Old English morphology

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The morphology of the Old English language is quite different from that of Modern English, predominantly by being much more highly inflected. It more closely resembles modern German, which has over the centuries been more conservative than English.

Contents 1 Verbs 1.1 Strong verbs 1.2 Weak verbs 1.3 Preterite-present verbs 1.4 Anomalous verbs 2 Nouns 2.1 Strong nouns 2.2 Weak nouns 2.3 Irregular strong nouns 2.4 Nouns of relationship 3 Adjectives 4 Determiners 5 Pronouns 6 Personal pronouns 7 Prepositions 8 See also

[edit] Verbs

Verbs in Old English are divided into strong or weak verbs. For a fuller discussion of these, see Germanic weak verb and Germanic strong verb.

[edit] Strong verbs

Strong verbs use the Germanic form of conjugation (known as Ablaut). In this form of conjugation, the stem of the word changes to indicate the tense. Verbs like this persist in modern English, for example "sing, sang, sung" is a strong verb, as are swim/swam/swum and choose/chose/chosen. The root portion of the word changes rather than its ending. In Old English, there were seven major classes of strong verb; each class has its own pattern of stem changes. Learning these is a challenge for students of the language.

The classes had the following distinguishing features to their infinitive stems:

1. ī + 1 consonant.
2. ēo or ū + 1 consonant.
3. Originally e + 2 consonants (This was no longer the case by the time of written Old English).
4. e + 1 consonant (usually l or r, plus the verb brecan 'to break').
5. e + 1 consonant (usually a stop or a fricative).
6. a + 1 consonant.
7. No specific rule – first and second have identical stems (ē or ēo), and the infinitive and the past participle also have the same stem.

Stem Changes in Strong Verbs
Class	Infinitive	First Preterite	Second Preterite	Past Participle
I	ī	ā	i	i
II	ēo or ū	ēa	u	o
III	see table below
IV	e	æ	ǣ	o
V	e	æ	ǣ	e
VI	a	ō	ō	a
VII	–	ē or ēo	ē or ēo	–

The first preterite stem is used in the preterite tense, for the first and third persons singular. The second preterite stem is used for second person singular, and all persons in the plural (as well as the preterite subjunctive). Strong verbs also exhibit i-mutation of the stem in the second and third persons singular in the present tense.

The third class went through so many sound changes that it was barely recognisable as a single class. The first was a process called 'breaking'. Before <h>, and <r> + another consonant, <æ> turned into <ea>, and <e> to <eo>. Also, before <l> + another consonant, the same happened to <æ>, but <e> remained unchanged (except before combination <lh>).

The second sound-change to affect it was the influence of palatal sounds <g>, <c>, and <sc>. These turned anteceding <e> and <æ> to <ie> and <ea>, respectively.

The third sound change turned <e> to <i>, <æ> to <a>, and <o> to <u> before nasals.

Altogether, this split the third class into five sub-classes:

1. e + two consonants (apart from clusters beginning with l).
2. eo + r or h + another consonant.
3. e + l + another consonant.
4. g, c, or sc + ie + two consonants.
5. i + nasal + another consonant.

Stem Changes in Class III
Sub-class	Infinitive	First Preterite	Second Preterite	Past Participle
a	e	æ	u	o
b	eo	ea	u	o
c	e	ea	u	o
d	ie	ea	u	o
e	i	a	u	u

Regular strong verbs were all conjugated roughly the same, with the main differences being in the stem vowel. Thus stelan 'to steal' represents the strong verb conjugation paradigm.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'steal'
Infinitives		stelan
		tō stelanne
Present Indicative
	ic	stele
	þū	stilst
	hē/hit/hēo	stilð
	wē/gē/hīe	stelaþ
Past Indicative	ic	stæl
	þū	stæle
	hē/hit/hēo	stæl
	wē/gē/hīe	stælon
Present Subjunctive	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	stele
	wē/gē/hīe	stelen
Past Subjunctive	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	stǣle
	wē/gē/hīe	stǣlen
Imperative	Singular	stel
	Plural	stelaþ
Present Participle		stelende
Past Participle		stolen

[edit] Weak verbs

Weak verbs are formed principally by adding endings to past and participles. An example is walk/walked or look/looked. There are only three different classes of weak verb.

Linguistic trends have greatly favoured weak verbs over the last 1200 years. In Old English, especially early on, strong verbs were the dominant form of verb. Today, there are many more weak verbs than strong verbs. Some verbs that were originally strong (for example help) have become weak; most foreign verbs are adopted as weak verbs; and when verbs are made from nouns (for example "to scroll" or "to water") the resulting verb is weak. Additionally, weak verbs are easier to conjugate, since there are fewer different classes of them. In combination, these factors have drastically reduced the number of strong verbs, so that in modern English weak verbs are the dominant form (although occasionally a weak verb may turn into a strong verb through the process of analogy, such as spit or sneak, where spat and snuck are analogical formations rather than survivals from Old English).

