Means of form-building | Positive | Comparative | Superlative | NE |
Sufftxation | soft wēriз | softra wēri3ra | softost wēri3ost | soft weary |
Suffixation plus vowel interchange | 3læd 1оnз eald (also: | 3lædra 1еnзга ieldra ealdra | 3lædost len3est ieldest ealdost, ealdest) | glad long old |
Suppletion | 3ōd lýtel micel | bettra lǽssa māга | bet(e)st lǽst mǽst | good little much |
4.Numerals. Cardinal and ordinal numerals.
Cardinal numerals. The first three nnumerals – ān, twēзen, þrēo_ have the forms of gender and case. Ăn is declenedis declined like strong adjectives.
The declension of twēзen:
M | N | F | |
Nom. | twēзen | tū, twā | twā |
Gen. | twēзra | ||
Dat. | twǽm, twām | ||
Acc. | twēзen | tū, twā | twā |
The declension of þrēo:
M | N | F | |
Nom. | Þrīe, þrī, þrý | þrīo þrēo | þrīo þrēo |
Gen. | Þrīora, þrēora | ||
þrim | |||
Þrīe, þrī, þrý | Þrīo, þrēo | þrīo þrēo |
The numerals from 4 to 19 do not decline.
4- fēower 5-fīf 6-syx, siex 7-seofon 8-eahte | 9-ni3on 10-tīen, týn 11-endleofan 12- twelf 13- þrēotīne |
The numerals fromn13 to 19 are build adding –tine, -tiene:. Starting from 20, the numerals are build adding –ti3: þrīti3, fēowerti3, etc. Starting from 70 to 100, hund- is added:
70- hundseofonti3, 100-hundteonti3, 110- hundendlæfti3, 1000- þūsend.
Ordinal numerals.
1st- forma, firmesta, fyrest, ǽrest 2nd-ōþer, æftera. 3d-þridda 4th-fēowera 5th-fifta | 6th-siexta 7th-seofoþa 8th-eahtoþa 9th-ni3oþa 10th-tēoþa 11th-endlefta 12th-twelfta |
The numerals from the 14th to the 19th are buil with the help of the suffix –teoþa? From the 20th to the 12o – with the suffix -ti3oþa.
The verb
Grammatical categories of the finite verbs.
The verb-predicate agreed with the noun in two grammatical categories: number and person. The category of Mood was costituted by Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive. The category of Tense consisted of Present and Past categorial forms.
Conjugation of verbs in Old English
Strong | Weak | |||
Infinitive Present tense Indicative | findan (NE find) | beran bear | dēman deem | lōcian look |
Singular 1st 2nd 3rd Plural | finde fintst fint findaþ | bere bir(e)st bir(e)þ beraþ | dēme dēmst dēmp dēmaþ | lōcie lōcast lōcaþ lōciaþ |
Subjunctive Singular Plural | finde finden | bere beren | dēme dēmen | lōcie lōcien |
Imperative Singular Plural Participle I Past tense Indicative | find findaþ findende | ber beraþ berende | dēm dēmaþ dēmende | lōca lōciaþ lōciende |
Singular 1st 2nd 3rd Plural | fond funde fond fundon | bær bǽre bær bǽron | dēmde dēmdest dēmde dēmdon | lōcode lōcodest lōcode lōcodon |
Subjunctive Singular Plural Participle II | funde bǽre funden bǽren (3e)fundon (зе)boren | dēmde lōcode dēmden lōcoden (3e)dēmed (3e)lōcod |
Grammatical categories of the verbals.In Oe there were two non-finite forms of the verb: the Infinitive and the Participle. Their nominal features were more obvious than verbal. The latter was revealed only in their syntactic combinability: they could take diect objects and be modified by adverbs.
The Infinitive had a reduced case-system: two forms which roughly correspond to the Nom. and Dat. cases of Nouns.
Nom. beran
Dat. to beranne
Participles.Part I was opposed to Part.II through Voice and Tense distinction. Part.I was active and expressed present or simultaneous processes, while Part.Iiexpressed states andqualities resulting from past action, was passive, if the verb was transitive.
Participles in Old English
Voice Tense | Active | Passive | NE |
Present | berende | — | bearing |
secзende | — | saying | |
зanзende | — | going | |
farende | — | ‘travelling’ | |
Past | зезān | зеboren | gone, born |
зefaren | зesǽdd | ‘who has departed, said’ |
Morphological classifications of verbs.
Strong verbs. There were about three hundred strong verbs in OE. They formed their stems by means of vowel gradation (ablaut) and by adding certain suffixes.
The classes of strong verbs.
Strong Verbs in Old English
Principal forms Classes | Infinitive | Past Singular1 | Past Plural | Participle II | NE |
wrītan | wrāt | writon | writen | write | |
(a) cēosan (b) būзan | cēas bēaз | curon buзon | coren bозеn | choose bow | |
(a) findan (b) helpan (c) feohtan | fand healp feaht | fundon hulpon fuhton | funden holpen fohten | find help fight | |
beran | bær | bǽron | boren | bear | |
(a) cweðan (b) sittan | cwæð sæt | cwǽdon sǽton | cweden seten | ‘say’ (obs. quoth) sit | |
scacan | scōc | scōcon | scacen | shake | |
(a) hātan (b) зrōwan | hēt (heht) зrēow | hēton (hehton) зrēowon | hāten зrōwen | ‘call’, ‘name’ grow |
Weak verbs. The weak verbs derived their Past Tense stem and the stem of Participle II from the Present Tense stem with the help of the dental suffix.
The classes of weak verbs.