Demonstrative pronouns ('I' means the instrumental case)

2. Demonstrative pronouns ('I' means the instrumental case)

3. Interrogative pronouns

N hwб hwжt
G hwжs hwжs
D hwж'm hwж'm
A hwone hwжt
I - hwэ, hwн

These pronouns, which actually mean the masculine and the neuter varieties of the same pronoun, derive from Proto-Indo-European *kwis, with *kw becoming hw in Germanic languages. In Gothic the combination hw was considered as one sound which is another proof that the Indo-European the labiovelar sound kw was a single sound with some specific articulation.

Later Germanic languages changed the sound in a different way: in Norwegian it remained as hv, in German turned into w (as in wer 'who', was 'what'), in English finally changed into wh pronounced in most cases [w], but somewhere also like [h] or [hw].

Interesting that the instrumental of the word hwжt, once being a pronoun form, later became the word why in English. So 'why?' is originally an instrumental case of the interrogative pronoun.

Other interrogative pronouns, or adverbs, as they are sometimes called, include the following, all beginning with hw:

hwilc 'which?' - is declined as the strong adjective (see adjectives above)
hwonne 'when?' - this and following are not declined, naturally
hwж'r 'where?'
hwider 'whither?'
hwonan 'whence?'

4. Other kinds of pronouns

They include definite, indefinite, negative and relative, all typical for Indo-European languages. All of them still exist in Modern English, and all of them are given here:

a) definite
gehwб (every) - declined the same way as hwб
gehwilc (each),
жgюer (either),
ж'lc (each),
swilc (such) - all declined like strong adjectives
sй ylca (the same) - declined like a weak adjective

b) indefinite
sum (some),
ж'nig (any) - both behave the same way as strong adjectives

c) negative
nбn, nж'nig (no, none) - declined like strong adjectives

d) relative
юe (which, that)
sйюe (which, that) - they are not declined

In Proto-Indo-European and in many ancient Indo-European languages there was a special kind of declension calleed pronominal, using only by pronouns and opposed to the one used by nouns, adjectives and numerals. Old English lost it, and its pronouns use all the same endings as the nouns and adjectives. Maybe the only inflection which remembers the Proto-language times, is the neuter nominative -t in hwжt and южt, the ancient ending for inanimate (inactive) nouns and pronouns.

The Old English Numeral.

It is obvious that all Indo-European languages have the general trend of transformation

from the synthetic (or inflectional) stage to the analytic one. At least for the latest 1,000 years this trend could be observed in all branches of the family. The level of this analitization process in each single language can be estimated by several features, their presence or absence in the language. One of them is for sure the declension of the numerals. In Proto-Indo-European all numerals, both cardinal and ordinal, were declined, as they derived on a very ancient stage from nouns or adjectives, originally being a declined part of speech. There are still language groups within the family with decline their numerals: among them, Slavic and Baltic are the most typical samples. They practically did not suffer any influence of the analytic processes. But all other groups seem to have been influenced somehow. Ancient Italic and Hellenic languages left the declension only for the first four cardinal pronouns (from 1 to 4), the same with ancient Celtic.

The Old English language preserves this system of declension only for three numerals. It is therefore much easier to learn, though not for English speakers I guess - Modern English lacks declension at all.

Here is the list of the cardinal numerals:

Ordinal numerals use the suffix -ta or -юa, etymologically a common Indo-European one (*-to-).

The Old English Adverb.

Adverbs can be either primary (original adverbs) or derive from the adjectives. In fact, adverbs appeared in the language rather late, and eraly Proto-Indo-European did not use them, but later some auxiliary nouns and pronouns losing their declension started to play the role of adverbial modifiers. That's how thew primary adverbs emerged.

In Old English the basic primary adverbs were the following ones:

юa (then)
юonne (then)
юж'r (there)
юider (thither)
nъ (now)
hйr (here)
hider (hither)
heonan (hence)
sуna (soon)
oft (often)
eft (again)
swб (so)
hwнlum (sometimes).

Secondary adverbs originated from the instrumental singular of the neuter adjectives of strong declension. They all add the suffix -e: wide (widely), dйope (deeply), fжste (fast), hearde (hard). Another major sugroup of them used the suffixes -lнc, -lнce from more complexed adjectives: bealdlнce (boldly), freondlнce (in a friendly way).

