugation | Pronoun | 'have' | 'live' | 'say' | 'think' |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | habban | libban, lifgan | secgan | hycgan | |
| Present Indicative | |||||
| ic | hæbbe | libbe, lifge | secge | hycge | |
| þū | hæfst, hafast | lifast, leofast | segst, sagast | hygst, hogast | |
| hē/hit/hēo | hæfð, hafað | lifað, leofað | segð, sagað | hyg(e)d, hogað | |
| wē/gē/hīe | habbaþ | libbað | secgaþ | hycgað | |
| Past Indicative | (all persons) | hæfde | lifde, leofode | sægde | hog(o)de, hygde |
| Present Subjunctive | (all persons) | hæbbe | libbe, lifge | secge | hycge |
| Past Subjunctive | (all persons) | hæfde | lifde, leofode | sægde | hog(o)de, hygde |
| Imperative | Singular | hafa | leofa | sæge, saga | hyge, hoga |
| Plural | habbaþ | libbaþ, lifgaþ | secgaþ | hycgaþ | |
| Present Participle | hæbbende | libbende, lifgende | secgende | hycgende | |
| Past Participle | gehæfd | gelifd | gesægd | gehogod | |
[edit] Preterite-present verbs
The preterite-present verbs are a class of verbs which form the present like the past of a strong verb, and the past like the past of a weak verb. These verbs derive from perfect tense verbs that have accuired a present meaning. For example, witan, "to know" comes from verb which originally meant "to have seen." As a result of this history, the present singular is formed from the first preterite stem, and the present plural from the second preterite stem.
The following table conjugates the verbs cunnan from which we get "can" and "could," magan from which we get "may" and "might," and sculan from which we get "shall" and "should." (These are the only verbs which have survived in Modern English as preterite-present verbs.) Other Old English preterite-present verbs include āgan "own," dugan "avail," þurfan "need," unnan "grant" or "give", witan "know."
| Conjugation | Pronoun | 'know how to' | 'be able to' | 'be obliged to' |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitives | cunnan | magan | sculan | |
| Present Indicative | ||||
| ic | cann | mæg | sceal | |
| þū | canst | meaht | scealt | |
| hē/hit/hēo | cann | mæg | sceal | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cunnon | magon | sculon | |
| Past Indicative | ||||
| ic | cūðe | meahte | sceolde | |
| þū | cūðest | meahtest | sceoldest | |
| hē/hit/hēo | cūðe | meahte | sceolde | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cūðon | meahton | sceoldon | |
| Present Subjunctive | ||||
| ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | cunne | mæge | scule | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cunnen | mægen | sculen | |
| Past Subjunctive | ||||
| ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | cūðe | meahte | sceolde | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cūðen | meahten | sceolden | |
[edit] Anomalous verbs
Additionally there is a further group of four verbs which are anomalous, the verbs "will", "do", "go" and "be". These four have their own conjugation schemes which differ significantly from all the other classes of verb. This is not especially unusual: "will", "do", "go", and "be" are the most commonly used verbs in the language, and are very important to the meaning of the sentences they are used in. Idiosyncratic patterns of inflection are much more common with important items of vocabulary than with rarely-used ones.
