Old English grammar

The grammar of Old English clearly shows the relationship with the other West Germanic languages ​​and is therefore more similar to that of German than that of the New English spoken today . Old English is an inflectional language: nouns and adjectives are divided into four cases (cases) nominative , genitive , accusative and dative and verbs (in the singular) three people. A fifth case (the instrumental ) has also been preserved in remnants: The old English adverb hwȳ 'why' (ne. Why ) is an old instrumental of the pronoun hwæt 'what?'. The sentence order was even more free than in today's English, as it is in German today.

The cases

Old English knows five cases, even if the instrumental only exists in remnants as a separate form. The use of the case shows numerous parallels to German.

Nominative

The nominative is used as in German to refer to the subject of a sentence, an addressee (z. B. "Look, my king !") Or a Prädikativums (z. B. "He is a teacher ").

Genitive

The genitive suppressed as in English a possession ratio ( possessive ) such. B. in Hæstenes wif ( Hæsten's wife ). The partitive genitive, which expresses the relationship of a share, is also common in Old English ( an hiora , English one of them ). Finally, the genitive is also used to describe properties such as in swete hunig and wysumes swæcces (German about sweet honey and delicious taste ). In addition, the genitive is also used as an object case after some verbs and adjectives, similar to the way there are some verbs in German that have their objects in the genitive (e.g. need rest with rest in the genitive).

dative

In Old English and German, the dative serves as an object case for indirect objects such as in on he hi him eft ageaf (German and he then returned them to him ). Furthermore, the dative can express possession ( him on heafod , dt. On his head ). The dative can also be used adverbially ( hwilum , dt. Temporarily ) and as an object case after some adjectives.

accusative

In the accusative case (as in German ) there is the direct object of transitive verbs .

Instrumental

The instrumental was still an independent case in West Germanic, but is only used in a few cases in Old English with nouns and otherwise replaced by the dative. The instrumental remains in the declination of adjectives and pronouns. Similar to Latin, the instrumental in Old English expresses the manner, e.g. B. hlutre mode ( Eng . With pure intentions ), accompaniment and time.

Syllable length

In Old English grammar, syllable length plays a major role, as a number of inflected endings after long stem syllables are omitted. Long are syllables that contain a long vowel or diphthong, or contain a short vowel or diphthong, but end in at least one consonant (in the nominative singular of nouns and adjectives two consonants, since the second part of the ending in inflection and is no longer part of the stem syllable).

Nouns

Old English nouns are divided into several declension classes. A rough distinction is made between the strong and the weak declination, which can be subdivided even more finely. Small residual classes are added to these two declination classes, such as B. the kinship terms.

On case, the Old English knew nominative , genitive , dative and accusative as well as the instrumental . The fifth case, the instrumental , was still separated from the dative in nouns at the beginning of the Old English period. The nouns of the a-declension (e.g. stān ) ended in -um in the dative , while in the instrumental they ended in -i or later in -y . Instead of the forms of the instrumental, the forms of the dative were later used in Old English, which is why the forms of the instrumental are no longer listed separately in most introductions and grammars of English.

In New English , only the nominative accusative singular (ae. Stān , ne. Stone ), the nominative accusative plural (ae. Stānas , ne. Stones ) and, with some nouns, the genitive singular have been retained. With a few exceptions such as child-children, goose-geese, ox-oxen , nothing has been preserved from a subdivision into different declension classes .

A distinction is made between three grammatical genders , the masculine, the feminine and the neuter. Numbers are differentiated in the noun two, the singular and the plural. In the personal pronouns there was also a two number ( dual ) ( wit 1st person dual “we both”, git 2nd person dual, “both of you”).

The strong declension - a- and ō-declension

The a-declination includes masculine and neuter and is comparable to the Latin o-declination (e.g. Latin dominus "Herr"). The ō-declension, on the other hand, contains feminine and is comparable to the Latin ā-declension (e.g. Latin domina "mistress"). A and ō declination are subdivided even more finely into a ja and wa declination, or a jō and wō declination. However, these are dealt with separately below.

