from the synthetic (or inflectional) stage to the analytic one. At least
for the latest 1,000 years this trend could be observed in all branches of
the family. The level of this analitization process in each single language
can be estimated by several features, their presence or absence in the
language. One of them is for sure the declension of the numerals. In Proto-
Indo-European all numerals, both cardinal and ordinal, were declined, as
they derived on a very ancient stage from nouns or adjectives, originally
being a declined part of speech. There are still language groups within the
family with decline their numerals: among them, Slavic and Baltic are the
most typical samples. They practically did not suffer any influence of the
analytic processes. But all other groups seem to have been influenced
somehow. Ancient Italic and Hellenic languages left the declension only for
the first four cardinal pronouns (from 1 to 4), the same with ancient
Celtic.
The Old English language preserves this system of declension only for
three numerals. It is therefore much easier to learn, though not for
English speakers I guess - Modern English lacks declension at all.
Here is the list of the cardinal numerals:
[pic]
Ordinal numerals use the suffix -ta or -юa, etymologically a common Indo-
European one (*-to-).
The Old English Adverb.
Adverbs can be either primary (original adverbs) or derive from the
adjectives. In fact, adverbs appeared in the language rather late, and
eraly Proto-Indo-European did not use them, but later some auxiliary nouns
and pronouns losing their declension started to play the role of adverbial
modifiers. That's how thew primary adverbs emerged.
In Old English the basic primary adverbs were the following ones:
юa (then)
юonne (then)
юж'r (there)
юider (thither)
nъ (now)
hйr (here)
hider (hither)
heonan (hence)
sуna (soon)
oft (often)
eft (again)
swб (so)
hwнlum (sometimes).
Secondary adverbs originated from the instrumental singular of the
neuter adjectives of strong declension. They all add the suffix -e: wide
(widely), dйope (deeply), fжste (fast), hearde (hard). Another major
sugroup of them used the suffixes -lнc, -lнce from more complexed
adjectives: bealdlнce (boldly), freondlнce (in a friendly way).
Adverbs, as well as adjectives, had their degrees of comparison:
wнde - wнdor - wнdost (widely - more widely - most widely)
long - leng (long - longer)
feorr (far) - fierr
sуfte (softly) - sйft
йaюe (easily) - нeю
wel (well) - betre - best
yfele (badly) - wiers, wyrs - wierst
micele (much) - mбre - mж'st
The Old English Verb.
Old English system had strong and weak verbs: the ones which used the
ancient Germanic type of conjugation (the Ablaut), and the ones which just
added endings to their past and participle forms. Strong verbs make the
clear majority. According to the traditional division, which is taken form
Gothic and is accepted by modern linguistics, all strong verbs are
distinguished between seven classes, each having its peculiarities in
conjugation and in the stem structure. It is easy to define which verb is
which class, so you will not swear trying to identify the type of
conjugation of this or that verb (unlike the situation with the
substantives).
Here is the table which is composed for you to see the root vowels of all
strong verb classes. Except the VII class, they all have exact stem vowels
for all four main forms:
Now let us see what Old English strong verbs of all those seven
classes looked like and what were their main four forms. I should mention
that besides the vowel changes in the stem, verbal forms also changed stem
consonants very often. The rule of such changes is not mentioned
practically in any books on the Old English language, though there is some.
See for yourselves this little chart where the samples of strong verb
classes are given with their four forms:
Infinitive, Past singular, Past plural, Participle II (or Past Participle)
Class I
wrнtan (to write), wrбt, writon, writen
snнpan (to cut), snбю, snidon, sniden
Other examples: belнfan (stay), clнfan (cling), ygrнpan (clutch), bнtan
(bite), slнtan (slit), besmнtan (dirty), gewнtan (go), blнcan (glitter),
sнcan (sigh), stнgan (mount), scнnan (shine), бrнsan (arise), lнюan (go).
Class II
bйodan (to offer), bйad, budon, boden
cйosan (to choose), cйas, curon, coren
Other examples: crйopan (creep), clйofan (cleave), flйotan (fleet),
gйotan (pour), grйotan (weep), nйotan (enjoy), scйotan (shoot), lйogan
(lie), brйowan (brew), drйosan (fall), frйosan (freeze), forlйosan (lose).
