THE ADJECTIVE (OLD ENGLISH - MIDDLE ENGLISH – NEW

ENGLISH

OUTLINE
1. Old English Adjective
a. Declension
b. Degrees of Comparison
2. Middle English Adjective
a. Decay of Declension
b. Degrees of Comparison
3. New English Adjective
Degrees of Comparison

OLD ENGLISH ADJECTIVE

Declension
The forms of all OE adjectives express the categories of gender, number
and case. Every adjective could be declined according to the weak and strong
declensions.
THE STRONG DECLENSION of adjectives differs to some extent from the
strong declension of nouns. Some case-forms of the adjectives correspond to
those of the pronouns. The strong declension of the adjectives as a whole is a
combination of nominal and pronominal forms. Most adjectives are declined as
a-stems for M. and N. and as o-stems for the feminine.
THE WEAK DECLENSION does not differ from that of nouns, except in the G.
pl. of all genders, which often takes the ending -ra, taken over from the strong
declension.

Degrees of Comparison
Like the adjectives in other languages most of OE adjectives could form
degrees of comparison.
The regular means used in the building of the Comparative and superlative
degrees were the suffixes -ra and -est / -ost. Sometimes suffixation was
accompanied by an interchange of the root vowel. Many adjectives had
mutation.
 The comparatives are declined as strong adjectives. The superlatives take
the forms of the strong declensions very rarely and mostly follow the weak
declension.
e.g. blæc - blæcra - blacost
In some adjectives the vowel undergoes mutation in the comparative and
superlative degrees.
Some adjectives have suppletive forms of the comparative and superlative
degrees:
3od (good) - betera - betst
yfel (bad) - wiersa - wierest micel
(large, much) - mara - mæst lytel
(little) - læssa - læst MIDDLE ENGLISH
ADJECTIVE

The declension of adjectives underwent substantial changes in ME.

Declension of adjectives had always been determined by agreement with nouns
in Number, Gender and Case.
In Germanic languages the use of strong and weak adjective declension
depended on whether the adjective was preceded by the definite article or a
similar word or not. But the disappearance of grammatical genders in ME nouns
and the reduction of case endings led to a considerable change in adjective
declension.
Besides, the characteristic weak declension ending -en was dropped.
The only case ending in adjectives came to be -e and the highly developed
OE paradigm was reduced to the following system:
Strong Weak
N., G., D., Acc. god Sg. gode
N., G., D., Acc. gode Pl. gode
In the Northern dialects declension of adjectives was completely lost. The
only surviving case ending -e was dropped, the adjective became invariable. In
other dialects the adjectives in -e became invariable.
e.g. newe
frewe
The degrees of comparison had the following suffixes:
Comparative Superlative
 OE -ra -ost, -est
ME -er -est
e.g. Glad - gladder - gladdest
Some adjectives keep a mutated vowel in comparative and superlative
degrees:
e.g. old - elder - eldest
long - lenger - longest
Several adjectives preserve suppletive degrees of comparison:
e.g. god - bettre - best evil - werse -werst
Alongside such degrees of comparison analytical forms of degrees of
comparison like more and most appear. But we shall consider them later - in
ME.
NEW ENGLISH ADJECTIVE

In ME adjectives dropped the ending -e, which had signaled the plural and
the weak declension in ME. Thus, ME adjectives no longer agree with their
nouns in number. This was essential for the syntactic structure of the language.

Degrees o f Comparison
As it was mentioned, alongside synthetic degrees of comparison, phrases
consisting of more and most + adjective appear in ME.
In ME the 2 mentioned above types were differentiated:
1. Suffixes of the degrees of comparison are used with monosyllabic and
some disyllabic adjectives.
2. The phrases with more and most are limited to the other disyllabic and
polysyllabic ones.
In the XV century mutation, which had survived in ME in the comparative
and superlative of some adjectives is eliminated.
The only remnant of mutation in degrees of comparison is seen in elde-
eldest from old (alongside with older - oldest).

THE VERB (OLD ENGLISH - MIDDLE ENGLISH — NEW ENGLISH)

OUTLINE
 1. Verbs in Common Indo-European and Germanic (Short Characteristic)
2. Old English Verb System
a. Verbal Categories in Old English
b. Strong Verbs
c. Weak Verbs
d. Conjugation of Strong and Weak Verbs
e. Minor Groups of Verbs
a. Preterit Present Verbs
b. Suppletive Verbs
c. Anomalous Verbs
f. Verb Aspects
g. Tenses
h. Non-Finite Forms of the Verb
i. Moods
j. Analytical Formations 3. Middle English Verb System
b. Strong Verbs
c. Weak Verbs
d. Verb Conjugation
e. Preterit - Present Verbs
f. Irregular Verbs
g. The Problem of Aspect
h. Tenses
a. Perfect Tenses
b. Continuos Tenses
c. Future Tenses
d. Development of Analytical Tenses
i. Non-Finite Forms of the Verb
a. Present Participle
b. The Gerund
j. Moods
k. Voice (Passive Voice)
4. New English Verb System
a. Personal Endings
 b. Strong Verbs
c. The Second Participle
d. Weak Verbs
e. Strong Verbs Becoming Weak and Vice Versa
f. Irregular Weak Verbs Becoming Regular
g. Rise of Invariable Verbs
h. Preterit-Presents Verbs
i. The Verbs Be, Go, Do, Will
j. The Perfect Tense
k. Aspect
1. Mood
m. Use of Auxiliary Do
n. The Gerund

VERBS IN COMMON INDO-EUROPEAN AND GERMANIC (SHORT

CHARACTERISTIC)

Common Indo-European had a complicated and multiform verbal system.