The typical endings for the a and ō declination in the West Saxon dialect of Old English are as follows:

The endings of the strong declination
case	Masculine		neuter				Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Short		Long		Short		Long
			Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-	-as	-	-u	-	-	-u	-a	-	-a
Genitive	-it	-a	-it	-a	-it	-a	-e	-a	-e	-a
dative	-e	-around	-e	-around	-e	-around	-e	-around	-e	-around
accusative	-	-as	-	-u	-	-	-e	-a, -e	-e	-a, -e

The strong declination
case	Masculine stān stone		neuter				Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Short scip ship		Long word word		Brief ðegu reception		Long sorg concern
			Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	stān	stānas	scip	scipu	word	word	ðegu	ðega	care	care
Genitive	stanes	stāna	scipes	scipa	wordes	worda	ðege	ðega	worry	care
dative	stans	stānum	scipe	scipum	been	wordum	ðege	ðegum	worry	sorghum
accusative	stān	stānas	scip	scipu	word	word	ðege	ðega / ðege	worry	care / concern

Nouns with a vowel change æ to a

Some nouns in the a-declension change the vowelism between singular and plural. These words have a æ as a vowel in the singular , which changes to a in the plural (or before a , o , u ).

dæg day m.
case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dæg	dagas
Genitive	dæges	daga
dative	dæge	dagum
accusative	dæg	dagas

Nouns with nominative singular ending on -h

Nouns that end with -h in the nominative singular lose it before an ending that begins with a vowel. If the vowel of the stem syllable is short, it may lengthen (cf. Nom. Sg .: mearh → Gen. Sg. Mēares). In addition, vowels are contracted if the -h is immediately preceded by a vowel, so that the genitive singular for scōh “shoe” is not * scōes , but scōs .

Nouns ending in -h
case	Masculine mearh horse		Neuter feorh life		Masculine scōh shoe
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mearh	mēaras	feorh	feorh	scōh	scos
Genitive	mēares	mēara	fēores	fēora	scos	scōna
dative	mēare	mēarum	fēore	fēorum	scō	scōm
accusative	mearh	mēaras	feorh	feorh	scōh	scos

Strong declension nouns with -e
case	Masculine end end		Neuter stȳle steel
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	The End	endas	stȳle	stȳlu
Genitive	end	enda	stȳles	stȳla
dative	The End	endum	stȳle	stȳlum
accusative	The End	endas	stȳle	stȳlu

Two-syllable nouns

angel angel m.
case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	Angel	englas
Genitive	engles	engla
dative	engle	English
accusative	Angel	englas

Nouns with -w or -ġ before the ending

Nouns with -w or -ġ before the ending
case	Neuter smeoru fat		Feminine sinu tendon		Feminine lǣs willow
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	smeoru	smeoru	sinu	sinwa	lǣs	lǣswa
accusative	smeoru	smeoru	sinwe	sinwa, -e	lǣswe	lǣswa, -e
Genitive	smeorwes	smeorwa	sinwe	sinwa	lǣswe	lǣswa
dative	smeorwe	smeorwum	sinwe	sinwum	lǣswe	lǣswum

The weak declination

The typical endings of the weak declination are as follows:

The endings of the weak declination
case	Masculine		neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-a	-on	-e	-on	-e	-on
Genitive	-on	-ena	-on	-ena	-on	-ena
dative	-on	-around	-on	-around	-on	-around
accusative	-on	-on	-e	-on	-on	-on

The weak declination
case	Masculine nama name		Neuter ēage eye		Feminine tunge tongue
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nama	naman	ēage	ēagan	tunge	tungan
Genitive	naman	namena	ēagan	ēagena	tungan	tungena
dative	naman	namum	ēagan	ēagum	tungan	tungum
accusative	naman	naman	ēage	ēagan	tungan	tungan

Further declination classes

Athematic nouns

Athematic nouns
case	Masculine fōt foot		Feminine hnutu nut		Feminine bōc book
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fōt	fēt	hnutu	hnyte	bōc	bēc
Genitive	fōtes	fōta	hnyte, hnute	hnuta	bēc, bōce	bōca
dative	fōte	fōtum	hnyte, hnute	hnutum	bēc, bōc	bōcum
accusative	fōt	fēt	hnutu	hnyte	bōc	bēc

This class also includes (the nominative singular and plural are given):

