The difference between the strong and the weak declension of adjectives was not only formal but also semantic. Unlike a noun, an adjective did not belong to a certain type of declension. Most adjectives could be declined in both ways. The choice of the declension was determined by a number of factors: the syntactical function of the adjective, the degree of comparison and the presence of noun determiners. The adjective had a strong form when used predicatively and when used attributively without any determiners, e.g.:
?a menn sindon gode 'the men are good'
The weak form was employed when the adjective was preceded by a demonstrative pronoun or the Gen. case of personal pronouns.
Singular
Strong (pure a- and o-stems)
M N F
Weak
Nom. blind blind blind
Gen. blindes blindes blindre
Dat. blindum blindum blindre
Acc. blindne blind blinde
Instr. blinde blinde blindre
blinda blinde blinde
blindan blindan blindan
blindan blinde blindan
Plural
Nom. blinde blind blinda, -e
Gen. blindra blindra blindra
Dat. blindum blindum blindum
Acc. blinde blind blinda, -e
Instr. blindum blindum blindum
(NE blind)
All genders
blindan
blindra, -ena
blindum
Some adjectives, however, did not conform with these rules.
Lecture 4. OLD ENGLISH GRAMMAR
The OE verb was characterised by many peculiar features. Though the verb had few grammatical categories, its paradigm had a very complicated structure: verbs fell into numerous morphological classes and employed a variety of form-building means. All the forms of the verb were synthetic, as analytical forms were only beginning to appear. The non-finite forms had little in common with the finite forms but shared many features with the nominal parts of speech.
Finite forms regularly distinguished between two numbers: sg and pl. The homonymy of forms in the verb paradigm did not affect number distinctions: opposition through number was never neutralised.
The category of Person was made up of three forms: the 1st, the 2nd and the 3rd. Unlike number, person distinctions were neutralised in many positions. Person was consistently shown only in the Pres. Tense of the Ind. Mood 'In the Past Tense sg of the Ind. Mood the forms of the 1st and 3rd p. coincided and only the 2nd p. had a distinct form. Person was not distinguished in the pl; nor was it shown in the Subj. Mood.
The category of Mood was constituted by the Indicative, Imperative and Subjunctive. There were a few homonymous forms, which eliminated the distinction between the moods: Subj. did not differ from the Ind. in the 1st p. sg Pres. Tense -- here, deme -- and in the 1st and 3rd p. in the Past. The coincidence of the Imper. and Ind. Moods is seen in the pl -- locia?, dema?.
The category of Tense in OE consisted of two categorial forms, Pres. and Past. The tenses were formally distinguished by all the verbs in the Ind. and Subj. Moods, there being practically no instances of neutralisation of the tense opposition.
The use of the Subj. Mood in OE was in many respects different from its use in later ages. Subj. forms conveyed a very general meaning of unreality or supposition. In addition to its use in conditional sentences and other volitional, conjectural and hypothetical contexts Subj. was common in other types of construction: in clauses of time, clauses of result and in clauses presenting reported speech, e.g.:
?a giet he ascode hw?t heora cyning haten w?re, and him man andswarode and cw?? ??t he ?lle haten w?re. 'and yet he asked what their king was called, and they answered and said that he was called ?lle'. In presenting indirect speech usage was variable: Ind. forms occurred by the side of Subj.
Conjugation of Verbs in Old English
Strong
Infinitive
NE
findan
find
beran
bear
deman deem
locian
look
Present tense
fint finda?
bere bir(e)st bir(e)? bera?
deme demst dem? dema?
loca? locia?
Subjunctive Singular Subjunctive Plural
finde finden
bere beren
deme demen
locien
Imperative Singular
ber
dem
loca
Participle I
finda? findende
bera? berende
dema? demend
locia? lociende
Past Singular 1st
fond
b?r
demde
locode
2nd
funde
b?re
demdest
locodest
3rd
fundon
b?ron
demdon
locodon
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