There were numerous classes of verbs, each having active, middle and passive
voices; indicative (for statements), imperative (for commands, subjunctive (for
unreal statements) and optative (for wishes) moods; present, imperfect, perfect
and future tense-aspects, with dual number distinct in all these forms.
The IE verbal system, especially aspect, tense and conjugation was rather
complicated (Sanskrit, Greek, Latin).
The Germanic verbal system, on the contrary, was greatly simplified.
1.The outstanding feature of the Germanic verb is that it had but two
tenses: a Present and a Past (Preterit), the first of which was used for all present
and future time, and the second - for all past time. No Future proper existed in
German.
2.Another important peculiarity of the Germanic verbal system is its
development of the two main classes of the verb into the so-called strong and
weak verbs according to the way their built their principal forma.
3.The next peculiarity of the semantic verb, closely connected with the
previous one, is the regular use of gradation (ablaut) to express tense relation in
the strong verbs.
 5. And the last, but not least characteristic of the Germanic verbal system is
the dental preterit of the weak verbs - the formation of the past tense with a dental
suffix -d,-t in the so-called weak verbs.

OLD ENGLISH VERB SYSTEM

The OE verb was characterized by many peculiar features. Though the verb
had few grammatical categories, its paradigm had very complicated structure
verbs fell into numerous morphological classes and employed a variety of form
building means. All the forms of the verb were synthetic, as analytical forms were
only beginning to appear. The non-finite forms had little in common with the
finite forms but shared many features with the nominal parts of speech.

Verbal Categories In OE
Being a typical Germanic language, OE has two principal classes of verbs:
strong and weak.
The strong verbs form their preterit (past, originally perfect) by means of
ablaut (vowel gradation):
e.g. ridan (to ride) - rad (rode)
Inf. Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
helpan healp hulpon holpen (strong verb)
The verb helpan (to help) has a different root-vowel in each of its four
forms stems. Besides, each form is characterized by a specific ending: -an, - , on,-
en.
The weak verbs form their preterit by adding a dental suffix, containing a
dental - d,-t:
e.g. hieran (to hear) - hiered (heard)
(to make) :macian - macode - macod (weak verb)
The weak verb macian does not change the root vowel. It has the dental
suffix - od in the endings.
These two groups (strong and weak) differ in the number of principal forms:
3 forms for the weak verbs
4 forms for the strong verbs.
Besides these two major groups of verbs there existed some minor groups.
Their conjugation differed both from the weak and the strong conjugation. These
are minor classes of irregular verbs, such as: a. Preterit Present
Verbs
 b. Suppletive Verbs
c.Anomalous Verbs, which are characterized by certain morphological
and semantic peculiarities of their own. The OE verb has the following
independent forms, expressed synthetically (by means of inflexions, suffixes or
sound interchange): one voice (active) two numbers (sg. and pl.) three
persons two tenses (present and preterit), no future three moods (Indicative,
subjunctive, imperative) two aspects (perfective and imperfective)
There is no Gerund, nor are there any analytical verbal forms and
auxiliary verbs. The simple future was generally expressed by the present
tense as in the oldest periods of other Germanic languages. But already in OE
the present forms of beon (be), scullan (shall), willan (will) with the
infinitive began to be used to express the future (usually with some modal
connection).
The meaning of the Perfect in OE could be denoted by free syntactic
combinations consisting:
a. of the forms of the verb habban (to have) + the past participle (with
transitive and intransitive verbs)
b. of the forms of the verb beon, wesan (to be) with intransitive verbs only.

Strong Verbs
Strong verbs (the term was first used by J.Grimm) are verbs with gradation
(ablaut). Ablaut in to be found in all IE languages and by means of it different
grammatical forms or different words can be formed. e.g. Russian:
вeзy - воз - взял
The principal IE gradation is "e - o - reduction". But a peculiarity of
Germanic languages iс the regular use of gradation to express tense relation in the
strong ve
In Teutonic languages the principal IE gradation acquires the form " i/e - a -
reduction".
In OE this series of gradation is used to build up main forms of strong verbs.
There must have been over 300 strong verbs in OE. These are very old
verbs.
Many of them are commonly used words, denoting simple vital actions,
such аs:
 slepan (to sleep)
drincan (to drink) etan
(to eat)
They are primary (not derived) verbs and belong to ancient words. But this
class was unproductive already in OE and their number decreased (there are about
190 of them in MdE, some being archaic.) All newly built or borrowed verbs
acquired the conjugation system of weak verbs (-ed).
OE ablaut is a qualitative gradation. But there also was quantitative
gradation (in IE too, e.g. An interchange of long and short vowels: Latin: edoedi).
It was also reflected in Germanic languages (especially in strong verbs, class VI).
Like Teutonic OE had 7 classes of strong verbs. Each of these classes is
characterized by its own ablaut series, with 4 different vowels. Consequently OE
strong verbs had 4 principal forms:

1. the infinitive (had the root vowel i/e, e.g. ridan)

2. the preterit sg. (lat. and 3rd persons) (had the root vowel a e.g. rad).
3. the preterit pl.(had a reduction of the root vowel, e.g. ridon)
4. the past participle (had also a reduction, e.g. (ge)riden i.e. i - a - i - i)
However, this simple gradation was complicated by sonorants, which
usually followed the root vowel in Germanic languages.
Five classes of strong verbs had a qualitative gradation; the 6th class had a
quantitative gradation; the 7th class had no regular gradation at all. It included
verbs, which had developed from ancient verbs with reduplication.
The classes of strong verbs and their ablaut in OE may be illustrated by the
following examples:
Class I (i-class). The formula of this class: i/e - a - reduction +i

Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.

i+i=-i a+i-ai-a o+i=i o+i=i
riasn (to rise) Ras rison Risen
ridan (to ride) Rad ridon Ridden
acino (to shine) Scan scinon Scinen
bitan (to bite) Bat biton Biten

Class II (u-class)
Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.
 i+u – iu – eu - eo a+u – au – ea o+u – u o+u - u - o
Beodan Bead Budon Boden
Sceotan Sceat Scuton Scoten
Ceosan Ceas Curon Soren
[eo–ea–u- o] –II

