1. The division of weak verbs into classes was based on the original stem-building suffix of a verb that was already hard to distinguish even in OE:
| Class 1 | Infinitive | Past | Participle 2 | Basis for Subdivision |
| OE | styrian | styrede | stured | stem-suffix -j most verbs with front root-vowel derived from nouns, adjectives |
| ME | stiren | stirede | stired | |
| NE | stir | stirred | stirred |
| Class 2 | Infinitive | Past | Participle 2 | Basis for Subdivision |
| OE | lōcian | lōcode | lōcod | stem-suffix oja most numerous class most verbs with back root-vowel |
| ME | looken | lookede | looked | |
| NE | look | looked | looked |
| Class 3 | Infinitive | Past | Participle 2 | Basis for Subdivision |
| OE | libban | lifde | lifd | 3 verbs only: habban (to have), libban (to live), secζan (to say) |
| ME | livien | livde | lived | |
| NE | This class merged with class 1 in ME |
2. Weak verbs were not as complex as strong ones and had a greater regularity and simplicity. Thats why they were productive, i.e. all borrowed verbs used weak model of form-building (suffix -t/-d) (e.g. Scand. to skate, Fr. to charm, Lat. to decorate, etc.) and, as it has already been mentioned above, many originally strong verbs turned into weak (e.g. to bake, to laugh, to help, to lie, etc.). The opposite process of turning of weak verbs into strong was very rare and was mainly based on phonetic similarity between some strong and weak verbs, i.e. was a result of mere confusion that later was accepted as a norm due to its persistent and regular character (e.g. to wear was originally weak and became strong because of the mistaken analogy with to swear, to ring (mistaken analogy with to sing), to hide (mistaken analogy with to ride)).
Non-Finite Forms
Participle 1
The formation of the Participle 1 was as follows:
| OE | ME | NE |
| berende | bering | bearing |
In OE Participle 1 was considered Present Participle, had only the form of the Active Voice, possessed the categories of Number, Gender, Case. It was used predicatively and attributively (agreed with the noun in Number, Gender, Case).
In ME it lost its nominal and adjectival features together with the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable.
Participle 2
As it has been mentioned in the table above, in OE Participle 2 was formed:
in strong verbs with the help of the suffix en (+ sometimes root-vowel interchange) + often marked by prefix ζe-:
e.g. OE bindan (Infinitive) ζe b u nd en (Participle 2) (to bind)
In ME prefix ζe- was weakened to prefix i-/y- (e.g. ME y-runne (run, Part.2 from to run) and in NE it disappeared at all.
in weak verbs with the help of the suffix -t/-d:
e.g. OE cēpan (Infinitive) cēpe d (Participle 2) (to keep)
Participle 2, unlike Participle 1, had two meanings of the category of Voice:
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| OE | NE | |
| Active Voice | Passive Voice | |
| ζegān | ζeboren | gone, born |
| somebody was gone, i.e. he did it himself = he was the subject/active doer of the action | somebody was born, i.e. somebody gave birth to him = he was the object/passive recipient of the action | No Voice distinctions observed |
Thus in OE Participle 2 was considered Past Participle, had the forms of the Active and Passive Voice, possessed the categories of Number, Gender, Case. It was used predicatively and attributively (agreed with the noun in Number, Gender, Case).
In ME it lost the category of Voice and the categories of Number, Gender, Case and became unchangeable.
Infinitive
In OE the Infinitive resembled the Noun and had the category of Case (only two Cases Nominative (Nom) and Dative (Dat)):
e.g. OE Nom writan (uninflected) Dat to wrītan ne (inflected, indicated direction or purpose).
In ME the Infinitive lost the Dative Case (the inflected form) and only one form was left:
e.g. ME (to) writ en.
Particle to remained in NE as a formal sign of the infinitive with no meaning of direction or purpose:
e.g. NE (to) writ e.
Though sometimes the traces of these meanings are still visible:
e.g. He came to feed the horses (purpose).
Gerund
The Gerund appeared only in the 12th c. Actually it presented a mixture of the OE Verbal Noun (with suffix -unζ/-inζ) and Participle 1 and its characteristics were:
It took direct object (verbal feature) (e.g. buying a book);
It could be preceded by an article or a possessive pronoun (noun feature) (e.g. the cleaning of my room, your coming late).