• Masculine: tōþ, tēþ tooth ; man, man man ; frēond, frīend friend ; fēond, fīend enemy
• Feminine: studu, styde post ; hnitu, hnite; āc, ǣc oak ; gāt, gǣt goat (nbock) ; brōc, brēc; gōs, gēs goose ; castle, byrg city ; dung, ding prison ; turf, tyrf lawn ; grūt, grȳt; lūs, lȳs louse ; mūs, mȳs mouse ; no, no night
• Feminine with loss of the -h in some forms: furh, fyrh furrow ; sulh, sylh plow ; þrūh, þrȳh; wlōh, wlēh
• Feminine with contracted ending: cū, cȳ cow

u declination

The u declination
case	Masculine sunu son		Masculine field field
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sunu	suna	field	felda
Genitive	suna	suna	felda	felda
dative	suna	sunum	felda	fieldum
accusative	sunu	suna	field	felda

Family names

Relationships
case	Masculine fæder 'father'		Masculine brōðor 'brother'		Feminine mōdor 'mother'		Feminine sweostor 'sister'		Feminine dohtor 'daughter'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fæder	fæd (e) ras	brōðor	(ge) brōðor	mōdor	mōdra / mōdru	sweostor	(ge) sweostor, -tru, -tra	dohtor	dohtor
Genitive	fæder	fæd (e) ra	brōðor	(ge) brōðra	mōdor	mōdra	sweostor	(ge) sweostra	dohtor	dohtra
dative	fæder	fæderum	brēðer	(ge) brōðrum	mēder	mōdrum	sweostor	(ge) sweostrum	dehter	dohtrum
accusative	fæder	fæd (e) ras	brōðor	(ge) brōðor	mōdor	mōdra / mōdru	sweostor	(ge) sweostor, -tru, -tra	dohtor	dohtor

Neutra with -r- in the plural

lamb lamb n.
case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lamb	lambru
Genitive	lambes	lambra
dative	lambe	lambrum
accusative	lamb	lambru

pronoun

Most pronouns are inflected after case, number, and gender; in the plural, most pronouns have only one form for all genders. Also, some Old English pronouns (the asexual 1st and 2nd person personal pronouns, which can also be used reflexively) have retained the dual (which specifically refers to groups of two people or things, for example, “we two,” “you two "Or" the two "). Although it was rather uncommon, it remained.

Personal pronouns

First person
case	Singular	dual	Plural
Nominative	ic, īc	wit	wē
Genitive	mīn	uncer	ūser, ūre
dative	mē	unc	ūs
accusative	mec, mē	uncit, unc	ūsic, ūs

Second person
case	Singular	dual	Plural
Nominative	þū	git	gē
Genitive	þīn	incer	ēower
dative	þē	inc	ēow
accusative	þēc, þē	incit, inc	ēowic, ēow

Third person
case	Singular			Plural
	Mask.	Neut.	Fem.
Nominative	hē	hit	hēo	hiē m. , hēo f.
Genitive	his	his	hire	here m. , heora f.
dative	him	him	hire	him
accusative	into	hit	hīe	hiē m. , hīo f.

Many of the forms shown above have strong similarities with their modern English equivalents: The genitive form ēower became “your”, ūre became “our” and mīn became “mine”.

Verbs

The verbs are basically divided into two groups, the strong verbs and the weak verbs . The strong verbs form the tense past tense and the past participle by changing the stem vowel (so-called ablaut ), the weak verbs by adding a dental element. Further breakdowns are made within these groups. For example, the strong verbs are divided into seven classes, so-called ablaut series, while the weak verbs are classified into three groups according to their derivative suffix.

Regarding the tenses, it should be said that Old English, like Old High German , did not yet have an independent future tense ; there was only the past tense for the past and the present tense, which was used equally for the present and future.

Strong verbs

The strong verbs form their past tense and their past participle with the help of the Ablauts inherited from Indo-European . There are four stems in the verbal area, on which the respective tenses are based. The first stem is used to form the present tense paradigm , as well as the infinitive and the present participle (e.g. rīdan "ride"). The second stem form exclusively forms the 1st and 3rd person simple past indicative (e.g. iċ rād "I rode"), while the third stem forms the basis of the remaining preterital forms (e.g. wē ridon "we rode") . The past participle is finally formed by the fourth stem form (e.g. (ġe-) riden "ridden").

The prefix ġe - (rarely ġi -) is used in Old English to add a perfecting meaning to verbs. It usually occurs in the past participle of verbs that have no other prefix. However, with the past participle in particular, it is no longer possible to clearly decide whether diente - is still used as a meaningful prefix or is more of a flexion marker .

Also, the German knows this tense formation using four primary forms, although three tribes are with the High German strong verbs usually only present because the Präteritalformen were often compensated (for example, tie -. I tied - we tied - tied). The original four-part division can still be recognized in the verb will : will - I became (archaic for: I became) - we became - became.

