Conjugation of oe Strong Verbs

Tense		Present			Preterite
Mood		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular:	ic	helpe, binde	-“-	––	healp, band	--“-
	þu	hilpst, bintst	helpe, binde	help, bind	hulpe, bunde	hulpe, bunde
	hē hēo hit	hilpþ, bint	-“-	––	healp, band	-“-
Plural:	wē	helpaþ, bindaþ	helpen, binden	––	hulpon, bundon	hulpen, bunden
	Zē			helpaþ, bindaþ
	hīe			––
Participle I: helpende, bindende				Participle II: Ze- holpen, Ze- bunden.
Infinitive: helpan, bindan.				Dative Infinitive: tō helpanne, tō bindanne

3. Weak verbs.

In all Germanic languages there were three classes of weak verbs (Gothic had four classes) that formed their Preterite with the help of dental suffixes. The division into classes was due to stem-building suffixes: e.g. in Gothic:

1	hausjan	-j-stem-suffix	“hear”	hausida
2	lufōjan	-ō-stem-suffix	“love”	lufōda
3	haban	-ai-stem-suffix	“have”	habaida
4	fullnan	-n-(o) -stem-suffix	“full”	fullnōda

In OE the first class underwent i-mutation: e.g. dōmjan - dēman

The first class is subdivided into regular and irregular verbs.

Regular verbs. Verbs with long root-vowel dropped -i-/-j- indiscriminately of the preceding stem-consonant which did not lengthen, e.g.:

dēman – “judge” – dēmde - dēmed

hīeran – “hear” – hīerde - hīerd

Verbs with the short root-vowel accompanied by -r- retained -i-/-j- in the infinitive and present while -r- did not double, e.g.: styrian - “stir” - styrede - styred.

Verbs with the short root-vowel accompanied by any consonant but -r dropped -i-/-j- while the consonant doubled, e.g.: trymman - “strengthen” - trymede - trymed.

Irregular verbs were characterized by the fact that i-mutation took place in the infinitive and present forms only. The -i-/-j- stem-suffix did not exist in other forms.

sellan	– “sell”	– sealde	– seald
wyrcan	– “work”	– worhte	– worht
þencan	– “think”	– þohte	– þoht
tæcan	– “teach”	– tāhte	– tāht
bycZan	– “buy”	– bohte	– boht
sēcan	– “seek”	– sōhte	– sōht

OE second class had -o- stem-suffix in the preterite forms and participle II.

macjan	– “make”	– macode	– macod
lufjan	– “love”	– lufode	– lufod
hopjan	– “hope”	– hopode	– hopod

Gothic infinitive suffix-ojan altered in OE into -jan. In the 3d class Gothic stem-suffix -ai- disappeared; after a long root vowel consonants doubled.

habban	“have”	hxfde	hxfd
libban	“live”	lifde	lifd
secZan	“say”	sxZde	sxZd
		(sæde)	(sæd)
frēoZan	“free”	frēode	frēod

Many verbs of class 3 entered class 1 and 2 class.

Among weak verbs there are many causative formations which come from preterite singular of strong verbs, e.g.:

5 class:	licZan	lxZ	“to lie”
Weak 1 class:		lxZjan	“to lay”
1 class:	rīsen	rās	“to rise
Weak 1 class:		rāsjan	“to raise”
5 class:	sitan	sxt	“to sit”
Weak 1 class:		sxtjan	“to set”

Table 11

Conjugation of OE Weak Verbs

Tense		Present			Preterite
Mood		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular:	ic	cēpe, telle	-“-	––	cēpte, tealde	--“-
	þu	cēpst, tellest	cēpe, telle	cēp, tell	cēptest, tealdest	cēpte, tealde
	hē hēo hit	cēpþ, telleþ	-“-	––	cēpte, tealde	-“-
Plural:	wē	cēpaþ, tellaþ	cēpen, tellen	––	cēpton, tealdon	cēpten, tealden
	Zē			cēpaþ, tellaþ
	hīe			––
Participle I: cepēnde, tellēnde.				Participle II: Ze-cēped, Ze-teald.
Infinitive: cēpan, tellan.

4. Preterite-present verbs.

Preterite-present verbs constitute a separate group of verbs (see conjugation of the verb witan “know”).

Table 12

Tense		Present			Preterite
Mood		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular:	1p.	wāt	wite		wisse wiste	wisse wiste
	2p.	wāst	-//- - // -	wite	wistest wisse	- // - - // -
	3p.	wāt			wiste
Pl		witon	witen	witaþ	wisson wiston	wissen wisten
				Participle I: witende Participle II: witen

Their present forms are built along the lines of preterite of strong verbs. Their preterite forms are those of weak verbs. The preterite developed from the former IE forms of aspect. When aspect changed into tense, the result of an action proved to be more important with the verbs of a special semantic group. So the forms of the preterite came to denote present (Cf. Russ. узнал - знаю, научился - могу, приобрел – имею).

Infinitive	NE	Pres.sing.	Pres.pl.	Pret.sing.	Pret.pl.	Part.II
āgan	owe (ought)	āg	āgon	āhte	āhton	āgen
cunnan	can (could)	can	cunnon	cūþe	cūþon	cunnen
durran	dare	dear	durron	dorste	dorston	-
maZan	may (might)	mxZ	mxZon	meahte	meahton	-
mōtan	must	mōt	mōton	mōste	mōston	-
sculan	shall	sceal	sculon	scolde	scoldon	-

It is impossible in Modern English to say “he cans”, “shalls” for those are preterite forms with present meaning. The Modern English ought and must come from OE preterite.

Suppletive verbs build tense forms from different roots, i.e., the system is based on the principle of suppletivity, e.g.: “beon, wesan” builds its forms from three roots -be-, wes-, es-.

Table 13

Tense		Present			Preterite
Mood		Indicative	Subjunctive	Imperative	Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular	1p.	eom, bēom	sie, beo		wxs	- // -
	2p.	eart, bist	- // -	wes, beo	wære	wære
	3p.	is, biþ	- // -		wxs	- // -
Pl		sint, beoþ	sein, beon	wesaþ, beoþ	wæron	wæren
				Participle I: wesende, bēonde

Suppletive verbs are characteristic of every IE language, e.g.

L.	sum - fui
Russ.	есть- быть
Germ.	sein - bin - war

These roots are supposed to have had various original meanings. Greek phy-, corresponding to German be-, Latin fu-, Russian бы- means “grow” (Cf. Gr. physis “nature”).

One more suppletive verb is OE Zān “go” (Cf. Goth. gaggan - iddja; Russ. идти - шел). Preterite ind. ēode (I/he) “went”.

Two OE verbs have some irregularities in building their forms. These are don “do” and willan “will”. They have certain alterations of the root vowel in the preterite forms (Cf. Modern English do - did - done, will - would).

5. The problem of aspect, voice, analytical forms.

In OE there were two synthetic tenses, the present and the preterite. The future was expressed by present forms:

a) Analytical future was at its beginning. The initial meaning of the verbs willan “wish” and scullan “to be bound to” was weakening, and they began to be indicating future actions, e.g.: nū wylle wē ymbe Europe tellan. Hē sceal luf-tācen brinZen.

Table 14