Class III
III a) a nasal consonant
drincan (to drink), dranc, druncon, druncen
Other: swindan (vanish), onginnan (begin), sinnan (reflect), winnan
(work), gelimpan (happen), swimman (swim).
III b) l + a consonant
helpan (to help), healp, hulpon, holpen
Other: delfan (delve), swelgan (swallow), sweltan (die), bellan (bark),
melcan (milk).
III c) r, h + a consonant
steorfan (to die), stearf, sturfon, storfen
weorюan (to become), wearю, wurdon, worden
feohtan (to fight), feaht, fuhton, fohten
More: ceorfan (carve), hweorfan (turn), weorpan (throw), beorgan
(conceal), beorcan (bark).
Class IV
stelan (to steal), stж'l, stж'lon, stolen
beran (to bear), bж'r, bж'ron, boren
More: cwelan (die), helan (conceal), teran (tear), brecan (break).
Class V
tredan (to tread), trж'd, trж'don, treden
cweюan (to say), cwж'ю, cwж'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), fуr, fуron, faren
More: galan (sing), grafan (dig), hladan (lade), wadan (walk), dragan
(drag), gnagan (gnaw), bacan (bake), scacan (shake), wascan (wash).
Class VII
hбtan (to call), hйt, hйton, hбten
feallan (to fall), feoll, feollon, feallen
cnйawan (to know), cnйow, cnйowon, cnбwen
More: blondan (blend), ondrж'dan (fear), lбcan (jump), scadan (divide),
fealdan (fold), healdan (hold), sponnan (span), bйatan (beat), blуwan
(flourish), hlуwan (low), spуwan (flourish), mбwan (mow), sбwan (sow),
rбwan (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 н in the stem gives i
with an open syllable in the modern language (wrнtan > write, scнnan >
shine). The same can be said about a, which nowadays is a in open syllables
pronounced [ж] (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.
Regular verbs
Inf. Past PP
dйman (to judge), dйmde, dйmed
hнeran (to hear), hнerde, hнered
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:
cйpan (to keep), cйpte, cйpt / cйped
grйtan (to greet), grйtte, grйt / grйted
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
tж'can (to teach), tбhte, tбht
rж'can (to reach), rбhte, rбht
bycgan (to buy), bohte, boht
sйcan (to seek), sуhte, sуht
wyrcan (to work), worhte, worht
юencan (to think), юуhte, юуht
bringan (to bring), brуhte, brуht
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), sceююan (harm), wecgean (move), fйran
(go), lж'ran (teach), drжfan (drive), fэsan (hurry), drэgean (dry), hнepan
(heap), mйtan (to meet), wэscean (wish), byldan (build), wendan (turn),
efstan (hurry). All these are regular.
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), scйawian (look), weorюian (honour), wundrian (wonder), fжstnian
(fasten), mжrsian (glorify).
habban (to have), hжfde, hжfd
libban (to live), lifde, lifd
secgan (to say), sжgde, sжgd
hycgan (to think), hogde, hogod
юrйagan (to threaten), юrйade, юrйad
smйagan (to think), smйade, smйad
frйogan (to free), frйode, frйod
fйogan (to hate), fйode, fйod
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 wrнtan, for example,
those three stems are: wrнt- (infinitive without the ending -an), wrбt-
(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 - wrнtan (to write)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imper. ¦ Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 wrнte - ¦ wrбt
2 wrнtest wrнte wrнt ¦ write } wrнte
3 wrнteю - ¦ wrбt
Pl. wrнtaю wrнten 2 wrнtaю ¦ writon writen
Infinitive Participle
wrнtan I wrнtende II gewriten
Class II weak - lufian (to love)
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 lufie - lufode
2 lufast }lufie lufa lufodest } lufode
3 lufaю - lufode
Pl. lufiaю lufien 2 lufiaю lufodon lufoden
Part.
