Old English Middle English Present Day English

4 types of verbs: strong, weak, preterit present and irregularTheir main Characteristics: •Weak verbs show a dental suffix in their past participle and preterit •Strong verbs form their preterit by changing their stem (7 classes)•Preterit show both (dental suffix + change in the stem)•There are only 4 irregular verbs: don, gan, beon, willan•Strong verbs had 4 stems: 1 for present i; 2 for preterite ,depending on person agreement , and 1 for past participle

Main differences:•many Strong verbs become weak verbs •French loans were conjugated as weak verbs:

E.g: Defend; conquer; enter; consume; consist•Scandinavian loans remained with their conjugational system (strong)ME conjugational system (Similar to OE)•Most suffix vowels are unstressed and written with «e» • Loss of final -n•Loss of final -e•Introduction of -ing (emerges in the South)•Grammaticalisation of lexical some verbs (Will)•Introduction of modals (shall, shul)

Strong vs weak regular vs irregular7 classes: can be divided phonetically (by their pronunciation)Conjugational system of irregular verbs in ModEVery few remains of the previous systems and they serve both regular and irregular verbs

-S for 3rd person singular-ing for present participle

Subjunctive and conditionals are expressed through the use of modals and auxiliaries.

Class I: Dwinan

Class II: Sucan / Leogan

Class III: Breidan / Helpan / Climban

Class IV: Scieran

Class V: Fretan / Licgan

Class VI: Acan / Scapan / Steppan / Wadan

Class VII: Bannan / Fealdan / Hatian / Wealcan

Class I: Dwinen

Class II: Suken / Lien

Class III: Breyden / Helpen / Climben

Class IV: Scieren

Class V: Freten / Lien

Class VI: Aken / Scapen / Steppen / Waden

Class VII: Bannen / Folden / Haten /Walken

Class I: Dwindle (disappear gradually)

Class II: Suck / Lie

Class III: Braid / Help / Climb

Class IV: Share

Class V: Fret (become uneasy) / Lie

Class VI: Ache / Shape / Step / Wade

Class VII: Ban / Fold / Hate / Walk

soþlice nu ic eow bodie mycelne gefean. se bið eallum folce. béon (S)(3p.sg.present) the future form is deduced by the context-bið – there wasn’t a determined form for future.

And þis tacen eow byð; Ge gemetað an cild hreglum bewunden.Métan (W) (3p.pl.past) find - gemetað The initial ‘ge-‘ reflected pastin OE, that’s why we find it in some past participle forms

Gode sy wuldor (…) on eorðan sybb mannum godes willan;willan (W) inflected infinitive-gerund wish – willan. It is relevant thechanged from a LEXICAL VERB to a FUNCTIONAL VERB

and geseon þæt word þe geworden is. þæt drihten us ætywde;weorðan (S) (past participle) become + beón (s.v.) (3p.sg.present)be -geworden is (passive) (The relevant here is just to show the structure ofpassive forms in OE to PDE. In OE it was become + beón, and now it is inthe other way round, to be + become)

(…)hig be þam worde þe him gesæd wæs be þam cildegesecgan (W) (past participle) tell + beón (s.v.) (3p.sg.past) be - gesædwæs Here we find an OE passive construction, where first comes thepast participle of the verb tell and then the verb be.

And ealle þa ðe gehyrdon wundredon be þam þe him þa hyrdas sædonhierdan (W)(past participle) hear – gehyrdon

Maria geheold ealle þas word on hyre heortan smeagende;sméagend (W noun) an examiner inquirer (dative). Interpreted as agerund, because noun forms were used as verbal forms in some cases –smeagende The endings -iende, -ande, -ende become a nominal forminto a verbal function –gerund-

The modern version:

Shall be Shall find

Was said: in ME we have already stated the PDE form for passives.Has/Had heard: we now have a Past/Present PerfectPondering: PDE form derived from ME ‘berende’.

For future form, which nowadays is more frequently used for requests, not for future predictions (for that, we use ‘will’, from ‘willan’)

The Transformation of Verbs from OE to ModE Andreychuck, MargaritaDhesi, CristinaMoreno, MarioEnglish has undergone many changes from OE to PDE e.g. from a semantically oriented language in OE to a syntactically oriented one in eModE. This project is aimed at

showing the changes which occurred in VERBAL SYSTEM: in particular the change from Strong to Weak verbs. First of all, we will show two hypotheses about WHY thishappened. In addition, we will see some examples of those transformations. Furthermore, we will present the characteristic from each period of the English verbs.

Both hypotheses might have taken place simultaneously –language change usually occurs

due to several causes

(…) lo soþli I euangelise to ȝou a gret ioȝe þat shall be to alle puple-Shall be: we can appreciate the introduction of some modal verbs as to givean aspectual reference to a verb.

& þis a tocne to ȝou, ȝee shul finden a ȝung childd wlappid wiþ cloþis, & (…) Shul finden: now it is used for future. Introduction of another modal verb toexpress future. Later on, instead of having two words for the same purpose,they lose ‘shul’ and keep ‘shall’, as seen in a previous example.

soþli þey seende knewen of þe wrd, þat was seid to þem of þis childWas seid: the position of the verbs is inverted, but it follows the samestructure (beón + past participle)

& alle men þat hadden herdd, wondreden, & of þese þingis þat weren seid (…)hadden herdd: hadden is a past form that indicates a perfect tense. Thus, itstarts the introduction of an auxiliar + past participle verb.

forsoþe Marie kepte alle þese wrdis, berende togidere in hir herte beren (process of full verbalization from OE noun to ME verb) (gerund) –berende

References: - BAUGH, A. C. & CABLE, T. (2002), A History of the English Language. 5th ed.,London (Routledge)- KRYGIER, M. (1994), The Disintegration of the English Strong Verbs System.Frankfurt am Main ( Lang)- Rleber, S. (2006) Strong verbs in Old and Middle English and irregular verbs in Modern English. A history of verb development and a comparison of classifications. Eberhard-Karls-Universität

Approximate Statistics for original strong verbs:Approximately 367 verbs in OEDuring ME the number decreases to less than 100The change slowed down during the 15th century likely because of the emergence of printingToday Over 50% of the original strong verbs have vanished