Adverbs, as well as adjectives, had their degrees of comparison:

wнde - wнdor - wнdost (widely - more widely - most widely)
long - leng (long - longer)
feorr (far) - fierr
sуfte (softly) - sйft
йaюe (easily) - нeю
wel (well) - betre - best
yfele (badly) - wiers, wyrs - wierst
micele (much) - mбre - mж'st

The Old English Verb.

Old English system had strong and weak verbs: the ones which used the ancient Germanic type of conjugation (the Ablaut), and the ones which just added endings to their past and participle forms. Strong verbs make the clear majority. According to the traditional division, which is taken form Gothic and is accepted by modern linguistics, all strong verbs are distinguished between seven classes, each having its peculiarities in conjugation and in the stem structure. It is easy to define which verb is which class, so you will not swear trying to identify the type of conjugation of this or that verb (unlike the situation with the substantives).

Here is the table which is composed for you to see the root vowels of all strong verb classes. Except the VII class, they all have exact stem vowels for all four main forms:

Now let us see what Old English strong verbs of all those seven classes looked like and what were their main four forms. I should mention that besides the vowel changes in the stem, verbal forms also changed stem consonants very often. The rule of such changes is not mentioned practically in any books on the Old English language, though there is some. See for yourselves this little chart where the samples of strong verb classes are given with their four forms:

Infinitive, Past singular, Past plural, Participle II (or Past Participle)
Class I
wrнtan (to write), wrбt, writon, writen
snнpan (to cut), snбю, snidon, sniden
Other examples: belнfan (stay), clнfan (cling), ygrнpan (clutch), bнtan (bite), slнtan (slit), besmнtan (dirty), gewнtan (go), blнcan (glitter), sнcan (sigh), stнgan (mount), scнnan (shine), бrнsan (arise), lнюan (go).

Class II
bйodan (to offer), bйad, budon, boden
cйosan (to choose), cйas, curon, coren
Other examples: crйopan (creep), clйofan (cleave), flйotan (fleet), gйotan (pour), grйotan (weep), nйotan (enjoy), scйotan (shoot), lйogan (lie), brйowan (brew), drйosan (fall), frйosan (freeze), forlйosan (lose).

Class III
III a) a nasal consonant
drincan (to drink), dranc, druncon, druncen
Other: swindan (vanish), onginnan (begin), sinnan (reflect), winnan (work), gelimpan (happen), swimman (swim).
III b) l + a consonant
helpan (to help), healp, hulpon, holpen
Other: delfan (delve), swelgan (swallow), sweltan (die), bellan (bark), melcan (milk).
III c) r, h + a consonant
steorfan (to die), stearf, sturfon, storfen
weorюan (to become), wearю, wurdon, worden
feohtan (to fight), feaht, fuhton, fohten
More: ceorfan (carve), hweorfan (turn), weorpan (throw), beorgan (conceal), beorcan (bark).

Class IV
stelan (to steal), stж'l, stж'lon, stolen
beran (to bear), bж'r, bж'ron, boren
More: cwelan (die), helan (conceal), teran (tear), brecan (break).

Class V
tredan (to tread), trж'd, trж'don, treden
cweюan (to say), cwж'ю, cwж'don, cweden
More: metan (measure), swefan (sleep), wefan (weave), sprecan (to speak), wrecan (persecute), lesan (gather), etan (eat), wesan (be).

Class VI
faran (to go), fуr, fуron, faren
More: galan (sing), grafan (dig), hladan (lade), wadan (walk), dragan (drag), gnagan (gnaw), bacan (bake), scacan (shake), wascan (wash).

Class VII
hбtan (to call), hйt, hйton, hбten
feallan (to fall), feoll, feollon, feallen
cnйawan (to know), cnйow, cnйowon, cnбwen
More: blondan (blend), ondrж'dan (fear), lбcan (jump), scadan (divide), fealdan (fold), healdan (hold), sponnan (span), bйatan (beat), blуwan (flourish), hlуwan (low), spуwan (flourish), mбwan (mow), sбwan (sow), rбwan (turn).