Class III. Formula: i/e – a – reduction + sonorant + consonant (plosive) This

class is subdivided into 3 subclasses:
a) i/e – a – reduction
+nasal + consonant
(plosive)
[i – a (o) – u - u]
Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.
I+cs(m,n)+cpl a(o)+cs+cpl u+cs+cpi u+cs+cp
Drincan Dranc druncon druncen
Sin3an san3 sun3on sun3en
Findan Fand fundon Funden
Bindan Band bundon bunden

b) i/e - a - reduction
+ 1 +consonant
(plosive)
Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.
E+ l+ cpl ea + l + cpl u + l + cpl o + l + cpl
Helpan Healp Hulpon Holpen
[e(i) ea – u - o] –III, b

c)i/e - a - reduction + r or h + consonant (plosive)

Infinitive Past Sg. Past PI. Past Part.
eo + r,h + cpl ea + r,h + cpl u + r,h + cpl o + r,h +cpl
weorÞan wearÞ wurÞon worÞen
Feohtan Feaht fuhton Fohten
 [eo - ea - u – o] – III, c

Class IV. Formula: i/e - a - reduction + Sonorant alone (l,m,r)

Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.
E + 1, m, r æ+ 1, m, r Æ+ 1,m, r o + 1, m, r
Stelan Stæl stælon stolen
Beran Bær bæron Boren

[e - æ– æ-o] – IV

Class V. It is characterized by a noise consonant in the root ( it is also rather

small)
Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.
E + cons. æ + cons. æ + cons. e + cons.
cnedan Cnæd cnædon cneden
Etan Æt Æton Eten
sprecan Spræc spræcon sprecen
Formula: i/e - a –reduction + Consonant alone

Class VI. Formula: i/e - a - reduction + quantitative ablaut

Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.
A o O A
Bacan Boc bocon bacen
Faran For foron Faren
standan Stod stodon standen
*The verb "standan" takes an – n – infix in the infinitive and past participle.
[a – o – o - a] – IV

Class VII. Formula: i/e - a - reduction + no regular ablaut

Most vowel interchanges in class VII resulted from the doubling of the root
(reduplication) in the Past Tense-stems. (As Russian: дать – дадим (Future). That
is why the Past Tense-stems have a long monophthong or a long, diphthong in the
root.
 Infinitive Past Sg. Past Pl. Past Part.

blendan Blend Blendon Blenden

Lætan Let Leton Læten
beatan Beot Beoton Beaten
cnawan Cneow Cneowon Cnawen

Weak Verbs
The number of weak verbs in OE exceeded that of strong verbs and was
obviously growing. Among weak verbs we regularly find formations from noun
and adjective atoms or also from some stems of strong verbs, which is a proof of
the later appearance of weak verbs.
All weak verbs built their principal forms by adding a dental suffix to
Present Tense stems.
There are 3 classes of weak verbs in OE. Every weak verb is characterized
by 3 forms: Infinitive, Preterit (Past) and Past Participle.
Class I
Regular Verbs. Regular Verbs of class I always have mutation in their root
vowel due to the original i-element in the suffix.
Infinitive Preterit Past Participle
-an/-ian -de/-ede/-te -ed/-d/-t deman
demde demed nerian nerede
nered cepan cepte cept, ceped
Irregular Verbs. These verbs had element -i, which produced mutation in
the Infinitive only. In the Preterit there was no -i and so these forma had no
mutation. As a result the vowel of the Preterit and Past Participle differs from that
of the infinitive:
e.g. tellan - tealde - teald
sellan - sealde - seald
Class II
These verbs originally had the suffix -oi in the Infinitive and -o in the other
forms.
The infinitive suffix -oi was reduced to -i. The Infinitive of these verbs ends
in -ian. In OE -o was preserved in the Preterit and Past Participle.
Infinitive Preterit Past Participle
 -ian -ode -od
macian macode macod
lufian lufode lufod
The absence of mutation in the infinitive is due to the fact that the ielement
appeared at the time, when the prowess of mutation was already over.
Class III
Many verbs originally belonging to Class III have changed into Class 1 or
Class II. Thus, class III was in OE in the process of disintegration, i.e. it was
dying out in OE. The Infinitive of these verbs originally had the stem suffix - i,
which produced germination. Only 3 verbs have survived: to have, to live, to say.

Infinitive Preterite Past Participle

-an -da -d
habban hæfde hæfd
libban lifde lifd
seæn sæ3de sæ3d
So, as it was said, the class of weak verbы has been the only productive
class of verbs throughout the history of English.
As to the origin of the dental suffix and how it came into use in Germanic
little is certainly known.
1. Some scholars are inclined to regard it as developed from the root of the
verb don (to do) - IE root -dhe, which stands in ablaut relation to the OE -don.
On this theory such a form as OE lufode (loved) was supposed to be equivalent
to: lufe + dyde - lova + did.
2.But other scholars think it also probable that the dental suffix in OE weak past
participle goes back to the IE suffix -t- (IE -t - Germ. - d, according to Verner's
law) as in the -t of such Latin Participles lectus, amatus, or Russian Participles.
Conjugation of Strong and Weak Verbs
It greatly differs in OE from the Modern English paradigm. Verbs had fairly
distinct personal endings in OE though their system was already disintegrating.
The conjugation of the following verbs will show the personal endings of
strong and weak verbs:
Strong Verb, class I: ridan
Principal forms: Infinitive - ridan
Preterite sg. - rad
Preterite pl. - ridon
 Past Participle - (3e) riden
Present Participle - ridende
Indicative
Present
Sg. Pl.
I ride ridath
II ridest ridath
III rideth ridath
Past
I rad ridon
II ride ridon
III rad ridon
Subjunctive
Present Imperative
I riden Sg. rid
II ride riden Pl.
ridath
III riden

Past
I ride riden
II ride riden
III ride ridden
Weak Verb, class I : "hieran" (to hear)
Main Forms: Infinitive - hieran
Preterite sg. - hierde
Past Participle - (3e)hierod
Present Participle – hiende

Indicative
Present
Sg. Pl.
I hiere hierath
 II hierest hierath
III hier(e)th hierath
Past
I hierde hierdon
II hieidest hierdon
III hierde hierdon

Subjunctive Imperative
Present
I hiere hieren Sg. hier
II hiere hieren Pl. hierath
III hiere hieren
Past
I hierdea hierden
II hierde hierden
III hierde hierden

Singular: personal endings: I person -e

II person -st
III person -th
Plural: the forms of the plural of the 1st and 2nd persons had
disappeared already in the oldest periods of the language, their place having been
taken by the form of the 3rd person.

