Bēon / wesan

This verb forms its paradigmatic forms from the three roots – wes-, es- and be-. The verb belongs to the most ancient in Indo-European languages, and is suppletive in other languages as well. The forms of this verb are:

The infinitive – bēon/wesan (to be)

Present tense Indicative Singular

Plural

(all persons) sindon, sint, bēoð

Present tense Subjunctive

Singular (all persons) sīe, sī, sy, bēo

Plural (all persons) sīen, syn, sīn, bēon

Imperative

Singular wes, bēo

Plural wesað, bēoð

Participle I wesende, bēonde

There is no strict rule in the use of variant forms in the present tense; still there might be some differences in their functioning. Some observations suggested that bēon is limited to future and sentences with abstract meaning, while wesan is used only in concrete.

Zan (to go)

This verb of motion had reduplication in Gothic, which is lost in Old English. Besides suppletivity for the past tense, the peculiarity of its conjugation is that it has mutation in the 2-nd and 3-rd person singular present indicative:

The Infinitive – zān

Present tense Indicative Singular

Plural

(all persons) zāð

Present tense Subjunctive

Singular (all persons) zā

Plural (all persons) zān

Imperative

Singular zā

Plural zāð Participle I zānzende

Dōn (to do)

This verb has mutation in the 2-nd and 3-rd person present indicative.

The infinitive – dōn

Present tense Indicative Singular

Plural

(all persons) dōð

Present tense Subjunctive

Singular (all persons) dō

Plural (all persons) dōn

Imperative

Singular dō

Plural dōð

Participle I dōnde

Willan

The verb does not take the ending –ð in the present indicative.

The Infinitive - willan

Present tense Indicative Singular

Plural

(all persons) willað

Present tense Subjunctive

Singular (all persons) wille

Plural (all persons) willen

Imperative

Singular ---

Plural ---

Participle I willende

The forms of this verb may also be found in the negative variant: ne wille – nylle, nelle; ne wolde – nolde…