The definite articleOld English had inflected articles

Singular Masculine

Feminine Neuter

Nominative Sē Sē ðæt

Genitive ðæs ðære ðæs

Dative ðæm ðære ðæm

Accusative ðone ðā ðæt

Instrumental

ðy-ðon ðy-ðon

Plural All genders

Nominative ðā

Genitive ðāra

Dative ðæm

Accusative ðā

The definite article

The Personal pronounSingular 1st

person2nd person

3rd personHe

3rd personShe

3rd personIt

Nominative

ic ðū hē Hēo hit

Genitive mĪn ðĪm his hiere his

Dative mē ðē Him hiere him

Accusative

mē (mec)

ðē(ðec) hine hĪe hit

Dual We two You two

Nominative wit git

Genitive uncer incer

Dative unc inc

Accusative unc inc

Plural We You 3rd person (ellos-ellas)

Nominative

wit git hĪe

Genitive uncer incer hiera

Dative unc inc him

Accusative

unc inc hĪe

The verb• Old English had two simple tenses by

inflection:Present and past.

It recognized the indicative , subjunctive and imperative moods.

• Verbs were divided in strong and week:• A) Strong: they have the power to indicate a change of

tense by a modification of their root vowel.• Eg: SING - SANG - SUNG • In Old English the vowel of the past tense differed in

the first person , third person and second person singular and all the plurals had another vowel.

• In strong verbs we have four forms: infinitive , preterit singular (1st and 3rd person), preterit plural and past participle.

• B) Weak: They are affected by the addition of a dental or and extra syllable.

• Eg: Walk – walked – walked-

VERB INFINITIVE

PRETERITE SINGULAR1st & 3rd person

PRETERITE PLURAL

PAST PARTICIPLE

DRIVE drĪfan drāf drifon drifen

CHOOSE Cēosan cēas curon coren

HELP helpan healp hulpon holpen

BEAR beran bær bæron boren

SPEAK sprecan spræc spræcon sprecen

FARE, GO

faran fōr fōon faren

FALL feallan fēoll fēollon feallen

WEAK VERBS

* A large groups of verbs in Old English formed their past tense by adding :• -ede• - ode• -de

• TO PERFOM fremman

• Preterit 1st &3rd person fremede

• Past participle gefremed

The Resourcefulness ofThe Old English Vocabulary

• Language which lacked borrowings from French and Latin.

• Limited way to convey his meaning without specific vocabulary related to thoughts and feelings.

English MOOD= mental state* Old English mōd

Heart – mind- spirit – boldness – courage

* Adjective : mōdig

High-minded- spirited – bold– arrogant

• Adverb: mōdiglice

Boldy – proudly

Verb : mōdigian a) To bear oneself proudlyb) To be indignantc) To rage

New words can be perceived due to their relations with the root.

Mood mōd

Gemōd: disposed, minded

Mōdfull: haughty.

Mōdleas: spiritless

Combinations with other words was possible and it helped to intensify the meaning.

Mōdsefa, mōdgepoht, mōdhord: which means mind – thought – understanding.

Also adjectives were formed with these combinationsswĪmōd (great of soul ) swĪp = strong

Self-explaning compoundsThese compounds are made of two or more words whose meaning in combination is self-evident.

Leohtfæt lamp leoht= light - fæt= vessel

Medu-heall mead hall

Prefixes and suffixesAs Old English was a flexible language, new words could be formed with prefixes and suffixes.

• The use of prefixes helped to form new verbs

• EG. Sēttan ( to set) assetan ( to place) forsettan ( to obstruct)

besettan (to appoint)

Several words were formed with suffixes such as – ig ; -full; -lēas; -nes and –ung.