Топик: The history of Old English and its development

Class I
Regular verbs
Inf. Past PP
déman (to judge), démde, démed
híeran (to hear), híerde, híered
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:
cépan (to keep), cépte, cépt / céped
grétan (to greet), grétte, grét / gréted

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
tæ'can (to teach), táhte, táht
ræ'can (to reach), ráhte, ráht
bycgan (to buy), bohte, boht
sécan (to seek), sóhte, sóht
wyrcan (to work), worhte, worht
þencan (to think), þóhte, þóht
bringan (to bring), bróhte, bróht

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), sceþþan (harm), wecgean (move), féran (go), læ'ran (teach), dræfan (drive), fýsan (hurry), drýgean (dry), híepan (heap), métan (to meet), wýscean (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), scéawian (look), weorþian (honour), wundrian (wonder), fæstnian (fasten), mærsian (glorify).

Class III
habban (to have), hæfde, hæfd
libban (to live), lifde, lifd
secgan (to say), sægde, sægd
hycgan (to think), hogde, hogod
þréagan (to threaten), þréade, þréad
sméagan (to think), sméade, sméad
fréogan (to free), fréode, fréod
féogan (to hate), féode, féod

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 wrítan , for example, those three stems are: wrít- (infinitive without the ending -an ), wrát- (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 - wrítan (to write)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imper. ¦ Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 wríte - ¦ wrát
2 wrítest wríte wrít ¦ write } wríte
3 wríteþ - ¦ wrát
Pl. wrítaþ wríten 2 wrítaþ ¦ writon writen

Infinitive Participle
wrítan I wrítende 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 lufaþ - lufode
Pl. lufiaþ lufien 2 lufiaþ 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 bindeþ - ¦ band, bond
Pl. bindaþ binden bindaþ ¦ bundon bunden

Inf. Part.
bindan I bindende II gebunden

Class V strong - séon (to see)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 séo - seah
2 síehst } séo seoh sáwe } sáwe,
3 síehþ - seah sæge
Pl. séoþ séon 2 séoþ sawon sáwen
Participle
I séonde II gesewen, gesegen

Class VII strong - fón (to catch)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 fó - feng
2 féhst } fó fóh fenge } fenge
3 féhþ - feng
Pl. fóþ fón 2 fóþ fengon fengen
Participle
I fónde II gefangen, gefongen

Class III weak - secgan (to say)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 secge - sægde
2 sægst }secge sæge sægdest }sægde
3 sægþ - sægde
Pl. secgaþ secgen 2 secgaþ sægdon sægden
Part.
I secgende II gesægd

Class III weak - libban (to live)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 libbe - lifde
2 liofast }libbe liofa lifdest } lifde
3 liofaþ - lifde
Pl. libbaþ libben 2 libbaþ 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), þurfan (to need), dearan (to dare), munan (to remember), sculan (shall), magan (may).

Present of witan (= strong Past)
Ind. Subj. Imp.
Sg. 1 wát -
2 wast } wite wite
3 wát -
Pl. witon 2 witen witaþ
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 cúþe
2 canst } cunne cúþest } cúþe
3 cann cúþe
Pl. cunnon cunnen cúþon cúþen

þurfan (need)
Sg. 1 þearf þorfte
2 þearft } þurfe þorftest } þorfte
3 þearf þorfte
Pl. þurfon þurfen þorfton þorften

magan (may)
Sg. 1 mæg meahte mihte, mihten
2 meaht } mæge meahtest
3 mæg meahte
Pl. magon mægen 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.