08.12.2008.

Categories of OE Verbs
OE verb were marked by the grammatical categories of person, number, mood. tense and very superficially by aspect and voice. They appear only sporadically and some grammarians state that grammatical categories of voice is unmarked what we really have in OE verbs is grammatical category of voice but not the passive voice. Similarly, grammatical category of aspect is marked by means of several prefixes, but these prefixes do not always change the aspect of the verbs sometimes they do and much more often they dont. System of OE verbs was just partially developed. * Present indicative is marked for categories of person and number but not fully. DRFAN, 1 LUFIAN, II LUFIE
root suffix of gothic origin

strong verb of the 1st class

weak verb of the 2nd class

singular: 1. DRFE
reduced length of /i:/

2. DRFST 3. DRF plural: DRFA

LUFIAST

LUFIA LUFIA

category of number is non-existent it has only one form *There are two tenses in OE, the past tense and the non-past tense Non-past form is used to denote both present and future actions and events future can be expressed by adding an adverb to the verb. Verb itself (semantic features) will tell of its future meaning or the adverbial modifier, and not so much the context. Preterit singular: 1. DRF 2. DRFE 3. DRF LUFODE LUFODEST LUFODE

first and third person are the same, in the weak verb dental suffix is common to all three persons what changes is the inflection for person

plural:

DRIFON

LUFODON

all the persons in the plural are the same

* OE recognizes the category of mood in three forms : indicative, imperative and subjunctive. Endings for the present indicative and present subjunctive were the same: - in singular and -EN in plural. The use of subjunctive is not fully developed and frequently within the

same text subjunctive and indicative forms were used without any particular rule. Subjunctive we know from MnE was developing throughout the ME period, while the present subjunctive used E in singular and EN in the plural added to the stem: Present subjunctive singular: DRVE plural: DRVEN LUFIE LUFIEN

Preterit subjunctive is formed by adding the same suffixes, only to preterit stems: singular DRIVE DREN LUFODE LUFODON

The imperative mood was used for commands and requests. There was the verb HTAN, 7 which meant to call and to command (to do sth = causative use of HAVE). *OE verbs were used as finite and non-finite and the only fully recognizes non-finite forms were infinitive and participle. Gerund didnt existed in OE! In order to denote aspect prefix GE- was used to mark the past participle, while forming of present participle a particular ending was needed this was ENDE (typical of West Saxon dialect, which had variations in North UNDE and in South INDE). The function of the present participle was not fully developed it was more of nominal and adjectival function. Past participle was used adjectively more than verbally. It appeared in constructions resembling passive voice and it could be used with HATAN, combined with past and present indicative of the verb BON (=to be) forming passive construction in MnE. Past participles: GE-DRIFEN, GE-LUFOD Present participle: DRFENDE, LUFIENDE The infinitive present was inflected with AN apart of two verbs such as BON and SON, 3. SON used to be SEAGAN after which the infinitive stem shortened due to assimilation, syncopation and phonological changes. Another way of marking infinitive apart from the inflection AN was the preposition T: T HTEN(N)E this was a typical infinitive inflection used in combination with the preposition T, in order to express intention. These two infinitives (uninflected and inflected) were merged into a single one by the end of fourteen century. Use of prepositions OE prepositions mostly corresponded MnE prepositions. In OE preposition with had a different meaning (=against & long), a Germanic one. Wi s = By the sea. For the meaning of with Germanic MID was used.
present participle used adjectively

Mid forwandigendre sprce, dat.sg.

dat. sg. strong declension

She spoke to him with hesitation.

SPRC, f. (=speech) FORWANDIAN, 2 (=to hesitate out of respect) OE prepositions required different position in a sentence in order to change the meaning of it! Non-finite form of infinitive present the verb WRTAN, 1 was alternatively referred to as T WRTENNE when used in a function of intention (=in order to write). Synonymous verb to this was SCRFAN showing strong Latin influence with its function and meaning later reduced. Gerund Gerund DID NOT EXIST in OE. It developed in the following period, and what was used as gerund were suffixes ing and ung which were added to verbal stems to form abstract nouns. This was a fully productive process. LEORNIAN, 2 (=to learn) LEORNUNGE abstract n. of feminine gender, n. formed in this way are always of f. gender
dat. ending (most frequent use)

They developed a verbal noun category which developed into a non-finite form with verbal qualities and it was fully developed by the end of 14th century.

OE Syntax
MnE and OE are very different in syntactic terms and there are more syntactic features characteristic of OE which sound peculiar in MnE. The cases in OE were fully developed then even more than they are today. The absence of reflexive pronouns marked OE period, so that the absence of categories was a major distinction. OE lacked tenses that MnE now has, so that mood, aspect and tense of verbs differ in a great deal (unmarked voice, marked aspect). This major difference is the language type, OE was synthetic type and ME and MnE are analytic. Because of this syntactic difference the other characteristics were very marked: 1. Double and multiple use of negation in one single sentence (not possible in ME or MnE) NE is the most frequent negative particle usually placed before a verb, but it can also be added to adverbs: Ne can ic nht singan. I cannot sing. NE + (=always) = N (=never) NHT is one of the negative forms that produced not in MnE

WS NE + IS NS (wasnt / isnt)

if we use it we have an adverb to show which tense it is

NE + HABBAN, 3 = NABBAN (=to lack or not to have) NE + HFDE = NFDE (=he didnt have) 2. free order of elements in OE sentence (not fixed as in MnE) Very frequently the verb occupied the initial position particularly in the story telling for an emphasis or an effect of surprise. Subject and object always remained what they were, they were never confused because of the case inflections although they could have different positions. It is very important to remember that syntactic relations in the OE sentence were indicated by inflections. The use of two tenses in OE simplified the form of interrogative and negative sentences. In both tenses interrogatives were formed by the inversion of subject and verb. Hwt hfst weorces? What do you do?

Types of sentences in OE are the same as in MnE (affirmative, negative & interrogative) and grammatically they are simplex, complex and compound of European origin. OE is not rich in all types. Most frequent are simple sentences. Complex and compound were found in manuscripts, their use was clumsy and difficult to follow with one important difference: the lack of relative pronouns and was the only declinable particle.

3. Correlation is typical of OE sentences especially of early stages of language development. It includes constant repetition of connectives at the beginning of clauses that form a complex sentence simple sentences chained one after another with conjunctions (=then), AND / OND and AC used between these series of sentences. s cyng t hrde, wendehine west Then the king heard that, then turned west Other striking differences between OE and MnE syntax is the omission of formal subject in sentences with impersonal verbs (Noran snwde = It snowed in the North) and the tendency to split up subjects, objects, genitive groups or adverbial phrases (Eower mod is awend, and eower andwilta = Your heart is changed and your face) .

WTAN, preterit present GE-WTAN, 6 LICIAN, II /likian/ GE-LICIAN

(=to know),

gives a different meaning to a verb with a sense of beginning an action

(=to like) (=to begin to like) (=to dislike)

changes the aspect so it has grammatical function

MIS-LICIAN BERAN, 4 GE-BERAN

neg. suffix that is still productive in MnE but in some verbs it is replaced with Lat. origin prefix dis-

(=to bear, carry) (=to bear a child)

introducing a new meaning

H
nom., pl. pronoun

sde
past, weak v, is long because of phonological change: sgde

his
gen., sg. pronoun

hlfode
dat. sg.

S+V+O

He

said to

his

lord

n
gen., sg. pers.pron. poss.adj.

gelymp
noun

rrece
verb, imperative

m.

S+O+V

Tell me (about) your trouble. RRECEAN, I (=to tell a story)