Strong Feminine Nouns

Feminine nouns are significantly different to both Masculine and Neuter nouns in how they decline and the demonstratrive pronouns they use. However, within their own category, the cases are very similar to each other. For example, the accusative, genitive and dative singular endings for Strong Feminine Nouns are 'e', and the nominative, accusative, and genitive plural endings are 'a'. All the nouns in the following sentences are feminine, 'seo cwen geaf þa giefe to þære idese - the queen gave the gift to the lady' and 'Þa cwena geaf þa giefa to þæm idesum - The queens gave the gifts to the ladies'. Examine each of their endings and note the differences between the singular and plural.

For the nouns which have a 'u' in the nominative singular, remember to drop the 'u' when you are adding other suffixes. For example, in the plural, giefu ends in 'a' becoming giefa.

In the below table you will find the declensions for the nouns 'cwen - queen', 'giefu - gift', 'lufu - love', 'ceaster - city' and 'ides - lady'. Use the table to help you complete the questions below. Once you are feeling confident, you can hide the table by pressing the orange 'Hide Table' button.