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. Strong verbs indicate tense by a change in the quality of a vowel, while weak verbs indicate tense by the addition of an ending.
- Further information: 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 often a challenge for students of the language, though English speakers may see connections between the old verb classes and their modern forms.
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 by adding alveolar (t or d) endings to the stem for the past and past-participle tenses. Some examples are love, loved or look, looked.
Originally, the weak ending was used to form the preterite of informal, noun-derived verbs such as often emerge in conversation and which have no established system of stem-change. By nature, these verbs were almost always transitive, and even today, most weak verbs are transitive verbs formed in the same way. However, as English came into contact with non-Germanic languages, it invariably borrowed useful verbs which lacked established stem-change patterns. Rather than invent and standardize new classes or learn foreign conjugations, English speakers simply applied the weak ending to the foreign bases.
The linguistic trends of borrowing foreign verbs and verbalizing nouns have greatly increased the number of weak verbs over the last 1200 years. Some verbs that were originally strong (for example help, holp, holpen) have become weak by analogy; 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, conjugation of weak verbs is easier to teach, since there are fewer classes of variation. In combination, these factors have drastically increased the number of weak verbs, so that in modern English weak verbs are the most numerous and productive form (although occasionally a weak verb may turn into a strong verb through the process of analogy, such as sneak (originally only a noun), where snuck is an analogical formation rather than survivals from Old English).
There are three major classes of weak verbs in Old English. 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 they 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 have a present tense in the form of a strong preterite and a past tense like the past of a weak verb. These verbs derive from the subjunctive or optative use of preterite forms to refer to present or future time. For example, witan, "to know" comes from a verb which originally meant "to have seen" (cf. OE wise "manner, mode, appearance"; Latin videre "to see" from the same root). The present singular is formed from the original singular preterite stem and the present plural from the original plural preterite stem. As a result of this history, the first-person singular and third-person singular are the same in the present.
Few preterite present appear in the Old English corpus, and some are not attested in all forms.
| Conjugation | Pronoun | 'know, know how to, can' | 'be able to, may' | 'be obliged to, shall' | 'know, wit' | 'own, owe' | 'avail, dow' | 'dare' | 'remember' | 'need' | 'be able to, be obliged to, mote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Infinitives | cunnan | magan | sculan | witan | āgan | dugan | durran | munan | mōtan | ||
| Present Indicative | |||||||||||
| ic | cann | mæg | sceal | wāt | āh | deah | dearr | man | þearf | mōt | |
| þū | canst | meaht | scealt | wāst | āhst | dearst | manst | þearft | mōst | ||
| hē/hit/hēo | cann | mæg | sceal | wāt | āh | deah | dearr | man | þearf | mōt | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cunnon | magon | sculon | witon | āgon | dugon | durron | munon | þurfon | mōton | |
| Past Indicative | |||||||||||
| ic | cūðe | meahte | sceolde | wisse, wiste | āhte | dohte | dorst | munde | þorfte | mōste | |
| þū | cūðest | meahtest | sceoldest | wissest, wistest | āhte | dohte | dorst | munde | þorfte | mōste | |
| hē/hit/hēo | cūðe | meahte | sceolde | wisse, wiste | āhte | dohte | dorst | munde | þorfte | mōste | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cūðon | meahton | sceoldon | wisson, wiston | |||||||
| Present Subjunctive | |||||||||||
| ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | cunne | mæge | scule | wite | āge | dyge, duge | durre | myne, mune | þyrfe, þurfe | mōte | |
| wē/gē/hīe | cunnen | mægen | sculen | witaþ | |||||||
| Past Subjunctive | |||||||||||
| ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo | cūðe | meahte | sceolde | wisse, wiste | |||||||
| 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 participle 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] 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.
| 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 | þīn | ēower | incer |
| Dative | þē | ēow | inc |
| Third Person | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Case | Singular | Plural | ||||
| Masc. | Neut. | Fem. | ||||
| Nominative | hē | hit | hēo | hiē m., hēo f. | ||
| Accusative | hine | hit | hīe | hiē m., hīo f. | ||
| Genitive | his | his | hire | hiera m., heora f. | ||
| Dative | him | him | hire | 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
- Further information: Old English language (list of prepositions)
Prepositions (like Modern English words by, for, and with) often follow the word which they govern, in which case they are called postpositions. Also, for that the object of a preposition was marked in the dative case, a preposition may conceivably be located anywhere in the sentence, even appended to the verb. e.g. "Scyld Scefing sceathena threatum meodo setla of teoh" means "Scyld took mead settles of (from) enemy threats." The infinitive is not declined.