Dōn 'to do', gān 'to go', and willan 'will' are conjugated alike:
| Conjugation | Pronoun | 'do' | 'go' | 'will' |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | – | dōn | gān | willan |
| Present Indicative | ||||
| ic | dō | gā | wille | |
| þū | dēst | gǣst | wilt | |
| hē/hit/hēo | dēð | gǣð | wile | |
| wē/gē/hīe | dōð | gāð | willað | |
| Past Indicative | ||||
| ic/hē/hit/hēo | dyde | ēode | wolde | |
| þū | dydest | ēodest | woldest | |
| wē/gē/hīe | dydon | ēodon | woldon | |
| Present Subjunctive | (all persons) | dō | gā | wille |
| Past Subjunctive | (all persons) | dyde | ēode | wolde |
| Present Participle | dōnde | – | willende | |
| Past Participle | gedōn | gegān | – | |
The verb 'to be' is actually composed of three different stems:
| Conjugation | Pronoun | sindon | bēon | wesan |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitive | – | sindon | bēon | wesan |
| Present Indicative | ||||
| ic | eom | bēo | wese | |
| þū | eart | bist | wesst | |
| hē/hit/hēo | is | bið | wes(t) | |
| wē/gē/hīe | sind(on) | bēoð | wesað | |
| Past Indicative | ||||
| ic | – | – | wæs | |
| þū | – | – | wǣre | |
| hē/hit/hēo | – | – | wæs | |
| wē/gē/hīe | – | – | wǣron | |
| Present Subjunctive | ||||
| ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | sīe | bēo | wese | |
| wē/gē/hīe | sīen | bēon | wesen | |
| Past Subjunctive | ||||
| ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | – | – | wǣre | |
| wē/gē/hīe | – | – | wǣren | |
| Imperative | ||||
| (singular) | – | bēo | wes | |
| (plural) | – | bēoð | wesað | |
| Present Participle | – | bēonde | wesende | |
| Past Participle | – | gebēon | – | |
The present forms of wesan are almost never used. The bēon forms are usually used in reference to future actions. The modern verb 'to be' takes its present indicative forms from sindon, its past indicative forms from wesan, its present subjunctive forms from bēon, its past subjunctive forms from wesan, and its imperative and particicple forms from bēon.
[edit] Nouns
Old English nouns were declined – that is, the ending of the noun changed to reflect its function in the sentence. There were five major cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and instrumental.
- The nominative case indicated the subject of the sentence, for example se cyning means 'the king'. It was also used for direct address. Adjectives in the predicate (qualifying a noun on the other side of 'to be') were also in the nominative.
- The accusative indicated the direct object of the sentence, for example Æþelbald lufode þone cyning means "Æþelbald loved the king", where Æþelbald is the subject and the king is the object. Already the accusative had begun to merge with the nominative; it was never distinguished in the plural, or in a neuter noun.
- The genitive case indicated possession, for example the þæs cyninges scip is "the ship of the king" or "the king's ship". It also indicated partitive nouns.
- The dative case indicated the indirect object of the sentence, for example hringas þæm cyninge means "rings for the king" or "rings to the king". There were also several verbs which took direct objects in the dative.
- The instrumental case indicated an instrument used to achieve something, for example lifde sweorde, "he lived by the sword", where sweorde is the instrumental form of sweord. During the Old English period, the instrumental was falling out of use, having largely merged with the dative. Only pronouns and strong adjectives retained separate forms for the instrumental.
There were different endings depending on whether the noun was in the singular (for example, hring 'one ring') or plural (for example, hringas 'many rings').
Nouns are also categorised by grammatical gender – masculine, feminine, or neuter. Masculine and neuter words generally share their endings. Feminine words have their own subset of endings. The plural does not distinguish between genders.
Furthermore, Old English nouns are divided as either strong or weak. Weak nouns have their own endings. In general, weak nouns are easier than strong nouns, since they had begun to lose their declensional system. However, there is a great deal of overlap between the various classes of noun: they are not totally distinct from one another.
[edit] Strong nouns
Here are the strong declensional endings and examples for each gender:
| The Strong Noun Declension | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | – | -as | – | -u/– | -u/– | -a |
| Accusative | – | -as | – | -u/– | -e | -a, -e |
| Genitive | -es | -a | -es | -a | -e | -a |
| Dative | -e | -um | -e | -um | -e | -um |
For the '-u/–' forms above, the '-u' is used with a root consisting of a single short syllable or ending in a long syllable followed by a short syllable, while roots ending in long a syllable or two short syllables are not inflected. (A long syllable contains a long vowel or is followed by two consonants. Note also that there are some exceptions; for example, feminine nouns ending in -þu such as strengþu 'strength'.)
| Example of the Strong Noun Declension for each Gender | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine engel 'angel' |
Neuter scip 'ship' |
Feminine sorg 'sorrow' |
|||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | engel | englas | scip | scipu | sorg | sorga |
| Accusative | engel | englas | scip | scipu | sorge | sorga/sorge |
| Genitive | engles | engla | scipes | scipa | sorge | sorga |
| Dative | engle | englum | scipe | scipum | sorge | sorgum |
Note the syncopation of the second e in engel when an ending follows. This syncopation of the vowel in the second syllable occurs with two-syllable strong nouns which have a long vowel in the first syllable and a second syllable consisting of a short vowel and single consonant (for example, engel, wuldor 'glory', and hēafod 'head'). However, this syncopation is not always present, so forms such as engelas may be seen.