There are three major classes of weak verbs. The first class displays i-mutation in the root, and the second class none. There is also a third class explained below.

Class one verbs with short roots exhibit gemination of the final stem consonant in certain forms. With verbs in <r> this appears as <ri> or <rg>, where <i> and <g> are pronounced [j]. Geminated <f> appears as <bb>, and that of <g> appears as <cg>. Class one verbs may receive an epenthetic vowel before endings beginning in a consonant.

Where class one verbs have gemination, class two verbs have <i> or <ig>, which is a separate syllable pronounced [i]. All class two verbs have an epenthetic vowel, which appears as <a> or <o>.

In the following table, three verbs are conjugated. Swebban 'to put to sleep' is a class one verb exhibiting gemination and an epenthetic vowel. Hǣlan 'to heal' is a class one verb exhibiting neither gemination nor an epenthetic vowel. Sīðian 'to journey' is a class two verb.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'put to sleep'	'heal'	'journey'
Infinitives		swebban	hǣlan	sīðian
		tō swebbanne	tō hǣlanne	tō sīðianne
Present Indicative
	ic	swebbe	hǣle	sīðie
	þū	swefest	hǣlst	sīðast
	hē/hit/hēo	swefeþ	hǣlþ	sīðað
	wē/gē/hīe	swebbaþ	hǣlaþ	sīðiað
Past Indicative	ic	swefede	hǣlde	sīðode
	þū	swefedest	hǣldest	sīðodest
	hē/hit/hēo	swefede	hǣle	sīðode
	wē/gē/hīe	swefedon	hǣlon	sīðodon
Present Subjunctive	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	swebbe	hǣle	sīðie
	wē/gē/hīe	swebben	hǣlen	sīðien
Past Subjunctive	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	swefede	hǣlde	sīðode
	wē/gē/hīe	swefeden	hǣlden	sīðoden
Imperative	Singular	swefe	hǣl	sīða
	Plural	swebbaþ	hǣlaþ	sīðiað
Present Participle		swefende	hǣlende	sīðiende
Past Participle		swefed	hǣled	sīðod

During the Old English period the third class was significantly reduced; only four verbs belonged to this group: habban 'have', libban 'live', secgan 'say', and hycgan 'think'. Each of these verbs is distinctly irregular, though share some commonalities.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'have'	'live'	'say'	'think'
Infinitive		habban	libban, lifgan	secgan	hycgan
Present Indicative
	ic	hæbbe	libbe, lifge	secge	hycge
	þū	hæfst, hafast	lifast, leofast	segst, sagast	hygst, hogast
	hē/hit/hēo	hæfð, hafað	lifað, leofað	segð, sagað	hyg(e)d, hogað
	wē/gē/hīe	habbaþ	libbað	secgaþ	hycgað
Past Indicative	(all persons)	hæfde	lifde, leofode	sægde	hog(o)de, hygde
Present Subjunctive	(all persons)	hæbbe	libbe, lifge	secge	hycge
Past Subjunctive	(all persons)	hæfde	lifde, leofode	sægde	hog(o)de, hygde
Imperative	Singular	hafa	leofa	sæge, saga	hyge, hoga
	Plural	habbaþ	libbaþ, lifgaþ	secgaþ	hycgaþ
Present Participle		hæbbende	libbende, lifgende	secgende	hycgende
Past Participle		gehæfd	gelifd	gesægd	gehogod

[edit] Preterite-present verbs

The preterite-present verbs are a class of verbs which form the present like the past of a strong verb, and the past like the past of a weak verb. These verbs derive from perfect tense verbs that have accuired a present meaning. For example, witan, "to know" comes from verb which originally meant "to have seen." As a result of this history, the present singular is formed from the first preterite stem, and the present plural from the second preterite stem.

The following table conjugates the verbs cunnan from which we get "can" and "could," magan from which we get "may" and "might," and sculan from which we get "shall" and "should." (These are the only verbs which have survived in Modern English as preterite-present verbs.) Other Old English preterite-present verbs include āgan "own," dugan "avail," þurfan "need," unnan "grant" or "give", witan "know."