Preterite-Present Verbs
OE
The preterite-present verbs had the following characteristics:
Their Present -Tense forms resembledPast -Tense forms (Germ. Präteritum = past tense, thats why they were called so);
Some of these verbs did not have a full paradigm and were called defective ;
These verbs expressed attitude and were followed by the Infinitive without to (NB! Most of these verbs are present-day modal verbs);
Out of 12 preterite-present verbs only 6 survived in ModE:
āζ (ought), cunnan (can), dear (dare), sculan (shall), maζan (may), mōt (must).
E.g.:
| Numb. | Pers. | Present | Past | ||
| (formed like Past Tense of strong verbs) | (formed like Past Tense of weak verbs) | ||||
| cunnan | sculan | cunnan | sculan | ||
| Sg | 1st | cann | sceal | cuðe | sceolde |
| 2nd | canst | scealt | cuðest | sceoldest | |
| 3rd | cann | sceal | cuðe | sceolde | |
| Pl | - | cunnon | sculon | cuðon | sceoldon |
ME
The following changes happened to the preterite-present verbs:
They lost their Verbals (non-finite forms) (e.g. OE cunnen Part 2 of cunnan);
They lost the Number and Mood distinctions (e.g. OE cann (Indicative) cunne (Subjunctive); OE cann (Sg) cunnon (Pl)).
NE
The paradigm of the preterite-present verbs (that had already become modal verbs) was reduced to one or two forms (e.g. must (just one form), can, could (just two forms), etc.).
Anomalous Verbs
They were irregular verbs that combined the features of the weak and strong verbs. There were 4 of them willan (will), bēon (to be), ζān (to go), dōn (to do).
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Willan:
had the meaning of volition;
resembled the preterite-present verbs in meaning (attitude) and in function (was followed by the Infinitive without to);
eventually became a modal verb and also together with sculan developed into an auxiliary for the formation of the Future-Tense forms.
Dōn
This verb combined the features of the weak and strong verbs:
| Infinitive | Past | Participle 2 |
| strong verb feature (root-sound interchange) + weak verb feature (dental suffix -d) | strong verb feature (suffix -nand prefix ζe -) | |
| dōn | dyde | ζedōn |
ζan
This verb was suppletive and also combined the features of the weak and strong verbs:
| Period | Infinitive | Past | Participle 2 |
| OE | ζān | ēode (suppletivism + weak verb feature (dental suffix -d)) | ζeζān (strong verb feature (suffix -nand prefix ζe -) |
| ME | goon | wente (suppletivism (from OE wendan) + weak verb feature (dental suffix -t) | goon (strong verb feature (suffix -n)) |
Bēon
This verb was highly suppletive and in OE employed two separate words/roots (Infinitives):
| Present | OE | ME | NE | ||
| Numb. | Pers. | wesan | bēon | been | been |
| Sg | 1st | eom | bēo | am | am |
| 2nd | eart | bist | art | are | |
| 3rd | is | biþ | is | is | |
| Pl | - | sint | bēoþ | are/arn | are |
| Past | wesan | been | be | ||
| Sg | 1st | w æ s | was | was | |
| 2nd | w ǽ re | wēre | were | ||
| 3rd | w æ s | was | was | ||
| Pl | - | w ǽ ron | wēren | were |
Analytical Forms
In OE there were no analytical forms. They appeared later:
ME Future Tense, Perfect, Passive and Subjunctive forms;
NE Continuous and Do-forms;
and had the following characteristics:
They consisted of 2 elements:
- a verb of broad semantics and high frequency (an auxiliary);
- a non-finite form (Infinitive, Participle 1, 2).
Future-Tense Forms
In OE there was no Future Tense. Future actions were expressed by Present-Tense forms and modal phrases with sculan (shall), willan (will), maζan (may), cunnan (can), etc.
Formation
sculan/willan + Infinitive
Willan had more strong modal meaning (volition) that was later weakened and almost lost.
2. 13th 14th c. these forms were very common and sculan (shall) and willan (will) were completely interchangeable.
3. 17th c. John Wallis introduced the rule shall 1st person, will 2nd and 3rd person.