[edit] Weak nouns
Here are the weak declensional endings and examples for each gender:
| The Weak Noun Declension | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | -a | -an | -e | -an | -e | -an |
| Accusative | -an | -an | -e | -an | -an | -an |
| Genitive | -an | -ena | -an | -ena | -an | -ena |
| Dative | -an | -um | -an | -um | -an | -um |
| Example of the Weak Noun Declension for each Gender | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine nama 'name' |
Neuter ēage 'eye' |
Feminine tunge 'tongue' |
|||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | nama | naman | ēage | ēagan | tunge | tungan |
| Accusative | naman | naman | ēage | ēagan | tungan | tungan |
| Genitive | naman | namena | ēagan | ēagena | tungan | tungena |
| Dative | naman | namum | ēagan | ēagum | tungan | tungum |
[edit] Irregular strong nouns
In addition, masculine and neuter nouns whose main vowel is short 'æ' and end with a single consonant change the vowel to 'a' in the plural:
| Dæg 'day' m. | ||||
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | dæg | dagas | ||
| Accusative | dæg | dagas | ||
| Genitive | dæges | daga | ||
| Dative | dæge | dagum | ||
Some masculine and neuter nouns end in -e in their base form. These drop the -e and add normal endings. Note that neuter nouns in -e always have -u in the plural, even with a long vowel:
| Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -e | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine ende 'end' |
Neuter stȳle 'steel' |
||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||
| Nominative | ende | endas | stȳle | stȳlu | ||
| Accusative | ende | endas | stȳle | stȳlu | ||
| Genitive | endes | enda | stȳles | stȳla | ||
| Dative | ende | endum | stȳle | stȳlum | ||
Nouns ending in -h lose this when an ending is added, and lengthen the vowel in compensation (this can result in compression of the ending as well):
| Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -h | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine mearh 'horse' |
Neuter feorh 'life' |
Masculine scōh 'shoe' |
|||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | mearh | mēares | feorh | feorh | scōh | scōs |
| Accusative | mearh | mēares | feorh | feorh | scōh | scōs |
| Genitive | mēares | mēara | fēores | fēora | scōs | scōna |
| Dative | mēare | mēarum | fēores | fēorum | scō | scōm |
Nouns whose stem ends in -w change this to -u or drop it in the nominative singular. (Note that this '-u/–' distinction depends on syllable weight, as for strong nouns, above.)
| Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -w | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Neuter smeoru 'grease' |
Feminine sinu 'sinew' |
Feminine lǣs 'pasture' |
|||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | smeoru | smeoru | sinu | sinwa | lǣs | lǣswa |
| Accusative | smeoru | smeoru | sinwe | sinwa, -e | lǣswe | lǣswa, -e |
| Genitive | smeorwes | smeorwa | sinwe | sinwa | lǣswe | lǣswa |
| Dative | smeorwe | smeorwum | sinwe | sinwum | lǣswe | lǣswum |
A few nouns follow the -u declension, with an entirely different set of endings. The following examples are both masculine, although feminines also exist, with the same endings (for example duru 'door' and hand 'hand'). Note that the '-u/–' distinction in the singular depends on syllable weight, as for strong nouns, above.
| Example of the -u Declension | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine sunu 'son' |
Masculine feld 'field' |
||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |||
| Nominative | sunu | suna | feld | felda | ||
| Accusative | sunu | suna | feld | felda | ||
| Genitive | suna | suna | felda | felda | ||
| Dative | suna | sunum | felda | feldum | ||
There are also some nouns of the consonant declension, which show i-umlaut in some forms.
| Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -w | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine fōt 'foot' |
Feminine hnutu 'nut' |
Feminine bōc 'book' |
|||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | fōt | fēt | hnutu | hnyte | bōc | bēc |
| Accusative | fōt | fēt | hnutu | hnyte | bōc | bēc |
| Genitive | fōtes | fōta | hnyte, hnute | hnuta | bēc, bōce | bōca |
| Dative | fōte | fōtum | hnyte, hnute | hnutum | bēc, bōc | bōcum |
Other such nouns include (with singular and plural nominative forms given):
Masculine: tōþ, tēþ 'tooth'; mann, menn 'man'; frēond, frīend 'friend'; fēond, fīend 'enemy' (cf. 'fiend')
Feminine: studu, styde 'post' (cf. 'stud'); hnitu, hnite 'nit'; āc, ǣc 'oak'; gāt, gǣt 'goat'; brōc, brēc 'leg covering' (cf. 'breeches'); gōs, gēs 'goose'; burg, byrg 'city' (cf. German cities in -burg); dung, ding 'prison' (cf. 'dungeon' by way of French and Frankish); turf, tyrf 'turf'; grūt, grȳt 'meal' (cf. 'grout'); lūs, lȳs 'louse'; mūs, mȳs 'mouse'; neaht, niht 'night' Feminine with loss of -h in some forms: furh, fyrh 'furrow' or 'fir'; sulh, sylh 'plough'; þrūh, þrȳh 'trough'; wlōh, wlēh 'fringe'. Feminine with compression of endings: cū, cȳ 'cow' (cf. dialectal plural 'kine')
[edit] Nouns of relationship
| Nouns of Relationship | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine fæder 'father' |
Masculine brōðor 'brother' |
Feminine mōdor 'mother' |
Feminine sweostor 'sister' |
Feminine dohtor 'daughter' |
|||||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | fæder | fæd(e)ras | brōðor | (ge)brōðor | mōdor | mōdra/mōdru | sweostor | (ge)sweostor, -tru, -tra | dohtor | dohtor |
| Accusative | fæder | fæd(e)ras | brōðor | (ge)brōðor | mōdor | mōdra/mōdru | sweostor | (ge)sweostor, -tru, -tra | dohtor | dohtor |
| Genitive | fæder | fæd(e)ra | brōðor | (ge)brōðra | mōdor | mōdra | sweostor | (ge)sweostra | dohtor | dohtra |
| Dative | fæder | fæderum | brēðer | (ge)brōðrum | mēder | mōdrum | sweostor | (ge)sweostrum | dehter | dohtrum |
Neuter nouns with -r in plural:
| Lamb 'lamb' n. | ||||
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | lamb | lambru | ||
| Accusative | lamb | lambru | ||
| Genitive | lambes | lambra | ||
| Dative | lambe | lambrum | ||
Other such nouns: cealf, cealfru 'calf'; ǣg, ǣru 'egg' (the form 'egg' is a borrowing from Old Norse); cild 'child' has either the normal plural cild or cildru (cf. 'children', with -en from the weak nouns).
[edit] Adjectives
Adjectives in Old English are declined using the same categories as nouns: five cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and two numbers (singular, plural). In addition, they can be declined either strong or weak. The weak forms are used in the presence of a definite or possessive determiner, while the strong ones are used in other situations. The weak forms are identical to those for nouns, while the strong forms use a combination of noun and pronoun endings:
| The Strong Adjective Declension | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | – | -e | – | -u/– | -u/– | -e, -a |
| Accusative | -ne | -e | – | -u/– | -e | -e, -a |
| Genitive | -es | -ra | -es | -ra | -re | -ra |
| Dative | -um | -um | -um | -um | -re | -um |
| Instrumental | -e | -um | -e | -um | -re | -um |
For the '-u/–' forms above, the distinction is the same as for strong nouns.
| Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gōd 'good' | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | gōd | gōde | gōd | gōd | gōd | gōde, -a |
| Accusative | gōdne | gōde | gōd | gōd | gōde | gōde, -a |
| Genitive | gōdes | gōdra | gōdes | gōdra | gōdre | gōdra |
| Dative | gōdum | gōdum | gōdum | gōdum | gōdre | gōdum |
| Instrumental | gōde | gōdum | gōde | gōdum | gōdre | gōdum |
| Example of the Weak Adjective Declension: gōd 'good' | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | gōda | gōdan | gōde | gōdan | gōde | gōdan |
| Accusative | gōdan | gōdan | gōde | gōdan | gōdan | gōdan |
| Genitive | gōdan | gōdena | gōdan | gōdena | gōdan | gōdena |
| Dative | gōdan | gōdum | gōdan | gōdum | gōdan | gōdum |
| Instrumental | gōdan | gōdum | gōdan | gōdum | gōdan | gōdum |
Note that the same variants described above for nouns also exist for adjectives. The following example shows both the æ/a variation and the -u forms in the feminine singular and neuter plural:
| Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: glæd 'glad' | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | glæd | glade | glæd | gladu | gladu | glade |
| Accusative | glædne | glade | glæd | gladu | glade | glade |
| Genitive | glades | glædra | glades | glædra | glædre | glædra |
| Dative | gladum | gladum | gladum | gladum | glædre | gladum |
| Instrumental | glade | gladum | glade | gladum | glædre | gladum |
The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -h:
| Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: hēah 'high' | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | hēah | hēa | hēah | hēa | hēa | hēa |
| Accusative | hēane | hēa | hēah | hēa | hēa | hēa |
| Genitive | hēas | hēara | hēas | hēara | hēare | hēara |
| Dative | hēam | hēam | hēam | hēam | hēare | hēam |
| Instrumental | hēa | hēam | hēa | hēam | hēare | hēam |
The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -w:
| Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gearu 'ready' | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | |||
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative | gearu | gearwe | gearu | gearu | gearu | gearwe |
| Accusative | gearone | gearwe | gearu | gearu | gearwe | gearwe |
| Genitive | gearwes | gearora | gearwes | gearora | gearore | gearora |
| Dative | gearwum | gearwum | gearwum | gearwum | gearore | gearwum |
| Instrumental | gearwe | gearwum | gearwe | gearwum | gearore | gearwum |
[edit] Determiners
Old English had two main determiners: se, which could function as both 'the' or 'that', and þes for 'this'.
| the/that | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | ||
| Nominative | se | þæt | sēo | þā | ||
| Accusative | þone | þæt | þā | þā | ||
| Genitive | þæs | þæs | þǣre | þāra, þǣra | ||
| Dative | þǣm | þǣm | þǣre | þǣm, þām | ||
| Instrumental | þȳ, þon | þȳ, þon | – | – | ||
Modern English 'that' descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form, and 'the' from the masculine nominative form, with 's' replaced analogously by the 'th' of the other forms. The feminine nominative form was probably the source of Modern English 'she.'
| this | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Masculine | Neuter | Feminine | Plural | ||
| Nominative | þes | þis | þēos | þās | ||
| Accusative | þisne | þis | þās | þās | ||
| Genitive | þisses | þisses | þisse, þisre | þisra | ||
| Dative | þissum | þissum | þisse, þisre | þissum | ||
| Instrumental | þȳs | þȳs | – | – | ||
[edit] Pronouns
Most pronouns are declined by number, case and gender; in the plural form most pronouns have only one form for all genders. Additionally, Old English pronouns reserve the dual form (which is specifically for talking about groups of two things, for example "we two" or "you two" or "they two"). These were uncommon even then, but remained in use throughout the period.
[edit] Personal pronouns
| First Person | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Plural | Dual |
| Nominative | ic, īc | wē | wit |
| Accusative | mec, mē | ūsic, ūs | uncit, unc |
| Genitive | mīn | ūre | uncer |
| Dative | mē | ūs | unc |
| Second Person | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Plural | Dual |
| Nominative | þū | gē | git |
| Accusative | þēc, þē | ēowic, ēow | incit, inc |
| Genitive | þin | ēower | incer |
| Dative | þe | ēow | inc |
| Third Person | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Plural | Dual |
| Nominative | hē m., hēo f., hit n. | hiē m., hēo f. | – |
| Accusative | hine m., hīe f., hit n. | hiē m., hīo f. | – |
| Genitive | his m., hire f., his n. | hiera m., heora f. | – |
| Dative | him m., hire f., him n. | him | – |
Many of the forms above bear strong resemblances to their contemporary English language equivalents: for instance in the genitive case ēower became "your", ūre became "our", mīn became "mine".
[edit] Prepositions
Prepositions (like Modern English words by, for, and with) often follow the word which they govern, in which case they are called postpositions. They are not declined.