I lufiende II gelufod
Class III strong - bindan (to bind)
Sg. 1 binde - ¦ band, bond
2 bindest } binde bind ¦ bunde } bunde
3 bindeю - ¦ band, bond
Pl. bindaю binden bindaю ¦ bundon bunden
Inf. Part.
bindan I bindende II gebunden
Class V strong - sйon (to see)
Sg.1 sйo - seah
2 sнehst } sйo seoh sбwe } sбwe,
3 sнehю - seah sжge
Pl. sйoю sйon 2 sйoю sawon sбwen
Participle
I sйonde II gesewen, gesegen
Class VII strong - fуn (to catch)
Sg. 1 fу - feng
2 fйhst } fу fуh fenge } fenge
3 fйhю - feng
Pl. fую fуn 2 fую fengon fengen
I fуnde II gefangen, gefongen
Class III weak - secgan (to say)
Sg.1 secge - sжgde
2 sжgst }secge sжge sжgdest }sжgde
3 sжgю - sжgde
Pl. secgaю secgen 2 secgaю sжgdon sжgden
I secgende II gesжgd
Class III weak - libban (to live)
Sg.1 libbe - lifde
2 liofast }libbe liofa lifdest } lifde
3 liofaю - lifde
Pl. libbaю libben 2 libbaю lifdon lifden
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), юurfan (to need), dearan (to dare), munan (to
remember), sculan (shall), magan (may).
Present of witan (= strong Past)
Ind. Subj. Imp.
Sg. 1 wбt -
2 wast } wite wite
3 wбt -
Pl. witon 2 witen witaю
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)
Ind. Subj. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 cann cъюe
2 canst } cunne cъюest } cъюe
3 cann cъюe
Pl. cunnon cunnen cъюon cъюen
юurfan (need)
Sg. 1 юearf юorfte
2 юearft } юurfe юorftest } юorfte
3 юearf юorfte
Pl. юurfon юurfen юorfton юorften
magan (may)
Sg. 1 mжg meahte mihte, mihten
2 meaht } mжge meahtest
3 mжg meahte
Pl. magon mжgen 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), bйon (to be), gбn (to go), dуn (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 bйon in
the Past
Present
Sg.1 eom -
2 eart } sнe, sэ wes
3 is -
Pl. sind sнen, sэn 2 wesaю
bйon (to be)
Sg. 1 bйo -
2 bist }bйo bйo
3 biю -
Pl. bйoю bйon 2 bйoю
Past
Sg. 1 wжs
2 wжre } wжre
3 wжs
Pl. wжron wжren
Participle I is bйonde (being).
gбn (to go)
Sg.1 gб - йode
2 gж'st } gб gб йodest } йode
3 gж'ю - йode
Pl. gбю 2 gбn gбю йodon йoden
Participles:
I gбnde, gangende II gegбn
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 bйon, and the words bйo (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 hжfdon '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) - mж'rsian (to announce;
from mж're - famous)
2. -lжc- - nйбlжcan (to approach)
3. -ett- - bliccettan (to sparkle)
Prefixes
1. б- = out of, from - бrнsan (arise), бwakan (awake), бberan (sustain)
2. be- = over, around, by - begбn (go around), beюencan (think over),
behйafdian (behead)
3. for- = destruction or loss - fordуn (destroy), forweorюan (perish)
4. mis- = negation or bad quality - mislнcian (displease)
5. of- = reinfors - ofslйan (kill), oftйon (take away)
6. on- = change or separation - onbindan (unbind), onlъcan (unlock)
7. tу- = destruction - tуbrecan (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), жt (to), fram (from), tу (to), wiю (against), in,
of, mid (with), on (on, at), be (by, near, to, because of, about), юurh
(through), under, ofer (over), жfter (after), bufan (above), ъt (out).
Secondary: beforan (before), bъtan (without), benorюan (north of), etc.
жt means 'to' and wiю 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, bъtan, sometimes on, in) or genitive (fram,
ъt, жfter).
Conjunctions included the following:
Primary: and / ond (and) , ac (but), gif (if), or.
Secondary: жgюer ge... ge (both... and..., either ... or...), hwonne
(when), юa (when), юonne (when), юйбh (though), южtte (that), жr (before),
swб... swб... (so... as...).
And a few interjections: iб (yes), wб (woe!, wow!), hwжt (there! what!).
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