14. Weak verbs in Old Germ.L.

In Gothic they are divided into four classes according to the infinitives end in –jan, pret. –ida. (-ta); -ōn, pret. –ōda; -an, pret. –áida; -nan, pret. –nōda.The weak preterite is a special Germanic formation, and many points connected with its origin are still uncertain

1. First Weak Conjugation.

In Gothic the verbs of this conjugation are sub-divided into two classes: - (1) verbs with a short stem syllable, as nasjan “to save”, or with a long open syllable, as stōjan “to judge”; (2) verbs with a long closed syllable, as sōkjan “to seek”; and polysyllabic verbs.

Germanic suffix –j- in different Germanic languages reflected as –ia-, -ij-, -i-.

Sub-class (1)	Infinitive	Preterite	PP
Gothic	nasjan “to rescue’	nasida	nasiþs
OE	Nerian	nerede	nered
OHG	Nerian	nerita	(gi)nerit
Sub-class (2)
Gothic	Sōkjan	sōkida	sōkiþs
OE	Sēcan	sōhte	sōht
OHG	Suohen	suohta	(gi)suohit

2. Second Weak Conjugation.

PG forms corresponding to the Gothic and OHG were *salbō-mi, *salbō-zi, *salbō-đi, Plural *salbō-miz, salbō-đi, with stem-forming suffix being –o-.

	Infinitive	Preterite	PP
Gothic	salbōn “to anoint’	salbōda	salbōþs
OE	Endian	endode	endod
OHG	Machôn	machôta	gimachot

3. Third Weak Conjugation.

It had a stem-forming suffix –ai- that apears only in Gothic (Preterite and Past participle), in Present the alternation of vowels proves to be a – ai. In other Germanic languages the suffix fell out or appeared as –e-.

	Infinitive	Preterite	PP
Gothic	haban “to have”	habaida	habaiþs
OE	Habban	hæfde	hæfd
OHG	Haben	habêta	gihabêt

Fourth Weak Conjugation

This class of verbs is characteristic of the Gothic language only. They belong to the so-call inchoative class of verbs, that is denoting the beginning of the action.

15. Preterite-present verbs

These are the verbs inflected in the present like the preterite of strong verbs and in the past like the preterite of weak verbs. The following verbs, most of which are defective, belong to this class:

cann – he knows

dear – he dares

sceal – he shall

mot – he must

mæj – he may

ah – he possesses

þearh – he needs

ann – he grants

Ablaut-series: Gothic witan “to know”.

INF witan OE witan	PRESENT				PAST
	1st Sing.	2nd Sng.	Pl.	Subj.	Pret.Sng	Subj. Pret.	Pres.Part.
	wáit I know	wáist	witum	witjau	Wissa	Wissēdjáu	witands
	wāt	1 & 3 Sng. wāt	witon		wisse wisson Pl.

Compare PDE wit “розум, ум”; witty “розумний, дотепний”, and Russian ведать. (Grimm’s Law).

Ablaut series: Gothic kunnan “to know”, OE cunnan > PDE can.

INF Gothic kunnan OE cunnan	PRESENT				PAST
	1st Sing.	2nd Sng.	Pl.	Subj.	Pret.Sng	Subj. Pret.	Pres.Part.
	kann I know	kant	kunnum		Kunþa	Kunþēdjáu	Kunnands
	can(n)	1-3 Sng can(n)	cunnon		cūðe cūðon Pl.

Ablaut series: Gothic *skulan “to be obliged to”, OE sculan “to be obliged” > PDE shall.

INF Gothic *sculan OE Sculan	PRESENT				PAST
	1st Sing.	2nd Sng.	Pl.	Subj.	Pret.Sng	Subj. Pret.	Pres.Part.
	skal ‘I owe’	kant	kunnum		Kunþa	Kunþēdjáu	kunnands
	sceal	1-3 Sng sceal	sculon		scolde scoldon Pl.

Preterite-presents also include:

(V-ablaut series)	Gothic	OE
	Magan	magan “to have power” > PDE may, might
(VI-ablaut series)	*ga-mōtan	mōt(an) “to be allowed to”, “to be able to” > PDE must
	Áihan	āgan “own, possess, have” > PDE owe; PP āgen > “own, to own”, Pret. Sing. āhte > ought

1. Anomalous verb *wiljan “to wish, desire” in Gothic.

Present
Singular	Plural
wiljáu wileis wili Dual wileits	wileima wileiþ wileina
Preterite
Indicative	Subjunctive (optative)
Sing 1. wilda	Wildēdjáu

These verbs are very important for later periods. From these verbs we get the present day core modal verbs. There is an important difference: in OE pr-pr verbs were morphologically defined; in PrDE modal verbs are syntactically defined. There were 12 pr-pr verbs in OE, in Gothic – 14. They are subdivided into classes in analogy to the strong verbs.

The basic forms of pr-pr verbs:

• Infinitive;

• Pres.Sg

• Past tense

• Participle II

Some forms of separate pr-pr verbs are not attested – must has no Past Tense because it already was inherited in Past. And 2 verbs do not follow any of these classes:

Majan – mæj – majon – meahte/mihte – no P II - may

Jeneah – jenujon – jenohte – no Inf – no P II - enough