OLD ENGLISH VERB

GRAMMATICAL CATEGORIES
OF THE VERB
number (singular, plural
Person (1st, 2nd, 3rd distinguished only in the Singular of the Present Tense)
mood (Imperative, Indicative, Subjunctive)
tense (Present, Past)

NON-FINITE FORMS
Infinitive
OE helpan (Nom.) - OE to helpenne (Dat.)
Participle:
Participle I – present, active
Participle II – past, passive (from the transitive verbs), active (from the intransitive verbs)

SUMMARY TABLE

MORPHOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION
OF VERBS
Strong verbs
Weak verbs
Preterit – present verbs
Suppletive verbs
Anomalous, or irregular verbs

STRONG VERBS
Four principal forms: Infinitive, Past Singular (for the 1st and 3rd pers.sg.), Past Plural (for the 2nd and plural), Participle II
Seven classes: five classes due to the ablaut (the gradation of root-vowels);
class 6 – quantitative changes (a-ō-o-a);
class 7 – reduplication (the doubling of the root in the Past tense stems)

DIFFERENT ADDED SOUNDS
IN THE CLASSES OF VERBS
1 – i
2 – u
3 – sonorant + h or another consonant
4 – sonorant in the root
5 – noise consonant in the root
6 – quantitative ablaut: IE o - ō, Germ. a – ō
7 – reduplication of the first consonant of the root + ai>e in the Past Tense; the root is a long monophthong or a long diphthong.

CLASSES OF STRONG VERBS

WEAK VERBS (1)
Three principal forms: Infinitive, Past,
Participle II
Three classes (dental suffix –d / -ed; no vowel interchange)

WEAK VERBS (2)
The 1st class (non-productive): derivatives
a) of nouns: dēman ← dōm,
b) of adjectives: fyllan ← full,
c) of the Past Sg of strong verbs (with causative meaning):
sittan – sæt – sæton – seten = sit,
sæt + jan > settan = set

IRREGULAR WEAK VERBS
OF THE 1ST CLASS
tellan (ea ← breaking before -ld);
Þencan – þōhte – þoht (think)
(*þankjan – þankde – þankd)

WEAK VERBS (3)
The 2nd class (productive): stem-suffix ō
lufian ← *luf-ō-jan

WEAK VERBS (4)
The 3rd class (non-productive):
habban (have), libban (live), secgan (say)
1) habban – hæfde – hæfd
2) libban – lifde – lifd
3) secgan – sægde – sægd

WEAK VERBS IN OLD ENGLISH

PRETERITE–PRESENT VERBS
the Present Tense - according to the Past Tense of strong verbs,
the Past Tense – according to the Past Tense of weak verbs (dental suffix)
Modern English modal verbs
(OE cunnan – ModE can)

SUPPLETIVE VERBS (GO, BE)
Infin. – Past – Part.II
gān – ēode – gān (or ge-gān) = go
bēon – wæs, wæron – bēn = be