Weak Verbs Overview

To recap what we've covered, weak verbs are the largest category of Old English verbs. They are considered grammatically weak as they form their preterite by adding a dental suffix ('d' or 't') to the stem of the word. Weak verbs are subdivided into three sub-classes depending on the ending of their infinitive.

Class I

Class I weak verbs have an infinitive ending in 'an' or 'rian'. When conjugated, the third-person present singular ends in 'þ', and the present plural ends in 'aþ', while the past is formed using 'd', or 't' to the end of the stem. Examine the below sentences, 'He commits crimes' and 'She saved his life'.

While the endings of Class I verbs are the same, there are slight modifications to the stem which occur depending on if the stem has a double consonant, a short vowel sound, or a long vowel sound. These are exemplified by fremman - to do, nerian - to save and hieran - to hear.

The changes in the stem can be summarised as follows:

• Verbs with a short vowel sound and a double consonant, like cnyssan or trymman, conjugate like fremman.
• Verbs which end in 'rian', like derian or werian, conjugate like nerian.
• Verbs with a long vowel and a single consonant, like deman or feran, conjugate like hieran.

It should be noted that verbs with a short vowel and two consonants which are not the same, such as sendan, conjugate like hieran, though the ‘dd’ which would appear in the preterite is simplified to 'd'. See A note on double d’s for more information.

Class II

Class II weak verbs have an infinitive ending in 'ian' (except when preceded by ‘r’ as 'rian' verbs are generally Class I, like nerian). There are three 'rian' verbs which conjugate like lufian instead of nerian. These are andswarian - to answer, gaderian - to gather, and timbrian - to build.

The main difference between Class I and Class II verbs are the present plurals end in 'iaþ' and the preterite suffix is preceded by an 'o'. Examine 'They reign forever' and 'He preached in Judea':

Examining the table below, you’ll notice the 'i' disappears in the 2nd and 3rd singular present, and all preterite forms. This is the same place where fremman drops its second 'm', nerian its 'i', and hieran its 'e'.

Class III

Class III weak verbs have an infinitive ending in 'an' and no vowel before the dental suffix. There are only four Class III verbs: 'habban - to have', 'libban - to live', 'secgan - to say' and 'hycgan - to think/intend'. How they conjugate is irregular so they just have to be learned individually. Two examples, 'They have much power' and 'She lived virtuously', are included below.

Understanding which suffix goes with which person, number or tense is vital for understanding which subject a verb is connected to in a sentence. Old English does not rely on word order as strictly as modern English, so the subject can come after the verb, or sometimes even be dropped from a long sentence. Always remember that in Old English, verbs agree with their subject, so even if a word comes slightly earlier or later in a sentence than you might expect, it can generally be paired to the correct noun by comparing the endings.

You can download a pdf of this module using the link below. The pdfs also contain a glossary of all verbs used in the module, as well as additional paradigms. Otherwise, feel free to continue on to the next module.