Minor Groups of Verbs

Some minor groups of verbs of diverse origin could be referred to neither
weak nor strong verbs. A few anomalous or irregular verbs in OE combined both
ways of form building, i.e. of strong and weak verbs. The following classes were
observed:
1. Preterit Present Verbs
2. Suppletive Verbs
3. Anomalous Verbs
The most interesting group was the so-called Preterit Present Verbs.

Preterit - Present Verbs

 These are very old verbs. Originally they were strong verbs. Their old past
tense had become the present tense. It acquired the meaning of the Present.
Therefore a new Past Tense was formed according to the fast of weak verbs. They
are inflected in the present like the preterit of strong verbs and have no ending in
the 3rd pers. sg. he cann (he can). That is why the NE modal verbs can, may,
must, shall, which descend from them have no s-ending in the 3rd pers. sg. in the
Present Tense.
Most of the Preterit-Present verbs are characterized by a modal meaning and
are usually followed by a nominative infinitive or - another verb, e.g. is cann
singan. Dative infinitive with the preposition to is not used after them. Therefore
in NE modal verbs are followed by the infinitive without the particle "to". Some
of the Preterit-Present verbs lack past participle and infinitives. There were 12
verbs of this kind in OE.
OE ME
1. cunnan can
2. a3an ought
3. ma3an may
4. mot must
5. dearr dare d
6. sculan shall a
7. munan remember r
e
8. ðeorfan need

9. unnan wish s
10.witan know h
11.3eneah to be enough a
l
12.du3an to be fit l
Infinitive Present Sg. Past Sg. Past Part.
Cunnan can(n) cuthe cuÞ,cunnen
sculan sceal sceolde
a3an a3, ah ahte a3en
ma3an mæ3 meahte
mot most
Suppletive Verbs
There were 2 suppletive verbs in OE:
wesan, beon - to be 3an
- to go These verbs differ from other
verbs. Their forms are derived from different
roots, that is their system is based on
suppletivity.

The forms of the verb be are derived from 3 roots -wes, -es, -be. Similar
phenomena are found in other IE languages, e.g. Russian быть - есть, etc.
The suppletive system of these verbs seems to be due to the fact, that its
elements originally had different meanings, which were more concrete than the
abstract meaning be.
One of these roots had the meaning grow. The verb go is also suppletive in
many IE languages, e.g. Russian иду - шел.
The process seems to be similar to that of the verb be. The system of this
verb seems to have developed from different roots, which originally had more
concrete meanings than the abstract "go". They denoted more concrete kinds of
movement.

The Verb wesan, beon

Infinitive: - "wesan", "beon"
Indicative :
Present
Pl.
Sg. sint, sindon,earon
I eom, beo aron, beoÞ
II eart, bist
III ia, biÞ

Past
I wæs wæron, wæren
II wære
III wæs

Subjunctive:
 Present
I, II, III -si, sie, sy, beo sin, sien, syn, beon
Past wære wæren
Imperative: wes, beo wesaÞ, beoÞ
Present Participle: weaende, beonde
The forms of this verb often coalese with the negative particle "ne".
e.g. ne is = nis ne wæron = næron ne wæs = næs
The forms wesan, wæs, wæron are derived according to class V strong
verbs. The forms derived from the root be are often used with the future meaning.

The Verb 3an (go) Infinitive: 3an; 3an3an

Indicative:
Present
Sg. Pl.
I 3a
II 3æst 3aÞ
III 3æÞ
Past
I eode
II eodes eodon
III eode
Imperative:
3a 3ap
Subjunctive:
Present

3a 3an
Past
eode eoden
Participle I: 3ande, 3an3ende
Participle II: 3e, 3an
This verb has mutation in the 1st and 2nd persons sg. Present Indicative.
 The Verbs don and willan
These 2 verbs have some individual peculiarities. The verb don(do), like the
verb 3an, always has mutation in the 2nd and 3rd persons sg.pres.ind. Its past
tense is derived according to the weak conjugation. The alternation o/y is not
clear.
The forms of the verb willan like the verb beon often coalesce with the
negative particle ne: ne wille – nylle, nelle; ne wolde – nolde, etc. Indicative
forms have been influenced by Subjunctive.

Old English Verb System as a Whole

Aspects
The perfective aspect was expressed by the prefix 3e-, sometimes by the
prefixes a-, be-, for-
e.g. seffan - 3e3effan (ставить - стать)
risan - arisan (вставать - стать)
3iefan - for 3iefan (давать - дать)
Tenses
There were only 2 tenses, expressed by synthetic means in OE: the Present
and the Past. The Future, if necessary, was expressed by lexical means.
Non-Finite Forms of the Verb
There are 2 non-finite forms of the verb in OE: the Infinitive and the
Participle: Participle I and Participle II. Gerund didn't exist in OE.
The OE Present Participle has an active meaning and is formed with the
help of the suffix –ende:
ridende - riding
maciende - making
The Past Participle of the strong verbs is formed with the help of ablaut and
the suffix -en:
findan - funden
The Past Participle of the weak verbs is formed with the help of dental
suffixes - d,-t:
macod, cept.
The Past Participle (Part. II) often has the prefix 3e-, which strengthens the
meaning of perfectivity:
3emacod, 3efunden.
 Both participles agree in number, gender and case with nouns they modify
and are declined like adjectives.
Moods
OE, just as other Germanic languages had 3 moods: Indicative, Subjunctive
and Imperative.
The Indicative was used to express an action as real.
The Imperative expressed order or request to a 2nd person. Occasionally, the
Imperative expressed wish.
The Subjunctive expressed an action that was merely supposed. It was
widely used in OE both in main and in subordinate clauses. In the main clauses
the Subjunctive was used to express a wish. In Subordinate clauses was used
more widely especially in conditional clauses. It was also used in the clauses of
concession and temporal clauses, having the meaning of supposition. It was also
used in Indirect Speech, including indirect questions.
Analytical Formations
During the OE period the system of the verb acquired some analytical
formations.
e.g. habban + Part. II
Originally these formations meant that the subject owned a thing, having a
certain feature as a result of an action performed upon it. Then they acquired the
meaning of the result of an action.
e.g. ic habbe Þa boc 3ewrittan
I have this book written.
Other formations:
beon + Pairt. II
e.g.: is his eaforda nu heard her cumen
his son, the brave one, is now come here sceal + infinitive; wille +
infinitive (approach the meaning of future) sceolde + infinitive;
wolde + infinitive (acquire a modal meaning)