Conjugation	Pronoun	'know how to'	'be able to'	'be obliged to'
Infinitives		cunnan	magan	sculan
Present Indicative
	ic	cann	mæg	sceal
	þū	canst	meaht	scealt
	hē/hit/hēo	cann	mæg	sceal
	wē/gē/hīe	cunnon	magon	sculon
Past Indicative
	ic	cūðe	meahte	sceolde
	þū	cūðest	meahtest	sceoldest
	hē/hit/hēo	cūðe	meahte	sceolde
	wē/gē/hīe	cūðon	meahton	sceoldon
Present Subjunctive
	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	cunne	mæge	scule
	wē/gē/hīe	cunnen	mægen	sculen
Past Subjunctive
	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	cūðe	meahte	sceolde
	wē/gē/hīe	cūðen	meahten	sceolden

[edit] Anomalous verbs

Additionally there is a further group of four verbs which are anomalous, the verbs "will", "do", "go" and "be". These four have their own conjugation schemes which differ significantly from all the other classes of verb. This is not especially unusual: "will", "do", "go", and "be" are the most commonly used verbs in the language, and are very important to the meaning of the sentences they are used in. Idiosyncratic patterns of inflection are much more common with important items of vocabulary than with rarely-used ones.

Dōn 'to do', gān 'to go', and willan 'will' are conjugated alike:

Conjugation	Pronoun	'do'	'go'	'will'
Infinitive	–	dōn	gān	willan
Present Indicative
	ic	dō	gā	wille
	þū	dēst	gǣst	wilt
	hē/hit/hēo	dēð	gǣð	wile
	wē/gē/hīe	dōð	gāð	willað
Past Indicative
	ic/hē/hit/hēo	dyde	ēode	wolde
	þū	dydest	ēodest	woldest
	wē/gē/hīe	dydon	ēodon	woldon
Present Subjunctive	(all persons)	dō	gā	wille
Past Subjunctive	(all persons)	dyde	ēode	wolde
Present Participle		dōnde	–	willende
Past Participle		gedōn	gegān	–

The verb 'to be' is actually composed of three different stems:

Conjugation	Pronoun	sindon	bēon	wesan
Infinitive	–	sindon	bēon	wesan
Present Indicative
	ic	eom	bēo	wese
	þū	eart	bist	wesst
	hē/hit/hēo	is	bið	wes(t)
	wē/gē/hīe	sind(on)	bēoð	wesað
Past Indicative
	ic	–	–	wæs
	þū	–	–	wǣre
	hē/hit/hēo	–	–	wæs
	wē/gē/hīe	–	–	wǣron
Present Subjunctive
	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	sīe	bēo	wese
	wē/gē/hīe	sīen	bēon	wesen
Past Subjunctive
	ic/þū/hē/hit/hēo	–	–	wǣre
	wē/gē/hīe	–	–	wǣren
Imperative
	(singular)	–	bēo	wes
	(plural)	–	bēoð	wesað
Present Participle		–	bēonde	wesende
Past Participle		–	gebēon	–

The present forms of wesan are almost never used. The bēon forms are usually used in reference to future actions. The modern verb 'to be' takes its present indicative forms from sindon, its past indicative forms from wesan, its present subjunctive forms from bēon, its past subjunctive forms from wesan, and its imperative and particicple forms from bēon. (Interestingly, German uses a past participle based on its analog of wesan, namely gewesen -- which Old English does not even have.)

[edit] Nouns

Old English nouns were declined – that is, the ending of the noun changed to reflect its function in the sentence. There were five major cases: nominative, genitive, dative, accusative, and instrumental.

• The nominative case indicated the subject of the sentence, for example se cyning means 'the king'. It was also used for direct address. Adjectives in the predicate (qualifying a noun on the other side of 'to be') were also in the nominative.
• The accusative indicated the direct object of the sentence, for example Æþelbald lufode þone cyning means "Æþelbald loved the king", where Æþelbald is the subject and the king is the object. Already the accusative had begun to merge with the nominative; it was never distinguished in the plural, or in a neuter noun.
• The genitive case indicated possession, for example the þæs cyninges scip is "the ship of the king" or "the king's ship". It also indicated partitive nouns.
• The dative case indicated the indirect object of the sentence, for example hringas þæm cyninge means "rings for the king" or "rings to the king". There were also several verbs which took direct objects in the dative.
• The instrumental case indicated an instrument used to achieve something, for example lifde sweorde, "he lived by the sword", where sweorde is the instrumental form of sweord. During the Old English period, the instrumental was falling out of use, having largely merged with the dative. Only pronouns and strong adjectives retained separate forms for the instrumental.

There were different endings depending on whether the noun was in the singular (for example, hring 'one ring') or plural (for example, hringas 'many rings').

Nouns are also categorised by grammatical gender – masculine, feminine, or neuter. Masculine and neuter words generally share their endings. Feminine words have their own subset of endings. The plural does not distinguish between genders.

Furthermore, Old English nouns are divided as either strong or weak. Weak nouns have their own endings. In general, weak nouns are easier than strong nouns, since they had begun to lose their declensional system. However, there is a great deal of overlap between the various classes of noun: they are not totally distinct from one another.