So the rule from the table above is observed carefully. The VII class was made especially for those verbs which did not fit into any of the six classes. In fact the verbs of the VII class are irregular and cannot be explained by a certain exact rule, though they are quite numerous in the language.

Examining verbs of Old English comparing to those of Modern English it is easy to catch the point of transformation. Not only the ending -an in the infinitive has dropped, but the stems were subject to many changes some of which are not hard to find. For example, the long н in the stem gives i with an open syllable in the modern language (wrнtan > write, scнnan > shine). The same can be said about a, which nowadays is a in open syllables pronounced [ж] (hladan > lade). The initial combination sc turns to sh; the open e was transformed into ea practically everywhere (sprecan > speak, tredan > tread, etc.). Such laws of transformation which you can gather into a small table help to recreate the Old word from a Modern English one in case you do not have a dictionary in hand, and therefore are important for reconstruction of the languages.

Weak verbs in Old English (today's English regular verbs) were conjugated in a simpler way than the strong ones, and did not use the ablaut interchanges of the vowel stems. Weak verbs are divided into three classes which had only slight differences though. They did have the three forms - the infinitive, the past tense, the participle II. Here is the table.

Class I
Regular verbs
Inf. Past PP
dйman (to judge), dйmde, dйmed
hнeran (to hear), hнerde, hнered
nerian (to save), nerede, nered
styrian (to stir), styrede, styred
fremman (to commit), fremede, fremed
cnyssan (to push), cnysede, cnysed

When the suffix is preceded by a voiceless consonant the ending changes a little bit:
cйpan (to keep), cйpte, cйpt / cйped
grйtan (to greet), grйtte, grйt / grйted

If the verb stem ends in consonant plus d or t:
sendan (to send), sende, send / sended
restan (to rest), reste, rest / rested

Irregular
sellan (to give), sealde, seald
tellan (to tell), tealde, teald
cwellan (to kill), cwealde, cweald
tж'can (to teach), tбhte, tбht
rж'can (to reach), rбhte, rбht
bycgan (to buy), bohte, boht
sйcan (to seek), sуhte, sуht
wyrcan (to work), worhte, worht
юencan (to think), юуhte, юуht
bringan (to bring), brуhte, brуht

Other examples of the I class weak verbs just for your interest: berian (beat), derian (harm), erian (plough), ferian (go), herian (praise), gremman (be angry), wennan (accustom), clynnan (sound), dynnan (resound), hlynnan (roar), hrissan (tremble), sceююan (harm), wecgean (move), fйran (go), lж'ran (teach), drжfan (drive), fэsan (hurry), drэgean (dry), hнepan (heap), mйtan (to meet), wэscean (wish), byldan (build), wendan (turn), efstan (hurry). All these are regular.

Class II
macian (to make), macode, macod
lufian (to love), lufode, lufod
hopian (to hope), hopode, hopod

Tis class makes quite a small group of verbs, all of them having -o- before the past endings. Other samples: lofian (praise), stician (pierce), eardian (dwell), scйawian (look), weorюian (honour), wundrian (wonder), fжstnian (fasten), mжrsian (glorify).

Class III
habban (to have), hжfde, hжfd
libban (to live), lifde, lifd
secgan (to say), sжgde, sжgd
hycgan (to think), hogde, hogod
юrйagan (to threaten), юrйade, юrйad
smйagan (to think), smйade, smйad
frйogan (to free), frйode, frйod
fйogan (to hate), fйode, fйod

Old English verbs are conjugated having two tenses - the Present tense and the Past tense, and three moods - indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Of these, only the subjunctive mood has disappeared in the English language, acquiring an analytic construction instead of inflections; and the imperative mood has coincided with the infinitive form (to write - write!). In the Old English period they all looked different.

The common table of the verb conjugation is given below. Here you should notice that the Present tense has the conjugation for all three moods, while the Past tense - for only two moods (no imperative in the Past tense, naturally). Some more explanation should be given about the stem types.