4. In ModE there is a tendency to use will + 1st, 2nd and 3rd person without any distinction (earlier will + 1st person had the modal meaning of volition).
Perfect Forms
Formation
habban/bēon + Participle 2
↓ ↓
with transitive with intransitive (this distinction is still left in German)
verbs verbs
2. In ME and NE only the auxiliary habban was left while bēon ceased to be used in the Perfect forms not to confuse them with the Passive forms (though some of these forms are still left, e.g. He is gone).
Passive Forms
Formation
bēon/werthen + Participle 2
2. Werthen died out in late ME.
3. Passive constructions were often marked with prepositions by/with (to show the doer of the action or the instrument of the action).
Subjunctive-Mood Forms
1. These forms were not always analytical in OE but were widely used in:
independent clauses to express wish, command, hypothetical condition, concession, purpose (e.g. Sīēn hira ēāζan āþistrode. Be their eyes darkened!);
dependent clauses temporal clauses (related to future) (e.g. Bring me þ æ t ic ēte. Bring me that, I would eat), etc.;
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impersonal sentences (e.g. Methinks I think ( ), me lycige I like ( )) went out of use in NE.
2. In ME and NE analytical forms of the Subjunctive Mood appeared.
Formation:
biden (bid)/ leten (let)/ neden (need)/ sholde (should)/ wolde (would) + Infinitive
These were the modal phrases that were used to express problematic or imaginary actions. The forms with sholde / wolde outnumbered all other forms, soon they weakened their modal meaning and became auxiliaries: should 1st person, would 2nd, 3rd person.
3. Meaning of the Subjunctive forms:
in the Past present or future imaginary or unreal actions (e.g. He thought he would cope with the task);
in the Present future probable or problematic actions (e.g. She thinks he would still come).
4. Peculiarities:
should/would + Infinitive à simultaneous actions (e.g. If I was young I would be the happiest person in the world);
should/would + Perfect Infinitive à past or preceding actions (e.g. If I had known all this I would have left that house immediately).
Continuous Forms
Sometimes they were found in OE:
Formation
bēon + Participle 1
2. In OE it denoted a quality or a lasting state and was characterising a person or a thing indicated by the Subject of the sentence. The continuance was not limited in time (as it is in the ModE Continuous forms) and resembled more present-day Indefinite Tense forms, e.g.:
Sēō eorðe is berende missenlīcra fuζela This land bears many birds.
3. In ME Continuous forms fell into disuse.
4. In NE these forms reappeared together with a synonymous form:
be + Participle 1 = be + on/in + Gerund (indicated a process of limited duration)
e.g.:
He was on huntinge He was hunting (literally, He was on hunting).
5. 18th c. Continuous forms became well-established.
6. 19th c. Continuous forms in the Passivewere accepted as a norm (e.g. The house is being built previously such forms were considered clumsy and non-grammatical).
Do-Forms
1. In NE do-periphrasis was used in the Past and Present of the Indicative Mood.
2. 16th c. Do was used in negative, affirmative and interrogative sentences and was freely interchangeable with the simple forms (without do), e.g.:
Heard you all this? = Did you hear all this?
I know not why he cries. = I dont know why he cries.
He knew it. = He did know it (without any meaning of emphasis).
3. 17th c. do was left only in negative and interrogative sentences to keep the word-order S + P + O (e.g. I (S) pity (P) him (O). Do you (S) pity (P) him (O)?). In affirmative sentences do acquired an emphatic meaning (e.g. Did you really see him? I did see him, I swear!).
H/w:
1. After reading the material of the lecture, use the glossary of A Reader in the History of English by .. and analyse the following verbs: clypode, þystrodon, mihte, ζeseon, cw æ d, ζesihst. Plan of analysis:
initial form;
type of conjugation/type of the verb;
class of the verb;
a non-finite form (Infinitive, Participle 1, 2, Gerund) or a finite form (Tense, Number, Person if there are);
Modern English equivalent;
translation.
2. Find all the verbs in the abstract from Beowulf on p. 8 in A Reader in the History of English by .. and analyse them according to the plan given above.
3. Find the Perfect, Passive and Infinitive forms in the abstract from the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (lines 1-14) on p. 33-34 in A Reader in the History of English by .. and analyse them.
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Lecture 19
