OE Grammar II

7/23/2019 OE Grammar II

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/oe-grammar-ii 1/3

Old English

Tutor: Andrei Avram

Old English grammar II

The verb

Finite forms

macian ‘make’

Tense Number Person Mood

Indicative Subjunctive Imerative

Present Singular !st

"nd

#rd

macie

macast

macað

macie maca

Plural all

ersons

macia$ macien macia$

Tense Number Person Mood

Indicative Subjunctive Imerative

Past Singular !st

"nd

#rd

macode

macodest

macode

macode ─

Plural all

ersons

macodon macoden ─

Number

Number is shown throughout the paradigm by a formal contrast.

Person

The 1st, nd, !rd persons are distinguished only in the present, indicati"e, singular

Tense

#resent and past, contrasting in the indicati"e and in the sub$uncti"e.

The present tense% present and future meanings

&1' ... þonne þū þā in bringst, he ytt and blētsaþ.‘... when you bring them, he will eat and bless you.’

The past tense% past tense and past perfect meanings

&' ... ond þæs ofer Ēastron gefōr Æþerēd cyning; ond hē ricsode fīf gēar .‘... and then after (aster king )thered died and he had reigned fi"e years.’

Mood

The indicati"e, the sub$uncti"e and the imperati"e. *ome forms do not contrast.

The sub$uncti"e is also used to e+press uncertainty.

&!' Hē sæde [... þæt þæt !and sīe s"īþe !ang .‘e said -... that that land is "ery long.’



Asect

/mperfecti"e "s. perfecti"e

0erbs prefi+ed with ge fre2uently ha"e a perfecti"e meaning%

&3' "innan ‘fight’ "s. ge"innan ‘con2uer, win’

%oiceTwo "oices% the acti"e and the passi"e "oice.

The "erbs bēon ‘be’ and "eor#an ‘become’ occur in analytical structures with a

passi"e meaning

&4' a. "ær$n ofs!æg ene ‘were slain’

b. "$rdon gefoht en‘were fought’

Non&finite forms

The infinitiveThe infiniti"e% a "erbal noun, with two case endings.

&5' a. nominati"e he!%an ‘help’

b. dati"e he!%enne.

The dati"e is used after the preposition tō ‘to’%

&6' þæt "eorc is s"ī#e %!ēo!ic mē [... tō $nderbeginnenne‘that work is "ery difficult for me -... to undertake’

The articile

The past participle% a "erbal ad$ecti"e, with both "erbal &tense and "oice' and nominal

categories &case, gender'. 7ike ad$ecti"es, participles had a weak and a strong

declension.

&8' a. present, acti"e% maciende b. past, passi"e% &ge'macod

'ea( declension

Present Past

Singular Nominative Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

macienda

maciende

maciende

macoda

macode

macode

)enitive MasculineFeminine

Neuter

maciendan macodan

Strong declension

Present Past

Singular Nominative Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

maciende

maciendu

maciende

macod

macodu

macod

)enitive Masculine

Feminine

Neuter

maciendes

maciendre

maciendes

macodes

macodre

macodes



9greement of the predicati"ely used past participle with the sub$ect is optional.

&:' a. ... "$rdon ())) fo!cgefeoht gefoht en fought#9*T #9;T

‘... eight battles were fought’

b. ... "ær$n ofs!æg ene )* eor!as and ān cyning slain#9*T #9;T #7

‘... nine earls were slain and a king’

*lasses of verbs

<eak "erbs% inflectional suffi+es.

Infinitive Past tense Past articile

*lass ! dēman

‘deem’

cē%an ‘keep’"er ian ‘wear’

te!! an ‘count’

dēmde

cē%te

"er edetea! de

dēmed

cē%ed

"er ed tea! d

*lass " !$f ian ‘lo"e’ !$f ode !$f od *lass # !ibban !if de !if d

*trong "erbs% apophony=9blaut.

Infinitive Past tense

singular

Past tense

lural

Past articile

*lass ! r + san ‘rise’ r ,s r ison r isen

*lass " s-oðan ‘seethe’ s-að sudon soden

*lass # f indan ‘find’ f and f undon f unden

*lass . beran ‘bear’ b/r b/ron boren

*lass 0 wesan ‘be’ w/s w/ron weren

*lass 1 f aran ‘tra"el’ f 2r f 2ron f aren

*lass 3 h,tan ‘call, name’ h-t h-ton h,ten

>#reteritepresent? "erbs% past tense form, but present meaning%

āg ‘ought’, c$nnan ‘can’, dearr ‘dare’, d$gan ‘be fit’, geneah ‘be enough’,magan ‘may’, mōt ‘must’, m$nan ‘remember’, sc$!an ‘shall’, #$rfan ‘need’, $nnan‘wish’, "itan ‘know’

!

Documents

OE Grammar II