MIDDLE ENGLISH VERB SYSTEM

All types of verbs existing in OE (strong, weak, preterit-present, irregular)
were preserved in ME. In each of these types we find some changes, due to the
phonetic phenomena of the ME period, and changes, due to analogy. Besides,
some verbs changed from the strong conjugation to the weak and some others
from the weak to the strong.
 Strong Verbs
a.The inflexions of verb conjugations were also leveled and reduced in ME.
Thus the OE ending of the Infinitive "-an" and the ending of the past plural -on
were both reduced and leveled to "-en".
OE writtan, writon - ME writen
b.The OE perfective prefix "3e" changed into "-i" and disappeared.
c.Grammatical alternation of consonants completely abandoned.
d.The four forms of the OE strong verbs were gradually reduced to three
forms, because of the leveling of inflexions. In the 2nd and 3rd classes of strong
verbs the 3rd form (past pl.) was leveled to the 4th form (past part.). Class I
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
OE ridan Rad Ridon Riden
ME riden Rod Riden Riden
writen Wrot Writen Writen

Class II
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
Chesen Ches chosen Chosen

Class III
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
drinken Drank [u:] [u:]
Drunken Drunken
Helpen Halp Holpen Holpen
Kerven (carve) Carf Corven Corven

Class IV
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
beren (bear) Bar Beren Boren

Class V
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
Meten Mat maten, maten Meten
 Some strong verbs of Class V passed over to class IV, e.g. speken was of
class V and it passed over to class IV:
e.g. speken – spak – speken – spoken
Class VI
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
Shaken Shok Shoken Shaken

Class VII
Infinitive Past sg. Past pl. Past part.
Fallen Fell Fellen Fallen

Weak Verbs
There existed 3 classes of weak verbs in OE.
Peculiarities:
1. The inflexion -ian of class II (macian - ode,-od) and of some verbs of
class I lost the element -i.
OE ME
locian looken
lufian loven
styrian sturen

2.The OE suffixes of the Past Tense and Past Participle of Class II -ode,-
od were weakened to –ede,-ed:
OE ME
macode makede
macod maked
lufode lovede
lufod leved
3.Class III lost its germination of consonants in the Infinitive:
OE ME habban
haven
4.However irregular weak verbs of Class I retained the vowel change in
the Infinitive, Past Tense and Past Participle.This was due to the fact that in OE
mutation occurred only in the Infinitive of these verbs: e.g. OE
Þenkan - Þohte - Þoht
ME thenken - thoughte - thought
The change of vowels remains in WE verbs such as to buy, to think, to teach, to
tell, etc.
5. In some weak verbs with a stem ending in -1,-n,-f,-v the Past suffix -d
changes into -t; verbs with a stain in -rd, -nd, -ld formed their past in –rte, -nte, -
lte and their 2nd Participle in -rt, -nt, -lt.
e.g: sendan - sende - send (OE)
sendun - sente - sent (ME)

Verb Conjugation
Verb Conjugation underwent considerable changes in ME. As a result of
levelling of unstressed vowels the difference between the endings -an,-on, -en
was lost. It proved stable only in some Participles II, where it has been preserved
down to the NE period.
Furthermore differences between the 2nd and 3rd persons e.g. Present
Indicative and in other Present Tense Forms due to mutation disappeared in ME.
In ME verb conjugation some OE inflexions still remained, while the others
were modified.
The paradigms of conjugation varied according to dialects. The conjugation
of the present tense of a strong verb in the XIV century Midland
Dialects was as follows:
Present Indicative
Sg. Pl.
I binde binden
IIbindest (Northern -es) binden (Northern bindes)
III bindeth, (Northern -es) binden (Southern bindeth)

Preterit - Present Verbs

OE Preterit - Present Verbs ware preserved in ME, except the verb '3eneah
(to be enough), which was lost. Their forms underwent changes due to the general
tendencies of the period.
The Verbs ben and gon (Suppletive Verbs). These two verbs inherited the
OE system
 TheVerb ben
Present Indicative
Sg. Pl.
I am
II art ben (Nrth. -am,
III is South. -beth)
Past Indicative
Sg, Pl.
I was
II were weren III was
The Verb gon
Present indicative
Sg. Pl.
I go (ga) Northern forms
II gost (gast) gon (gas) (South. Goth)
III goth (gas)
Past Indicative
Sg. Pl.
I yede,wente
II yedest,nenteat geden, wenten
III yede,wente
The Verbs don and willen Forms of these verbs
developed from OE.

TheVerb don

Present Indicative
Sg. Pl.
I do
II dost (North. dos) don
III doth (North dos)
Past Indicative
Sg. Pl.
 I dide, dude, dede
II didest diden III dide

The Verb willen

Sg. Pl.
I wil, wol
II wilt, wolt wollen (North.-willes; South.-willeth)
III wil, wol
Sg. Pl.
I wolde
II woldest wolden
III wolde

Middle English Verb System as a Whole

Aspects
The prefix 3e-,which was sometimes used in OE to express completion of
an action became y- in ME. Its use grows more and more irregular and then it
disappears altogether (*in Chaucer's works: y-falle, y-come), so it is only the
context that shows whether the action was completed or not.