Ablautreihen

Depending on the vowel alternance, the strong verbs are divided into seven ablaut classes.

Stem formation in strong verbs
class	1. Root form	2. Root form	3. Root form	4. Root form
I.	ī	-	i	i
II	ēo, ū	ēa	u	O
III	Fine subdivision (explanation: see below)
IIIa	e	æ	u	O
IIIb	eo	ea	u	O
IIIc	e	ea	u	O
IIId	i	a	u	u
IIIe	ie	ea	u	O
IV	e	æ	ǣ	O
V	e	æ	ǣ	e
VI	a	O	O	a
VII	-	ē, ēo	ē, ēo	-

The following is a listing of the consonantic environment of the changing vowel.

• First class: 1 consonant follows the vowel
• Second class: 1 consonant follows the vowel
• Third class: There are differences depending on the following consonants:
  • a: 2 consonants (except liquid (l or r) and nasal + cons.) follow the vowel
  • b: r or h + consonant follow the vowel
  • c: l + consonant follows the vowel
  • d: Nasal + consonant follows the vowel
  • e: Palatal consonant (ġ, ċ, sc) precedes the vowel; 2 consonants follow the vowel
• Fourth grade: 1 liquid or nasal follows the vowel
• Fifth grade: 1 consonant ( fricative or plosive ) follows the vowel
• Sixth grade: 1 consonant follows the vowel
• Seventh grade: irregular; the vowel of the 1st and 4th stem form can be different, only the 2nd and 3rd stem form have ē or ēo as a vowel; formerly reduplicating verbs

However, there may be exceptions to this list. The form murnan "mourn, complain" is to be assigned to the third ablaut row , although it does not have an eo in the 1st root form. Such exceptions are not considered here. In addition, in the 2nd and 3rd person singular present indicative there may be a vowel alternation due to umlaut (e.g. helpan - þū hilpst - see: German: help - you help), but this is not a form of ablaute .

The conjugation of strong verbs should be illustrated by the following example:

conjugation	pronoun	Class I 'ride'	Class II 'freeze'	Class III 'help'	Class IV 'wear'	Class V 'sleep'	Class VI 'sing'	Class VII 'are called'
Infinitive		rīdan	frēosan	helpan	beran	swefan	gallantly	wears
		tō rīdenne	tō frēosenne	tō helpenne	to run	to swefenne	tō galenne	tō hātenne
Present indicative
	ic	rīde	frēose	help	re	swefe	Gael	had
	þū	rītst	frīest	help	bursts	swifst	gælst	have
	hē / hit / hēo	ride	frīest	help	birþ	swifþ	gælþ	hǣtt
	wē / gē / hīe	rīdaþ	frēosaþ	helpaþ	advised	swefaþ	galaþ	hātaþ
Past tense indicative	ic	wheel	frēas	healp	bear	swæf	gōl	hēt
	þū	ride	frure	hulp	bǣre	swǣfe	gole	hēte
	hē / hit / hēo	wheel	frēas	healp	bear	swæf	gōl	hēt
	wē / gē / hīe	ridon	fruron	hulpon	buron	swǣfon	gōlon	hēton
Present subjunctive	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	rīde	frēose	help	re	swefe	Gael	had
	wē / gē / hīe	rīden	frēosen	help	berries	sweeten	galen	had
Past tense subjunctive	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	ride	frure	hulp	bǣre	swǣfe	gole	hēte
	wē / gē / hīe	ride	fruren	howl	bren	swǣfen	gol	would have
imperative	Singular	rīd!	frēos!	help!	about!	swef!	gal!	Has!
	Plural	rīdaþ!	frēosaþ!	helpaþ!	beraþ!	swefaþ!	galaþ!	hātaþ!
Present participle		rīdende	freezing	help end	berende	sweeping	galende	having
past participle		(ġe) ride	(frozen	(ġe) pick up	(born	(ġe) swefen	(ġe) galen	(ġe) to have

Remarks:

• With forms like (þū) rītst , (hē) rītt , (hē) frīest , (hē) hǣtt , assimilations occur (e.g. -dst becomes -tst; -sþ becomes -st; -tþ becomes - tt).
• In the 2nd and 3rd person singular present indicative i-umlaut occurs (e> i, ēo> īe etc.).
• In the verb frēosan "freeze" there is a grammatical change between the 1st, 2nd and 3rd, 4th stem form (-s- as opposed to -r-).

