Old English Grammar

Cases, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns 2 Nouns, adjectives, sound changes . 3 Verbs . 4 Adverbs, subordinating counctions 6 Correlative counctions, equently used words . 7 Pronunciation 8

Peter Hofstee 2011

CASES
Nominative: Accusative: Genitive: Dative: Subject; Complement (He is a man). Direct object; Prepositions. Possessive; Partitive (two of books). Indirect object (She gave a cookie to him); Instrument (I hit with a book); Prepositions. (Interrogative pronouns Magic Sheet.) Second-person prounouns plural w (we) s (us) re (our) s (us) singular (you) , ec (you) n (your) (you) plural (you) ow (you) ower (your) ow (you)

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
First-person pronouns singular nom. acc. gen. dat. i (I) m, mec (me) mn (my) m (me)

Third-person singular pronouns masculine nom. acc. gen. dat. h (he) hine (him) his (his) him (him) neuter hit (it) hit (it) his (its) him (it) feminine ho (she) he (her) hire (her) hire (her) plural he (they) he (them) hira (their) him (them)

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
Demonstrative pronoun the, that, those masc. nom. acc. gen. dat. se one s m neuter t t s m fem. so re re plural ra, ra m Demonstrative pronoun this, these masc. es isne isses issum neuter is is isses issum fem. os s isse, isre isse, isre plural s s isra issum

NOUNS
Either weak or strong see Magic Sheet If noun ends in -an weak Athematic nouns: I-mutation rather than inections (dat. sg. and nom./acc. pl.)

ADJECTIVES
(Can be both weak and strong, depending on the context.) Weak If preceded by a demonstrative pronoun, possessive adjective or genitive noun If it ends in -an All ordinal numbers, except er (second) All comparative adjectives. Strong Standalone (i.e. no demonstrative pronoun, possessive adjective or genitive noun) Possessive adjectives (e.g. hs sword) er (second)

SOUND CHANGES
Fronting: /a/ //, unless followed by a nasal (m, n) or back vowel (a, o, u) in the next syllable. /a/ followed by a nasal (m, n) // <o>. Examples: *glas > gls; *camb > comb; *land > lond. Breaking: ea, if followed by hC, rC or lC. Examples: fht > feaht (hC); hrd > heard (rC); hlp > healp (lC). Palatalisation: /g/ /j/ /k/ <c> // if preceded by a ont vowel (i, e, ) I-mutation: u y; o e; an en; a ; Example: ms (sg.) msi (pl.) mys (pl.) 3

e i;

VERBS
Weak Past tense: -d / -t Strong Past tense: no -d / t, change of vowel Anomalous bon gn dn willan Preterite-present * Present tense looks like past tense of strong verb. Past tense is formed with -d or -t can ^ could may ^ might shall ^ should

Past participle: -d /-t Past participle: -en Strong in ModE, strong in OE: healde ^ heold held ^ hold WEAK VERBS Class 1 Inf.: -an / -rian (e.g. emman) Past tense: -ede / -de (short / long) (e.g. emede) I-mutation of stem vowel Exceptions: secan (seek) and sohte (sought)

Class 2 Inf.: -ian (not -rian) (e.g. hopian) Past tense: -ode / -ade (e.g. hopode) If theres no u, o, a in the stem.

Class 3 libban (live) habban (have) hicgan (think) secgan (say)

Examples: lufa: he loves ( class 2); hla: they heal ( class 1) * PRETERITE-PRESENT VERBS gan. possess. i h, hst, he gon; past hte. cunnan. know (how to). i can, he cunnon; past ce. dugan. be good (for something). i dag, he dugon; subjunctive duge, dye; past dohte. durran. dare. i dearr, he durron; subjunctive durre, dyrre; past dorste. magan. may. i m, meaht, he magon; past meahte, mihte. mtan. must, be allowed. i mt, mst, he mton; past mste. emunan. remember. i eman, he emunon; subj. emune, emyne; past emunde. e-, benugan. be enough. hit eneah, he enugon; past benohte. sculan. must. i sceal, scealt, he sculon; subjunctive scyle, scule; past sceolde. urfan. need. i earf, earft, he urfon; subjunctive urfe, yrfe; past orfte, unnan. grant, give, allow. i ann, he unnon; past e. witan. know. i wt, wst, he witon; past wisse, wiste. 4

STRONG VERBS Principle parts Innitive (e.g. helpan) The rest 2nd / 3rd p. present indicative have Imutation (hilpot, hilp) First past (e.g. healp) 1st p. sg. past indicative 2nd p. sg. past indicative Second past (e.g. hulpan) 2nd p. sg. past indicative (hulpe) Plural past indicative (hulpon) Past participle (e.g. holpen) Past participle