Tenses
Perfect Tenses
Perfect forms, which arose in OE are widely used in ME. In Chaucer's works
there are many sentences with Present and Past Perfect. The Perfect Tenses
developed from the following free syntactical constructions: the verbs habban,
beon, wesan with a direct object, followed by the Past Participle as an attribute to
it.
e.g. He hæþ þa boc 3ewriten.
(He has this book written) He
is cumen.
(He has come).
In such constructions the agreement of the Past Participle with the direct
object or the subject disappeared in ME. The Fast Participle was placed directly
after the verbs to have + to be and formed together with it a simple predicate.
 So, in ME there are 2 auxiliary verbs, used in the Perfect Tenses: haven and
ben. Haven, was used with transitive verbs and ben - with intransitive ones. In
NE to have supplanted the verb to be with intransitive verbs as swell.
Some survivals of the OE and ME forms may be seen in NE in such
construction as: he was gone, the food was gone etc.
Continuous Tenses
In ME the first examples of the Continuous Aspect appeared, consisting of
the verb be(n) and first participle. But they were very rare. Thus, in Chaucer's
works only 6 examples of such forms have been found.. Here is one of them:
Sigynge he was (He was singing)
The origin of these formations hasn't been quite cleared up. There are two
possible sources:
1.OE phrases, consisting of the verb beon and the Participle I in -ende.
2.OE phrases, consisting of the verb beon, the preposition on and the verbal
noun in -in .
Future Tenses
In OE there was no future tense. The OE free combinations sculan (shall)
with the infinitive of another verb expressed obligation, and a combination of
willan expressed volition. In OE some of these constructions had already been
weakened in meaning. In ME they developed into the Analytical Future Tense.
The original meaning of the verbs sculan and willan comes to the fore in NE
sometimes.
e.g. I will come. - I wish to come.
I will do. - I wish to do.
I shall come. - I must come.
I shall go there. - I must go there.

Development of Analytical Tenses

Professor Smirnitsky asserts, that there were no analytical tense-forms in
OE, but there were a number of compound syntactical constructions (compound
predicates) which developed into analytical tenses in ME.
Professor B. Ilyish calls these constructions "analytical formations" and he
shows that in some cases they approached very close to analytical tenses (simple
predicates).
Non - Finite Forms of the Verb (Present Participle, Gerund)
In OE the verbal noun had the suffixes -ing, -ung. The -ing gradually
developed some verbal functions and became the gerund.
 In OE the Present Participle had the suffixes -ande, -ende, -inde. By the end
of the ME period -inde changed into ; -inge, by analogy with the inflexion of the
gerund -in.
It is also possible that this new form of the Present Participle developed
partly under the influence of the use of the gerund with the prepositions in and an
reduced to -a. In such phrases as:
He is a huntinge. (He is on hunting).
Moods
The three OE moods were preserved in ME. The Subjunctive Mood
preserved in ME many features it had in OE. It was often used in temporal and
concessional clauses. In conditional clauses the present subjunctive in used to
denote a possible action. An unrelcondition, referring to the present is expressed
by the past subjunctive.
Voice. Passive Voice
In OE the passive constructions of the type "He was of- slæ3en" (He was
killed) were not simple, but compound predicates, where the Past Participle was a
predicate which agreed with the subject.
Sometimes, however, this agreement was lost and highly probable that the
whole construction was already felt to be a simple predicate in OE.
The Passive Voice is widely developed in ME. In ME the analytical Passive
Voice is completely formed and widely developed.
As the verb weorþan disappeared, the only auxiliary for the passive was the
verb ben. The verb ben + Past Participle could express both a state and an
action, and only the context could show which of the two was meant in each
particular case. In ME the sphere of the Passive Voice grew as compared with
OE. The subject of the Passive construction could be a word, which is in a
corresponding active construction would have been an indirect object.

NEW ENGLISH VERB SYSTEM

Personal Endings
Important changes occurred in conjugation.
Since the ending -e of the 1st pers. sg., of the pl. present indicative and of the
infinitive was lost, these forms now had no ending at all.
Another change affected the 3rd pers. sing, present indicative. The ending
eth was replaced by -a, which in ME had been a characteristic feature of the
Northern dialect, in the 15th cent. the -s-form gradually penetrated, through the
medium of Midland dialects, into the literary language. In Shakespeare's works
the -s-form is used alongside with -eth, apparently without any stylistic
differentiation.
In the 17th cent, the ending -eth was finally superseded by -a and was only
preserved in elevated style. But even in this sphere -th- forms are only used
sparingly.
The 2nd person form in -st, connected with the personal pronoun -thou, was
gradually ousted during the 17th century from the normal literary language. The
difference between forms in -st (or in t) and forms without ending when
addressing one person is not quite definite. What seems certain, however, is that
forms in -(s)t can only be used when there is some degree of intimacy between
the speaker and the person addressed.
Thus, the category of number in the 2nd person of verbs is on the point of
vanishing.
Strong Verbs
In formation of strong verbs forms an important change also took place in
this period.
In OE and ME every strong verb was characterized by four basic forms:
infinitive; 1st and 3rd person singular, past indicative; plural past indicative with
2nd person sg. and past subjunctive; second participle.
In NE these four forms were reduced to three: infinitive; past tense; second
participle.
ME forms NE forms
Infin. Past sg. Past pl. Part.II Infin. Past Part.II
Class I writen wrot writen writen write wrote
written risen ros risen risen rise rose
risen riden rod riden ridden ride rode
ridden biten bot bitten biten bite bit
bitten shinen shon shinen shinen shine shone
shone Class II sheten shet shoten
shoten shoot shot shot chesen ches chosen
chosen choose chose chosen fresen fres frosen
frozen freeze froze frozen
Class III
binden bond bounden bounden bind bound bound
finden fond founden founden find found found
drinken drank drunken drunken drink drank drunk
singen sang sungen sungen sing sang sung
Class IV beren bar beren boren bear bore
born(e) teren tar teren toren tear tore
torn stelen stal stelen stolen steal stole
stolen Class V sitten sat seten
seten sit sat sat geten gat geten geten
get got got(gotten) Class VI
taken tok token taken take took taken
shaken shok shoken shaken shake shook shaken
awaken awok awoken awaken awake awoke awaken
Class VII fallen fell fellen
fallen fall fell fallen
knowen knew knewen knowen know knew known
growen grew grewen growen grow grew grown
holden held helden holden hold held held