In fact all verbal forms were generated in Old English from three verb stems, and each verb had its own three ones: the Infinitive stem, the Past Singular stem, the Past Plural stem. For the verb wrнtan, for example, those three stems are: wrнt- (infinitive without the ending -an), wrбt- (the Past singular), writ- (the Past plural without the ending -on). The table below explains where to use this or that stem.

Additionally, the participles (Participle I and Participle II) are formed by the suffix -ende to the Infinitive stem (participle I), or the prefix ge- + the Past Plural stem + the ending -en (Participle II).

Tired of the theory? Here is the preactice. We give several examples of the typical verbs - first strong, then weak, then irregular.

Class I strong - wrнtan (to write)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imper. ¦ Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 wrнte - ¦ wrбt
2 wrнtest wrнte wrнt ¦ write } wrнte
3 wrнteю - ¦ wrбt
Pl. wrнtaю wrнten 2 wrнtaю ¦ writon writen

Infinitive Participle
wrнtan I wrнtende II gewriten

Class II weak - lufian (to love)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 lufie - lufode
2 lufast }lufie lufa lufodest } lufode
3 lufaю - lufode
Pl. lufiaю lufien 2 lufiaю lufodon lufoden
Part.
I lufiende II gelufod

Class III strong - bindan (to bind)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 binde - ¦ band, bond
2 bindest } binde bind ¦ bunde } bunde
3 bindeю - ¦ band, bond
Pl. bindaю binden bindaю ¦ bundon bunden

Inf. Part.
bindan I bindende II gebunden

Class V strong - sйon (to see)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 sйo - seah
2 sнehst } sйo seoh sбwe } sбwe,
3 sнehю - seah sжge
Pl. sйoю sйon 2 sйoю sawon sбwen
Participle
I sйonde II gesewen, gesegen

Class VII strong - fуn (to catch)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 fу - feng
2 fйhst } fу fуh fenge } fenge
3 fйhю - feng
Pl. fую fуn 2 fую fengon fengen
Participle
I fуnde II gefangen, gefongen

Class III weak - secgan (to say)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 secge - sжgde
2 sжgst }secge sжge sжgdest }sжgde
3 sжgю - sжgde
Pl. secgaю secgen 2 secgaю sжgdon sжgden
Part.
I secgende II gesжgd

Class III weak - libban (to live)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 libbe - lifde
2 liofast }libbe liofa lifdest } lifde
3 liofaю - lifde
Pl. libbaю libben 2 libbaю lifdon lifden
Part.
I libbende II gelifd

A special group is made by the so-called Present-Preterite verbs, which are conjugated combining two varieties of the usual verb conjugation: strong and weak. These verbs, at all not more than seven, are nowadays called modal verbs in English.

Present-Preterite verbs have their Present tense forms generated from the Strong Past, and the Past tense, instead, looks like the Present Tense of the Weak verbs. The verbs we present here are the following: witan (to know), cunnan (can), юurfan (to need), dearan (to dare), munan (to remember), sculan (shall), magan (may).

Present of witan (= strong Past)
Ind. Subj. Imp.
Sg. 1 wбt -
2 wast } wite wite
3 wбt -
Pl. witon 2 witen witaю
Past (= Weak)
Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 wisse, wiste
2 wissest, wistest } wisse, wiste
3 wisse, wiste
Pl. wisson, wiston wissen, wisten
Participles: I witende, II witen, gewiten

cunnan (can)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 cann cъюe
2 canst } cunne cъюest } cъюe
3 cann cъюe
Pl. cunnon cunnen cъюon cъюen

юurfan (need)
Sg. 1 юearf юorfte
2 юearft } юurfe юorftest } юorfte
3 юearf юorfte
Pl. юurfon юurfen юorfton юorften

magan (may)
Sg. 1 mжg meahte mihte, mihten
2 meaht } mжge meahtest
3 mжg meahte
Pl. magon mжgen meahton

The main difference of verbs of this type in modern English is their expressing modality, i.e. possibility, obligation, necessity. They do not require the particle to before the infinitive which follows them. In Old English in general no verb requires this particle before the infinitive. In fact, this to before the infinitive form meant the preposition of direction.