Past subjunctive (hulpe, hulpen)

(1st/3rd p.) Class 1 2 3 Innitive o e i e eo e e a 1st past a a a ea ea o

(2nd / pl.) 2nd past i u u u u u u o Past part. i o o o u o o o e a V+C V + CC (storfen) V + m/n + C V+l+C V + r/h + C V + m/l/n/r (stolen) V + C (not m/l/n/r) (Easily recognisable by )

4 5 6 7

Exceptions: niman and cuman are always class 4! VERB MOODS: Indicative (If I was a carpenter), subjunctive (If I were a carpenter) & imperative (gebiedende ws). 5

ADVERBS
(Adverbs marked with * have corresponding counctions, see subordinating counctions.) Common adverbs always dn down e ever er aer r before * tgrdere together ac also eall entirely e aerwards fela much feor far for forwards for m therefore * ful very furum even a yes era formerly ese yes et yet heonan hence Interrogative adverbs h how hwr where

hr here hider hither hru indeed hwre nevertheless hwlum at times in in innan om within n not at all ne never ne not neoan om below nese no nier down n now * ofdne down o oen on on, in, forward sian aerwards * sna immediately sw so *

swele, swile likewise, like, also, as (if ) * swe very (much), greatly t too then * anon thence * r there * s aerwards ah nevertheless * enden while * ider thither * onne then * us thus uan om above p up t out tan om outside wel well, indeed, fully

hwider whither hwonne when

hwanon whence hw why

SUBORDINATING COUNCTIONS
er m (e) aer r before * r m (e) before btan unless for am (e) because * if if hwer whether neme unless n now that * o t until sian aer * sw as * swele as if * when * hwle e while anon whence * 6 r where * s e aer t that, so that ah (e) though * enden while * ider (e) whither * onne when * wi m e provided that

CORRELATIVE COUNCTIONS
er e both and hwer oe whether or n t n ac ac swile not only but also nor ne neither nor ne ne neither nor the the (as in the more, the merrier)

when then onne onne when then

r r where there sw sw as so, so as, as as

FREQUENTLY USED WORDS

gen le nig ac aer oe oe butan, buton cw ode, -est, -on fea fela for m eseah gd hlford hwt hwt m myel, miel nan (negated) own each any but either or without, except said ( cwean) past indicative gn few many because saw good lord, master what listen, lo more great, large, much, big, vast not one, nobody, none ( ne an) nfde (negated) ne on (+dat./acc.) did not have ( habban) not, nor (mind the double negation!) on, onto, upon, in, into, against, toward, at, om and either or or to say, to tell are (pl.) ( bon) aer, since, when, aerwards he who immediately (not soon!) so as, as much as very, exceedingly then when however, yet then, than

ond oer oer oe, oe secgan synd, sind, sint sian se e, se e sna sw sw swie, swe a a ah onne

PREPOSITIONS
fter r t be beforan betweox binnan bufan btan ac for fram eond in innan mid of ofer on onan o t tanes urh under wi ymb(e) aer, according to (+dat., sometimes +acc.) before (in time) (+dat., sometimes +acc.) at, om (+dat.); until, up to (+acc.) by, near, along, about, in relation to (+dat.) before, in ont of, in the presence of, ahead of (+dat./acc.) between, among (+dat./acc.) within (+dat.); to within (+acc.) above (+dat.); upwards (+acc.) outside, except, without (+dat./acc.) besides, in addition to (+dat.) before, in ont of, because of, in place of, for the sake of (+dat., sometimes +acc.) om, by (+dat.) throughout, through (+acc., sometimes +dat.) in (+dat.); into (+acc.) in, within, om within (+dat.); into (+acc.) with, and, by means of (+dat., sometimes +acc.) om, of (+dat.) over, upon, throughout (+dat.); over, across, throughout, more than (+acc.) in, on (+dat.); into, onto (+acc.). (In West-Saxon, on is usually where you would expect in.) opposite, towards, in opposition to (+dat./acc.) up to, as far as, until (+acc., sometimes +dat.) to, towards, at, for (+dat.); at (+gen.). (With dat., t often is translated with as: t efran as a companion.) towards, in preparation for, in opposition to (+dat.) through, by means of (+acc., sometimes +dat.) under (+dat./acc.) towards, opposite, against, in exchange for (+acc./dat./gen.) near, by, about, aer (+acc., sometimes +dat.)