Weak Declension

The weak paradigm is more simplified and has less variation between the genders and cases.

	Masculine			Neuter			Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
Nominative	-a	-an	-e		-an	-e		-an
Genitive	-an	-ena, -a	-an		-ena, -a	-an		-ena, -a
Dative	-an	-um	-an		-um	-an		-um
Accusative	-an	-an	-e		-an	-an		-an

Example declension of nama 'name', ēage 'eye', and tunge 'tongue'
	Masculine			Neuter			Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular		Plural	Singular		Plural
Nominative	nama	naman	ēage		ēagan	tunge		tungan
Genitive	naman	namena, -a	ēagan		ēagena, -a	tungan		tungena, -a
Dative	naman	namum	ēagan		ēagum	tungan		tungum
Accusative	naman	naman	ēage		ēagan	tungan		tungan

There was also a group of root-stem nouns that was not numerous but comprised the words used in everyday life, that’s why it was very conservative – a group of exceptions with mutated root vowel preserved the majority of nouns belonging to this class. It comprised such nouns as man, goose, calf, child and others. Though the flexion coincided the root vowel changed, that’s why in plural in present-day English we have exceptions in forming plural forms.

The form of declined word completely depended on a vocalic stem-forming suffix. . –a- stems may be either masculine or neuter, the difference between the two genders may be seen only in the nominative. If there was a mutated vowel in the stem, this sound might be preserved only in the singular. There are some peculiarities of declension of the nouns that had originally –j- or –w- in the stem (-ja –stem and wa-stem) they may preserve this sound in declension, but otherwise the differences are minor. Nouns belonging to ō-stems are all feminine. In the form of the nominative case monosyllabic nouns with a short root vowel of this class have ending –u; if there are 2 and more syllables or the root vowel is long there is no ending at all. In this group of nouns the suffix ō may also be accompanied by additional I or w that is jō or wō. i-stem the nouns might belong to all the three genders. Nouns belonging to –u-stems may be of masculine or feminine gender.

Weak declension This class of nouns consists of a rather numerous group of nouns originally having –n-stems. They may be of all three genders. But actually no difference in declension of nouns of different genders can be found. ). Less numerous and less significant for the development of the present-day nominal system are nouns of –s-stem. They had had this suffix in older times, in OE due to rhotacism they changed it into occasional appearance of –r- sound in indirect cases. They are all neuter. In OE was a separate group of –nd-stems. They are all masculine and their declension combines the peculiarities of the declension of –a-stem and to some extent –r-stem as they all denote persons.

Middle English. The category of gender was lost; and the loss was total. The category of number was preserved. In OE the plural endings originally were: -as, 0, -u, -a, -e,, -an. Due to the reduction of the unstressed vowels all these came to –es, -0, -e or -0, -en. So finally we have –es, -en. –es was added to form of plural form of numerous borrowings. Several nouns retain their OE plural with the mutated vowel (man-menn, foot-feet etc.) – these were more frequently used than those that changed their ending to –es. The number of cases was reduced from OE 4 to 2, the nominative and the genitive. The very nature of the genitive case is almost unchanged, it has the same functions as that of the OE noun, and practically all nouns can be used in this form.

Middle English retains only two distinct noun-ending patterns from the more complex system of inflection in Old English. The early Modern English words engel (angel) and name (name) demonstrate the two patterns:

	strong			weak
	singular	plural	singular		plural
nom/acc	engel	engles	name		namen
gen	engles*	engle(ne)**	name		namen
dat	engle	engle(s)	name		namen

NE: The noun paradigm looks very much the same as we have it today. Having lost the category of gender and much of its case forms it has the genitive case as opposed to nominative; the number of nouns taking it is reduced mainly to those denoting living beings. In fact we may call it possessive. At the same time the unification of plural endings takes place, and former relics of –en disappear, giving way to –es. So the general rule of formation of the plural of the noun is enriched by archaic forms (geese, feet) – we call them grammatical archaisms. Some words borrowed from Latin and used mainly in scientific texts retain their Latin plurals (datum-data). Of-phrase replaces the former genitive case.