And now finally a few irregular verbs, which used several different stems for their tenses. These verbs are very important in Old English and are met very often in the texts: wesan (to be), bйon (to be), gбn (to go), dуn (to do), willan (will). Mind that there was no Future tense in the Old English language, and the future action was expressed by the Present forms, just sometimes using verbs of modality, willan (lit. "to wish to do") or sculan (lit. "to have to do").

wesan (to be) - has got only the Present tense forms, uses the verb bйon in the Past
Present
Ind. Subj. Imp.
Sg.1 eom -
2 eart } sнe, sэ wes
3 is -
Pl. sind sнen, sэn 2 wesaю

bйon (to be)
Present
Ind. Subj. Imp.
Sg. 1 bйo -
2 bist }bйo bйo
3 biю -
Pl. bйoю bйon 2 bйoю
Past
Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 wжs
2 wжre } wжre
3 wжs
Pl. wжron wжren
Participle I is bйonde (being).

gбn (to go)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 gб - йode
2 gж'st } gб gб йodest } йode
3 gж'ю - йode
Pl. gбю 2 gбn gбю йodon йoden
Participles:
I gбnde, gangende II gegбn

So there were in fact two verbs meaning 'to be', and both were colloquial. In Middle English, however, the verb wesan replaced fully the forms of bйon, and the words bйo (I am), bist (thou art) fell out of use. The Past tense forms was and were are also derivatives from wesan.

Syntactically, the language had only two main tenses - the Present and the Past. No progressive (or Continuous) tenses were used, they were invented only in the Early Middle English period. Such complex tenses as modern Future in the Past, Future Perfect Continuous did not exist either. However, some analytic construction were in use, and first of all the perfective constructions. The example Hie geweorc geworhten hжfdon 'they have build a fortress' shows the exact Perfect tense, but at that time it was not the tense really, just a participle construction showing that the action has been done. Seldom you can also find such Past constructions, which later became the Past Perfect Tense.

Verb syntax includes a number of suffices and prefixes which can be met in Old English texts and especially in poetry:

Suffices:
1. -s- (from substantive or adjective stems) - mж'rsian (to announce; from mж're - famous)
2. -lжc- - nйбlжcan (to approach)
3. -ett- - bliccettan (to sparkle)

Prefixes
1. б- = out of, from - бrнsan (arise), бwakan (awake), бberan (sustain)
2. be- = over, around, by - begбn (go around), beюencan (think over), behйafdian (behead)
3. for- = destruction or loss - fordуn (destroy), forweorюan (perish)
4. mis- = negation or bad quality - mislнcian (displease)
5. of- = reinfors - ofslйan (kill), oftйon (take away)
6. on- = change or separation - onbindan (unbind), onlъcan (unlock)
7. tу- = destruction - tуbrecan (break)

The Old English Auxiliary Words.

These traditionally include prepositions, conjunctions, different particles and

interjections. All Indo-European languages have this system of auxiliary parts of speech, though there are languages which lack some of them. Japanese, for example, has no prepositions, and the service function in the sentence belongs to postpositive words which have cases, the same as nouns. Korean does not use any conjunctions, replacing them by about 50 different kinds of verbal adverbs. As for Chinese, it simply does not make any distinction in the sentence between basic and auxiliary words.

Most of Old English prepositions are easily recognizable:

Primary: of (of, out of), жt (to), fram (from), tу (to), wiю (against), in, of, mid (with), on (on, at), be (by, near, to, because of, about), юurh (through), under, ofer (over), жfter (after), bufan (above), ъt (out).

Secondary: beforan (before), bъtan (without), benorюan (north of), etc.

жt means 'to' and wiю means 'against'. In Germanic all prepositions divided into those who used nouns in dative, accusative or genitive. But in the Old English period this distinction begins to disappear, and only some of the prepositions use dative (mid, bъtan, sometimes on, in) or genitive (fram, ъt, жfter).

Conjunctions included the following:

Primary: and / ond (and) , ac (but), gif (if), or.
Secondary: жgюer ge... ge (both... and..., either ... or...), hwonne (when), юa (when), юonne (when), юйбh (though), южtte (that), жr (before), swб... swб... (so... as...).

And a few interjections: iб (yes), wб (woe!, wow!), hwжt (there! what!).