Introduction to Weak and Minor Nouns

Just like adjectives, nouns can be declined strong or weak but they have a third category: minor. Unlike adjectives, nouns never change group. Weak nouns are always weak, strong nouns are always strong, and minor nouns are always minor.

All nouns share the same demonstrative pronouns, regardless of if they are strong, weak, or minor. For example, examine the sentence, 'Þa huntan seah þa idesa ond þa cildru - The hunters saw the women and the children'. You'll notice the endings of all the nouns change, while the demonstratives stay the same.

Weak nouns are rarer than strong nouns. As you will see in the next module, there is almost no variation between the different declensions so it can be hard to identify the case and number of a weak noun.

Minor nouns are the least common of all nouns and come in four forms: the u-declension, the r-plurals, family nouns, and the i-mutation declension.

Starting with weak nouns, let's examine how these nouns decline and why they decline that way.