If in the verbs the first short sound had palatal mutation, the consonant after it in the infinitive was doubled:

sittan – sæt - sǣton – seten (to sit)

Classes VI and VII of the strong verbs are specifically Germanic. They have no counterparts in other Indo-European languages. They are characterized by the fact that the vowel of the infinitive was repeated in the form of the Participle II, and the vowel in the past tense forms was the same for both the singular and the plural.

Class VI

Gradation formula a – ō – ō – a

faran – fōr – fōron – faren (to go)

Also verbs: zalan (to sing), wadan (to walk), bacan (to bake), sceacan (to shake), wascan (to wash).

Some verbs had fractures or mutations of the first vowel in the infinitive

swerian – swōr – swōron – sworen (to swear)

stæppan – stōp – stōpon – stapen (to step)

The verb standan (to stand) loses the sound –n- in the past tense forms

standan – stōd – stōdon - standen

Class VII

The most common are the following patterns:

ā – ē – ē – ā

hātan – hēt – hēt – hāten (to call)

æ - ē – ē – æ

lætan – lēt – lēton – læten (to let)

ā – ēo – ēo – ā

cnāwan – cnēow – cnēowon – cnāwen (to know)

ea – eo – eo – ea

healdan – heold – heoldon – healden (to hold)

ēa – ēo – ēo – ēa

bēatan – bēot – bēoton – bēaten (to beat)

A significant number of the verbs belonging to the seven classes of the strong conjugation have changed into the weak ones; many others disappeared and semantically have been replaced by other verbs, borrowed from other languages (Latin, French)

Weak verbs

There are three classes of Old English weak verbs as contrasted to their four in Gothic. They had three basic forms, their past tense and Participle II were made by adding the dental suffix –t- or –d- to the root morpheme.

They are divided into three classes depending on the ending of the infinitive, the sonority of the suffix and the sounds presiding the suffix.

New verbs derived from nouns, adjectives and partly adverbs were conjugated weak:

hors n (horse) horsian w v 2 (to supply with horses)

Another group of weak verbs were causative verbs derived from strong intransitive verbs:

sittan s v V (sit) settan w v 1 (to set)

This is a further reflected in the existence in the language of pairs of verbs, one of which is irregular, and another is regular:

drincan sv 3 drencean w v 1 (to drink – to make someone drink, to give drink)

lī ðan sv 1 lǣ dan w v 1 (to go – to make someone go, to lead)

faran sv 7 ferian w v 1 (to go – to carry)

Borrowed verbs were also weak:

Lat. signare seznian w v 2 (to mark with a sign)

Class I

The verbs of this class ended in –an (or –ian after r). This class of verbs is subdivided into regular and irregular.

Regular class I verbs have mutation of their root vowel, and three basic forms of the verb end in:

-an/-ian – -de/ede/te – ed/-t-d

(domian ) dēman – dēmde – dēmed (to judge)

(nasjan ) nerian – nerede – nered (to save)

When the suffix was preceded by a voiceless consonant, the suffix -d- changed into –t-:

cēpan – cēpte – cēpt, cēped (to keep)

Verbs ended in two consonants, the second being d or t, Participle II of such verbs can have variant endings – in –d, -t or –ded, -ted:

sendan – sende – send, sended (to send)

restan – reste – rest, rested (to rest)

Irregular verbs of this class had mutated vowel only in the infinitive. In the past tense and in the Participle II it remained unchanged:

(salian ) sellan – sealde – seald (to give)

(talian ) tellan – tealde – teald (to tell)

The sound a in the root of the second and the third forms is changed through breaking into ea, but it is not mutated.

tǣ̄̄can – tāhte – tāht (to teach)

byczean – bōhte – bōht (to buy)

ðenc(e)an – ðōhte – ðōht (to think)

wyrcean – worhte – worht (to work)

Other verbs of class I of the weak verbs are: leornian (to learn), lyhtan (to light), nemnan (to name) etc.

Class II

This verbs have the suffix –oia in the infinitive; the root vowel is the same in the all three forms. The suffix gave the vowel –o- in the past tense and in the infinitive.

The pattern of the three basic forms has the following endings:

-ian –ode –od

macian – macode – macod (to make)

lufian – lufode – lufod (to love)

hopian – hopode – hopod (to hope)

Other verbs of this class are: andswarian (to answer), earnian (to earn), lōcian (to look), sēowian (to sew) etc.

Class III

The class is not numerous (there are about eight verbs). Some of the verbs changed into the first and the second classes.

Some verbs in this class have doubled consonants in the infinitive and the mutative vowels, which are accounted for by the presence of the element –i-/-j- in some forms in OE.

The pattern of forms of the most frequent class III verbs forms is:

-an –de –d

habban – hæfde – hæfd (to have)

libban – lifde – lifd (tolive)

Other verbs are: fēozean (to hate), ðrēazean (to threaten), smēazean (to think) etc.

Preterite-Present of Old English Verbs

They occupy a specific place within the verbal system of Old English verbs. They combine the qualities of the strong verbs as well as the weak ones.

The origin of these verbs will be clearer if we consider the peculiarity of their semantic.

Their present tense is formed according to the rules of formation of the past tense of the strong verbs, that is by gradation (vowel interchange) whereas their past tense has all the peculiarities of the weak verbs, e.g. wītan – wāt, but wisse – wiste; participle II meanwhile retains the suffix –en of the strong verbs.

Analogous development of these verb may be found in other languages. E.g. Latin: memini (I have remember – I remember); novi (I have come to know – I know).

Most preterite-present verbs are classified according to the classes of gradation to which their present tense belong.

Irregular verbs

There are four verbs in Old English listed as irregular

bēon / wesan (be)

3an (go)

dōn (do)

willan (will)

The first two differ from all other verbs in that their forms are derived from different roots, that is their system is based on suppletivity.