Weak verbs

The following table shows the conjugation of the verbs Swebban (to bring to sleep) (class I), Hǣlan (to heal) (class I) and Sīðian (to travel) (class II).

conjugation	pronoun	'put to sleep'	'heal'	'to travel'
Infinitive		swebban	hǣlan	sīðian
		to swebbanne	tō hǣlanne	tō sīðianne
Present indicative
	ic	swebbe	hell	sīðie
	þū	swefest	you think	sīðast
	hē / hit / hēo	swefeþ	hǣlþ	sīðað
	wē / gē / hīe	swebbaþ	hǣlaþ	sīðiað
Past tense indicative	ic	swefede	hǣlde	sīðode
	þū	swefedest	hldest	sīðodest
	hē / hit / hēo	swefede	hell	sīðode
	wē / gē / hīe	swefedon	hǣlon	sīðodon
Present subjunctive	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	swebbe	hell	sīðie
	wē / gē / hīe	swebben	to hide	sīðien
Past tense subjunctive	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	swefede	hǣlde	sīðode
	wē / gē / hīe	swefeden	hlden	sīðoden
imperative	Singular	swefe	hǣl	sīða
	Plural	swebbaþ	hǣlaþ	sīðiað
Present participle		sweeping	covering	sīðiende
Past participle		swefed	hǣled	sīðod

Preteritopresentia

The past tense are a class of verbs that form their present tense like a strong past tense and the past tense like weak verbs. These verbs were created through the optional use of the past tense, which was related to the present or future. For example, witan (to know) comes from a verb that originally meant "to have seen" (the Latin verb videre (to see) comes from the same root). The present tense is formed like the original past tense. For this reason, the first person singular and the third person singular are identical in the present tense.

There are only a few preteritopresentia in Old English, and not all are documented in all forms.

conjugation	pronoun	'can, master something'	'can, like, have the opportunity to do something'	'should'	'knowledge'	'have to be guilty'	'use'	'dare'	'remember, mean'	'need, may'	'have to'
infinitive		cunnan	magan	sculan	witan	āgan	dugan	durran	munan		mōtan
Present indicative
	ic	cann	mæg	sceal	wāt	Ah	deah	dearr	man	þearf	mōt
	þū	canst	meaht	scealt	wāst	āhst		dearst	manst	þearft	must
	hē / hit / hēo	cann	mæg	sceal	wāt	Ah	deah	dearr	man	þearf	mōt
	wē / gē / hīe	cunnon	magon	sculon	witon	āgon	dugon	durron	munon	þurfon	mōton
Past tense indicative
	ic	cūðe	guessed	sceolde	know, know	āhte	didhte	there	mouth	þorfte	must
	þū	cūðest	meahtest	sceoldest	know, know	āhte	didhte	there	mouth	þorfte	must
	hē / hit / hēo	cūðe	guessed	sceolde	know, know	āhte	didhte	there	mouth	þorfte	must
	wē / gē / hīe	cūðon	meahton	sceoldon	wisson, wiston
Present subjunctive
	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	cunne	mæge	scule	wite	āge	dyge, duge	drought	myne, mune	þyrfe, þurfe	mōte
	wē / gē / hīe	cunnen	mægen	school	witaþ
Past tense subjunctive
	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	cūðe	guessed	sceolde	know, know
	wē / gē / hīe	cūðen	suspected	sceolden

Irregular verbs

There is also a further group of four irregular verbs, “want”, “do”, “go” and “be”, which have their own conjugation schemes that differ greatly from those of the other classes. This has to do with the fact that these verbs are the most commonly used.

Dōn 'do', gān 'go', and willan 'want' are conjugated as follows:

conjugation	pronoun	,to do'	,go'	,want'
infinitive	-	Don	gān	willan
Present indicative
	ic	do	gā	will
	þū	dēst	gst	wilt
	hē / hit / hēo	dēð	gǣð	wile
	wē / gē / hīe	dōð	gāð	willað
Past tense indicative
	ic / hē / hit / hēo	dyde	ēode	wolde
	þū	dydest	ēodest	woldest
	wē / gē / hīe	dydon	ēodon	woldon
Present subjunctive	(all people)	do	gā	will
Past tense subjunctive	(all people)	dyde	ēode	wolde
Present participle		dōnde	going end	willing
past participle		(ġe) dōn	gān	* sake