In several verbs the past singular form superseded that of the second
participle: Class I - abide, shine, strike, Class V - sit, Class VI -wake, stand,
Class VII -hold.
In the past tense of the verb strike the long -[o:] developed into [U:_U_A]

(struck.), in the same way as in the words brother, blood, etc.

The ME verb bidden, beden developed in NE the forms bid, bade, bidden.
The verb spit, spat appears to be a mixture of two weak verbs: OE spittan and
OE spætan. ME slen acquired in NE the infinitive form slay influenced by the
second participle form slain.
The starting point of the whole process appears to have been Class VI and
Class VII verbs, whose past sg. and past pl. vowels had coincided since the oldest
times. In these verbs when the plural ending was dropped, all difference between
numbers in the past tense disappeared, e.g. shok, tok, knew, fell.
Their influence was corroborated by that of weak verbs which had also lost
any differentiation between numbers in the past tense.
The Second Participle
The –en ending of the second participle requires special discussion. It
proved strong enough in many verbs to withstand the general tendency to drop
unstressed endings. With some verbs which had been dropping the ending in ME
it was later restored and is now obligatory. Thus, in the verb fall, as in a number
of other verbs, the -en of the second participle was liable to be lost in ME. In NE
the only admissible form of the participle is fallen.
In a few verbs, a second participle is found both with the –en ending and
without it. Thus the verb bid has a second participle bidden or bid; the verb bite -
the participle bitten or bit.
Weak Verbs
Classification of weak verbs into I and II classes is no longer applicable in
NE. In ME it was still possible to draw a distinction between the two classes
according as the past tense had or had not an -e- before the -d of the past suffix;
in NE, when the unstressed -e- disappeared in all cases, this distinction can no
longer be upheld. The ME Class I verb demen-demde-demed and the ME Class
II verb hopen-hopede-hoped have quite similar forms in NE: deem-
deemeddeemed; hope-hoped-hoped.
The unstressed vowel has been preserved after -d and -t only: end-
endedended, want-wanted-wanted. This difference, due to purely phonetic
causes, cannot be sufficient reason for establishing a special grammatical class of
verbs.
Strong Verbs Becoming Weak and Vice Versa
A number of strong verbs became weak in the NE period. Some of these
verbs have preserved some strong forms alongside of the weak ones. e.g. The
verb climb sometimes has a strong past form clomb, the verb melt - a second
participle molten.
A few verbs preserving strong forms occasionally have new weak forms.
Thus, the verb abide, whose past tense and second participle are usually abode,
occasionally has the form abided in both cases. The verb wake or awake has,
alongside of weak forms, a strong past tense awoke and a strong second participle
(a) woke or (a) woken.
The process of strong verbs becoming weak is still continuing, though at a
much slower rate.
In a few cases the opposite process occurred: weak verbs became strong.
The OE weak verb hydan-hydde-hyded (hide), ME hiden, hidde, hidd, became
a Class I strong verb. The vowels of the infinitive, on the one hand, and of the
past tense and second participle, on the other, which in this verb were the result of
a long vowel shortened before two consonants, had coincided with the vowels of
Class I strong verbs of the type bite-bit-bitten, where the past tense had followed
the vowel of the past plural; as a result, a new strong second participle hidden was
formed on the analogy of Class I strong verbs, alongside of hid.
In a few cases weak verbs underwent the influence of strong ones only
partially. They preserved the weak form of the past tense, but acquired a weak
second participle.
Irregular Weak Verbs Becoming Regular
A few irregular weak verbs became regular. The ME verb
strecchenstraughtestraught became NE strecch-stretched-stretched. The
original second participle of this verb has survived as the adjective straight.
Rise of Invariable Verbs
In NE a group of invariable verbs came into existence. Most verbs of this
group stem from weak verbs with a root ending in -d or -t; a few of them come
from strong verbs of different classes.
The ME verbs cutten-cutte-cutt, shutten-shutte-shut, setten, sette-sett,
etc. became invariable as a result of the disappearance of unstressed endings: cut,
shut, set, etc.
Strong verbs becoming invariable were: Class III verb bresten-
brastbrostenbrosten, NE burst and Class VII verb leten-let-leten-leten, which
developed a weak past tense lette already in ME.
Preterite — Present Verbs
1. The verb can has been preserved. The absence of ending in the 3rd person
singular present (he can) testifies to the verb originally belonging to the preterit-
present type. The form could may be used to mean the past indicative or the
present subjunctive.
2. The verb shall has been preserved in NE mainly as an auxiliary of the
future tense. The form should has preserved its meaning of past tense only in the
future in the past; in all other uses it has acquired a modal meaning instead of a
temporal and has become an auxiliary of the conditional mood; besides, it has
acquired a meaning close to that of ought. In most cases should no longer is a
past tense of the verb shall, but a separate verb.
3. The verb may (past tense might) has been preserved in NE. The form
might is hardly used as a past tense (except indirect speech). Owing to the
modal meaning of the verb the form acquired a meaning of present conditional.
The absence of an -s-ending in the 3rd person singular present indicative
characterizes the verb as preterit-present.
4.The ME verb mot, moste. The form mote is sometimes found in Early NE
as an archaism. The form moste had sometimes been used in a present meaning in
ME already. This use and the concomitant change of the meaning can into must
started from a use of the conditional form: ME þou moste (you might) came to
mean ―you must‖. In NE must is used as a present tense.
Some verbs of this group disappeared.
The Verbs Be, Go, Do, Will
The verb be did not change much since the ME period. The main change
was the penetration of the Northern form are into the present plural indicative
instead of be. For the 2nd person singular past indicative we find a vacillation
between the variants wert and wast. The former was derived by adding the –t
ending to the ME form were; the latter was derived by adding the same ending to
the form was. In the past tense, the distinction between the indicative (I) was,
(he) was and the subjunctive (I) were,(he) were has been preserved; however, in
colloquial style there is a tendency to use (I) was, (he) was instead of (I) were,
(he) were.
The verb be is the only English verb to have retained the difference
between past singular and past plural. Such forms as (we) was, (you) was, (they)
was are felt as vulgarisms and are not admitted into the literary and colloquial
styles.
The verb do has undergone changes common to weak verbs; besides, in the
forms dost, does, doth, done the vowel has been shortened. The form did no
longer divides into two morphemes in NE.
In the verb go the past form went has been preserved, while the form yede
disappeared.
The verb will,would have preserved there forms in NE mostly as auxiliary
verbs. The form will is used as an auxiliary of the future tense, and would as an
auxiliary of the future in the past and the conditional mood. In NE would, in
some cases of its use, can no longer be considered a form of will, but has become
a separate verb.
Tenses and Aspects. The Perfect
The system of perfect forms, which had arisen in OE and developed in ME,
goes on unfolding in the modem period. In Shakespeare's works there is a fully
developed system of perfect forms, e.g.: …if I have too austerely punished you...

