Morphological classification of Old English verbs: strong, weak,

and irregular ones
Выполнили:
Мазуркевич Л.А. Книгина А.А.
Группа Л/б-18-1-1

and by adding certain inflections and suffixes. There were 4

basic forms (stems) of the strong verbs, and the use of the stems was as follows:

I – in the infinitive, the present indicative and subjunctive, the imperative mood and participle I;
II – in the past tense singular, the 1-st and the 3-rd person;
III – in the past tense plural, 2-nd person singular and Past Subjunctive;
IV – in the form of the participle two.

They are divided into seven classes.
Class I
Gradation formula ī –

ā – i – i
wrītain –wrāt – writon – writen (to write)

rīsan – rās – rison – risen (rise)
Other verbs of this class are: drīfan (to drive), bītan (to bite), strīdan (to stride), scīnan (to shine) etc.
As the 3-rd and the 4-th forms had stress on the final syllable, if the verbs had voiceless fricatives in the second syllable, these turned into voiced stops:
lī ðan – lā ð – lidon – liden (to go)
snī ðan – snā ð – snidon – sniden (to cut)

four basic forms of this class are:
bēodan – bēad –

budon – boden (to offer)
clēofan – clēaf – clufon – clofen (to cleave)
Other verbs of his class are: cēosan (to choose), scēonan (to shoot), drēosan (to fall), frēosan (to freeze) etc.

The verbs which have s after root vowel had the change of it into r:
cēosan – cēas – curon – coren
Some class II verbs have the vowel ū instead of the usual ēo:
lūcan – lēac- lucon – locen (to lock)
They are: brūcan (to need), dūfan (to dive), slūpan (to slip), sūpan (to try).

vowel was followed by two consonants. There are several variations

of root vowels in this class of verbs:
a) If nasal sound + another consonant followed the root vowel the graduation formula was: i – a(o) – u – u
drincan – dranc – druncon – druncen (to drinc)
b) If l + another consonant followed the root vowel the formula was: i/e – ea – u – o
helpan – healp – hulpon – holpen (to help)

c) If + consonant or h + consonant followed the root vowels then braking in the first two forms change the formula into
eo – ea – u – o
steorfan – stearf – sturfon – storfen (to die)
weorðan – wearð – wurdon – worden (to become)
Here also belong ceorfan (to carve), beorcan (to bark), hweorpan (to turn) etc.

after the short root vowel, and it is a sonorant

– r or l, in rare cases – m or n. The scheme of gradation is e – æ - ǣ̄ - o
stelan – stæl - stǣlon – stolen (to steal)
Also beran (to bear), cwelan (to die), helan (to conceal).
Though different from the others in phonetic form but still belonging to this class are two very frequently used with a nasal sound after the root vowel:
niman – nam (nom) – namon (nomon) – numen (to take)
cuman – cwom (com) – comon (cwomon) –cumen (to come)

by only one consonant r, l or n. The basic

vowels are: e – æ - ǣ - e
sprecan – spræc – sprǣcon – sprecen (to speak)
Also metan (to measure), etan (to eat), wesan (to be)
When the first sound was z, then diphthongization of e is observed and the form of such verbs are:
ziefan – zeaf – zēāfon – ziefen (to give)
zietan – zeat – zēāton – zieten (to get)
If in the verbs the first short sound had palatal mutation, the consonant after it in the infinitive was doubled:
sittan – sæt - sǣton – seten (to sit)

– fōron – faren (to go)
Also verbs: zalan (to sing), wadan (to walk), bacan (to bake), sceacan (to shake), wascan (to

wash).
Some verbs had fractures or mutations of the first vowel in the infinitive
swerian – swōr – swōron – sworen (to swear)
stæppan – stōp – stōpon – stapen (to step)
The verb standan (to stand) loses the sound –n- in the past tense forms
standan – stōd – stōdon - standen

– ē – ā
hātan – hēt – hēt – hāten (to

call)
æ - ē – ē – æ
lætan – lēt – lēton – læten (to let)
ā – ēo – ēo – ā
cnāwan – cnēow – cnēowon – cnāwen (to know)
ea – eo – eo – ea
healdan – heold – heoldon – healden (to hold)
ēa – ēo – ēo – ēa
bēatan – bēot – bēoton – bēaten (to beat)
A significant number of the verbs belonging to the seven classes of the strong conjugation have changed into the weak ones; many others disappeared and semantically have been replaced by other verbs, borrowed from other languages (Latin, French)

as contrasted to their four in Gothic. They had three

basic forms, their past tense and Participle II were made by adding the dental suffix –t- or –d- to the root morpheme.
They are divided into three classes depending on the ending of the infinitive, the sonority of the suffix and the sounds presiding the suffix.

–ian after r). This class of verbs is subdivided into

regular and irregular.
Regular class I verbs have mutation of their root vowel, and three basic forms of the verb end in:
-an/-ian – -de/ede/te – ed/-t-d
(domian ) dēman – dēmde – dēmed (to judge)
When the suffix was preceded by a voiceless consonant, the suffix -d- changed into –t-:
cēpan – cēpte – cēpt, cēped (to keep)
Verbs ended in two consonants, the second being d or t, Participle II of such verbs can have variant endings – in –d, -t or –ded, -ted:
sendan – sende – send, sended (to send)
Irregular verbs of this class had mutated vowel only in the infinitive. In the past tense and in the Participle II it remained unchanged:
(salian ) sellan – sealde – seald (to give)
The sound a in the root of the second and the third forms is changed through breaking into ea, but it is not mutated.
tǣ̄̄can – tāhte – tāht (to teach)

vowel is the same in the all three forms. The

suffix gave the vowel –o- in the past tense and in the infinitive.
The pattern of the three basic forms has the following endings:
-ian –ode –od
macian – macode – macod (to make)
lufian – lufode – lufod (to love)
hopian – hopode – hopod (to hope)
Other verbs of this class are: andswarian (to answer), earnian (to earn), lōcian (to look), sēowian (to sew) etc.

verbs). Some of the verbs changed into the first and

the second classes.
Some verbs in this class have doubled consonants in the infinitive and the mutative vowels, which are accounted for by the presence of the element –i-/-j- in some forms in OE.
The pattern of forms of the most frequent class III verbs forms is:
-an –de –d
habban – hæfde – hæfd (to have)
libban – lifde – lifd (tolive)
Other verbs are: fēozean (to hate), ðrēazean (to threaten), smēazean (to think) etc.

verbal system of Old English verbs. They combine the qualities

of the strong verbs as well as the weak ones.
The origin of these verbs will be clearer if we consider the peculiarity of their semantic.
Their present tense is formed according to the rules of formation of the past tense of the strong verbs, that is by gradation (vowel interchange) whereas their past tense has all the peculiarities of the weak verbs, e.g. wītan – wāt, but wisse – wiste; participle II meanwhile retains the suffix –en of the strong verbs.
Analogous development of these verb may be found in other languages.
E.g. Latin: memini (I have remember – I remember); novi (I have come to know – I know).
Most preterite-present verbs are classified according to the classes of gradation to which their present tense belong.

/ wesan (be)
3an (go)
dōn (do)
willan (will)
The first two differ from all other verbs in

that their forms are derived from different roots, that is their system is based on suppletivity.