The suppletive copula verb "sein" is composed of three different roots:

conjugation	pronoun	sēon	bēon	wesan	* eran	German
infinitive	-	sēon	bēon	wesan	* eran	be
Present indicative
	ic	eom	bēo	what	-	am
	þū	-	are	wesest, know	eart	are
	hē / hit / hēo	is	bið	weseð, wist	-	is
	wē / gē / hīe	are (on)	bēoð	wesað	earon	are / are
Past tense indicative
	ic	-	-	wæs	-	was
	þū	-	-	would be	-	were
	hē / hit / hēo	-	-	wæs	-	was
	wē / gē / hīe	-	-	wǽron	-	were / were
Present subjunctive
	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	she	bēo	what	-	be / be
	wē / gē / hīe	sīen	bēon	being	-	be / be
Past tense subjunctive
	ic / þū / hē / hit / hēo	-	-	would be	-	would
	wē / gē / hīe	-	-	would be	-	would be
imperative
	(Singular)	sī	bēo	wes	-	be
	(Plural)	-	bēoð	wesað	-	are
Present participle		-	bēonde	present	-	being
past participle		-	ġebēon	-	-	been

The present tense forms of wesan are almost never used. The bēon forms are usually used to refer to the future. The New England verb be taking his present forms of Seon and * eran , its past forms of wesan its subjunctive in the present tense of beon , in the past by wesan , infinitive, imperative and participle of Beon.

Numerals

Old English uses the following basic and ordinal numbers:

	Base number	Atomic number
1	on	forma, formest (a), fyrmest (a), fyrest (a), ǣrest (a)
2	tū	ōþer, æfterra
3	þrēo	þridda
4th	fēower	fēorþa, fēowerþa
5	fīf	fīfta
6th	six (later form), siex	sixta, siexta
7th	seofon	seofoþa
8th	eahta	eahtoþa
9	nigon	nigoþa
10	tīen	tēoþa
11	endleofan, endlefan, enlefan	endleofta, endlefta, enlefta
12	twelf	twelfta
13	þrēotīene	þrēotēoþa
14th	fēowertīene	fēowertēoþa
15th	fīftīene	fīftēoþa
16	sixtīene	sixtēoþa, siextēoþa
17th	seofontīene	seofontēoþa
18th	eahtatīene	eahtatēoþa
19th	nigontīene	nigontēoþa
20th	twenty	twentigoþa / twēntigoþa
30th	þrītig	þrītigoþa
40	fēowertig	fēowertigoþa
50	fīftig	fīftigoþa
60	sixtig, siextig	sixtigoþa, siextigoþa
70	seofontig (hundseofontig)	seofontigoþa
80	eahtatig (dog eatable)	eahtatigoþa
90	nigontig (dog nigontig)	nigontigoþa
100	Hund, hundred, hundtēontig	hundtēontigoþa
200	tū dog
300	þrēo dog
1000	þūsend

Note: There are no separate forms for the ordinal numbers for hund , hundred (100) and þūsend (1000). Instead, paraphrases are used, e.g. B. sē ðē byð on ðām twām hundredum .

syntax

The sentence structure of Old English differs from the sentence structure of today's English mainly in that in Old English a much more free order of the parts of the sentence was possible. While in today's English the order of subject-verb-object is mandatory in main clauses, with a few exceptions, in Old English as in German z. B. the position of subject and object can be swapped, because appropriate case endings sufficiently indicate what is the subject and what is the object of the sentence:

Se dogca bāt þone guman ( Eng . The dog bites the man )

Þone guman bāt se dogca ( Eng . The dog bites the man )

Despite the possible freedom in the order of sentences, there is also a tendency in Old English how parts of sentences are arranged: As in German, Old English main clauses have a V2 position , while Old English subordinate clauses are verb-final like in German:

• Main clause with V2 position: Þā becōm hē tō Westseaxan ( Eng . Then he came to the West Saxons )
• Relative clause with the verb-final position: ... sumne dǣl þæs mēoses þe hēo mid beweaxen wæs ( Eng . A part of the moss with which it was overgrown )

The way in which Old English expresses negation is another characteristic of Old English, with which it differs from today's English and also from other Western European languages ​​such as German. In Old English, negated sentences are indicated by a negation particle ne in front of the verb, but other sentence constituents are often also negated, such as B. by using nān (dt. None ) in the following sentence:

þēr nān wīfman ǣr ne cōm ( Eng . where no woman had gone before )

The syntactic style in Old English texts is assessed differently by research: In older specialist literature it was assumed that Old English does not use very complex sentences composed of main and subordinate clauses ( hypotactic style), but rather strings together main clauses ( paratactic style), e.g. B. by using and , then or there . Furthermore, sentences in which a second sentence is added without a subject and without a conjunction are typical of Old English:

Þā cōmon þēofas eahta, woldon stelan þā māðmas (dt .: Then came eight thieves who wanted to steal the treasure )

Current research no longer speaks of a paratactic style, because adverbs like þā or þǣr that can introduce sentences do not have to be clearly translated as then and there , but can also be interpreted as subordinating conjunctions if and where . Overall, it is difficult to clearly describe the sentence structures of Old English using the categories of today's English or German, so that a clear characterization of Old English as paratactic or hypotactic must remain open.

literature

• Karl Brunner: Old English grammar. 3. Edition. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1965.
• Alistair Campbell: Old English Grammar. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1959, ISBN 0-19-811943-7 .
• Richard Hogg, Rhona Alcorn: An Introduction to Old English , 2nd edition. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-4238-0 .
• Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English , 6th Edition. Blackwell, Oxford 2001, ISBN 0-631-22636-2 .
• Wolfgang Obst, Florian Schleburg: Textbook of Old English . Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8253-1594-0 .

See also

• Old English language
• History of the English language

Web links

Wikipedia in Old English

• Gerhard Köbler: Old English dictionary

References and footnotes

1. ↑ Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English . 5th edition. Blackwell, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-16657-2 , pp. 105-106 .
2. ↑ Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English . 5th edition. Blackwell, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-16657-2 , pp. 106 .
3. ↑ Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English . 5th edition. Blackwell, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-16657-2 , pp. 106 .
4. ^ Joseph Wright, Elisabeth Mary Wright: Old English Grammar . Oxford University Press, London / New York / Toronto 1908, pp. 162 .
5. ^ Alistair Campbell: Old English Grammar . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1959, ISBN 0-19-811943-7 , pp. 223 f .
6. ^ Richard Hogg, Rhona Alcorn: An Introduction to Old English . 2nd Edition. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-4238-0 , pp. 73 .
7. ↑ Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English . 5th edition. Blackwell, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-16657-2 , pp. 17 .
8. ^ Karl Brunner: Old English grammar . Niemeyer, Tübingen 1965, p. 194 .
9. ↑ The ending - (e) na also occurs rarely from the weak declination; see. on this: Brunner, 1965, p. 206f. §252 note 4.
10. ^ Alistair Campbell: Old English Grammar . Oxford University Press, Oxford 1959, ISBN 0-19-811943-7 , pp. 224 f .
11. ↑ The nasal ending here comes from the weak declination. (see: Campbell, 1959, p. 225)
12. ↑ Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English . 5th edition. Blackwell, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-16657-2 , pp. 19-20 .
13. ↑ Bruce Mitchell, Fred C. Robinson: A Guide to Old English . 5th edition. Blackwell, Oxford 1996, ISBN 0-631-16657-2 , pp. 18 .
14. ↑ Wolfgang Obst, Florian Schleburg: Textbook of Old English . Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8253-1594-0 , p. 152 .
15. ^ Richard Hogg, Rhona Alcorn: An Introduction to Old English . 2nd Edition. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-4238-0 , pp. 107 .
16. ^ Karl Brunner: Old English grammar . 3. Edition. Niemeyer, Tübingen 1965, p. 257 .
17. ^ Richard Hogg, Rhona Alcorn: An Introduction to Old English . 2nd Edition. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-4238-0 , pp. 89 .
18. ^ Richard Hogg, Rhona Alcorn: An Introduction to Old English . 2nd Edition. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-4238-0 , pp. 90, 93 .
19. ↑ Wolfgang Obst, Florian Schleburg: Textbook of Old English . Winter, Heidelberg 2004, ISBN 3-8253-1594-0 , p. 232 .
20. ^ Richard Hogg, Rhona Alcorn: An Introduction to Old English . 2nd Edition. Edinburgh University Press, Edinburgh 2012, ISBN 978-0-7486-4238-0 , pp. 98 .
21. ^ Albert C. Baugh, Thomas Cable: A History of the English Language . 6th edition. Routledge, London / New York 2013, ISBN 978-0-415-65596-5 , pp. 63-65 .