Aspect
The category of aspect seams to have arisen only in the NE period. In OE
differences in the way an action proceeds in time were expressed by the prefix e-
in an unsystematic way, and in any case they did not amount to a grammatical
category of aspect. In ME even this distinction was lost.
In NE a continuous aspect was gradually formed, expressed by a verb
obvious morphological pattern (be+first participle). Verbal forms lacking this
pattern became a system of common aspect. It is hard to state a definite point at
which the category of aspect came into being, as the process developed slowly,
and even as late as the 19th century it was still possible to use forms of the
common aspect to denote an action unfolding at a definite moment.
Continuous forms are found in Shakespeare‘ tests somewhat more
frequently than in Chaucer‘, but on the whole, they are not numerous. The present
continuous is used, for example in this sentence in The Merchant of Venice: your
mind is tossing on the ocean. A continuous infinitive is found in Much Ado About
Nothing: I wonder that you will still be talking. Beatrice is teasing Benedict: He
is always talking, though nobody cares to listen to him.
However, in most cases where an action occurring at a given moment in
the present or in the past is meant, the non-continuous form is used.
e.g. OLIVER: Now, sir, what make you here?
ORLANDO: Nothing, I am not taught to make anything.
Use of continuous forms is still rather limited in the 17th and 18th
centuries.
Sometimes a continuous form is used with the adverb always to denote a
repeated action, with an emotional colouring.
e.g. BRIK: Careless, this is your trick, you're always spoiling
company by leaving it.
CARELESS: And thou art always spoiling company by
coming into't.
Sometimes the present and the past perfect continuous are used. In the 19th
century continuous forms are used more widely. But in the early 19th century
they were considered a feature of the colloquial style and were not admitted in
poetry. Eventually, however, continuous forms penetrated far deeper into all
styles of the language.
In the 19th century passive continuous forms appear. They express an
action taking place at a given time in the present or past more clearly,
distinguishing it from the result of an action. But the system of passive
continuous forms has been limited to the present and to the past; neither a future
continuous passive nor any perfect continuous passive forms have been
developed so far.
Henry Sweet gives a full system of verb forms, including such forms as he
has been being seen and he will have been being seen. He adds the remark:
―Some of the longer forms are seldom or never used‖. From the point of view of
modern linguistics this means that Sweet has pointed out structural possibilities
which may be developed in the future.
Mood
The mood system developed in NE mainly towards creating more precise
means of expressing modal meanings and, in this connection, towards the grow of
analytical verb forms.
Thus, in the sphere of the subjunctive, the use of the pattern should/would
+ infinitive gradually grew in main clauses of a conditional sentence.
In Shakespeare's time both the synthetic subjunctive, inherited from OE,
and analytical forms were used in such cases.
 Syntactical subjunctive forms of the 1st and 3rd persons were also used to
express appeal or wish, as in sit we down, judge me the world.
In the main clause of a conditional sentence analytical conditional forms
gradually superseded the synthetic ones.
Use of Auxiliary Do
In Early NE the verb do was widely used as an auxiliary. Owing to its
lexical meaning, which corresponds to the grammatical meaning of any verb as a
part of speech, it easily lends itself to auxiliary use.
In the 16th and 17th centuries forms of the present and past are often
derived by means of the auxiliary do. In Shakespeare‘s texts we can find the
following examples: Why do you not perceive the jest? However, forms without
do are also used in such sentences: Now, sir! What make you here?
Thus, in Shakespeare's time the use of the auxiliary do both in affirmative,
interrogative and negative sentences was optional.
In the 17th century there was considerable hesitation in this sphere. Thus, in
John Milton's prose works do is hardly ever used at all, while in Samuel Pepys's
Diary (1660-1669) it is used very widely, and in John Evelyn's Diary no do is
found in affirmative sentences.
In negative sentences the use of do gradually grew during the 17th century.
In Shakespeare's works do is found in approximately 30% of all negative
sentences.
In philosophic and scientific prose hesitations in this sphere last for a much
longer time.
The Gerund
The gerund,which came into being in ME, developed further in NE. It was
gradually more and more clearly separated from the verbal substantive in -ing.
While the boundary between the verbal substantive and the gerund was
indistinct, so was that between word-building and derivation. As they became
more clearly differentiated, the boundary, too, became clearer. However, the fact
that -ing was a word-building as well as a derivational suffix, made the
distinction less definite than it is in other languages.