[edit] Strong nouns

Here are the strong declensional endings and examples for each gender:

The Strong Noun Declension
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	–	-as	–	-u/–	-u/–	-a
Accusative	–	-as	–	-u/–	-e	-a, -e
Genitive	-es	-a	-es	-a	-e	-a
Dative	-e	-um	-e	-um	-e	-um

For the '-u/–' forms above, the '-u' is used with a root consisting of a single short syllable or ending in a long syllable followed by a short syllable, while roots ending in long a syllable or two short syllables are not inflected. (A long syllable contains a long vowel or is followed by two consonants. Note also that there are some exceptions; for example, feminine nouns ending in -þu such as strengþu 'strength'.)

Example of the Strong Noun Declension for each Gender
Case	Masculine engel 'angel'		Neuter scip 'ship'		Feminine sorg 'sorrow'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	engel	englas	scip	scipu	sorg	sorga
Accusative	engel	englas	scip	scipu	sorge	sorga/sorge
Genitive	engles	engla	scipes	scipa	sorge	sorga
Dative	engle	englum	scipe	scipum	sorge	sorgum

Note the syncopation of the second e in engel when an ending follows. This syncopation of the vowel in the second syllable occurs with two-syllable strong nouns which have a long vowel in the first syllable and a second syllable consisting of a short vowel and single consonant (for example, engel, wuldor 'glory', and hēafod 'head'). However, this syncopation is not always present, so forms such as engelas may be seen.

[edit] Weak nouns

Here are the weak declensional endings and examples for each gender:

The Weak Noun Declension
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-a	-an	-e	-an	-e	-an
Accusative	-an	-an	-e	-an	-an	-an
Genitive	-an	-ena	-an	-ena	-an	-ena
Dative	-an	-um	-an	-um	-an	-um

Example of the Weak Noun Declension for each Gender
Case	Masculine nama 'name'		Neuter ēage 'eye'		Feminine tunge 'tongue'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nama	naman	ēage	ēagan	tunge	tungan
Accusative	naman	naman	ēage	ēagan	tungan	tungan
Genitive	naman	namena	ēagan	ēagena	tungan	tungena
Dative	naman	namum	ēagan	ēagum	tungan	tungum

[edit] Irregular strong nouns

In addition, masculine and neuter nouns whose main vowel is short 'æ' and end with a single consonant change the vowel to 'a' in the plural:

Dæg 'day' m.
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dæg	dagas
Accusative	dæg	dagas
Genitive	dæges	daga
Dative	dæge	dagum

Some masculine and neuter nouns end in -e in their base form. These drop the -e and add normal endings. Note that neuter nouns in -e always have -u in the plural, even with a long vowel:

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -e
Case	Masculine ende 'end'		Neuter stȳle 'steel'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ende	endas	stȳle	stȳlu
Accusative	ende	endas	stȳle	stȳlu
Genitive	endes	enda	stȳles	stȳla
Dative	ende	endum	stȳle	stȳlum

Nouns ending in -h lose this when an ending is added, and lengthen the vowel in compensation (this can result in compression of the ending as well):

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -h
Case	Masculine mearh 'horse'		Neuter feorh 'life'		Masculine scōh 'shoe'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mearh	mēares	feorh	feorh	scōh	scōs
Accusative	mearh	mēares	feorh	feorh	scōh	scōs
Genitive	mēares	mēara	fēores	fēora	scōs	scōna
Dative	mēare	mēarum	fēores	fēorum	scō	scōm

Nouns whose stem ends in -w change this to -u or drop it in the nominative singular. (Note that this '-u/–' distinction depends on syllable weight, as for strong nouns, above.)

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -w
Case	Neuter smeoru 'grease'		Feminine sinu 'sinew'		Feminine lǣs 'pasture'
	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

A few nouns follow the -u declension, with an entirely different set of endings. The following examples are both masculine, although feminines also exist, with the same endings (for example duru 'door' and hand 'hand'). Note that the '-u/–' distinction in the singular depends on syllable weight, as for strong nouns, above.

Example of the -u Declension
Case	Masculine sunu 'son'		Masculine feld 'field'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sunu	suna	feld	felda
Accusative	sunu	suna	feld	felda
Genitive	suna	suna	felda	felda
Dative	suna	sunum	felda	feldum

There are also some nouns of the consonant declension, which show i-umlaut in some forms.

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -w
Case	Masculine fōt 'foot'		Feminine hnutu 'nut'		Feminine bōc 'book'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fōt	fēt	hnutu	hnyte	bōc	bēc
Accusative	fōt	fēt	hnutu	hnyte	bōc	bēc
Genitive	fōtes	fōta	hnyte, hnute	hnuta	bēc, bōce	bōca
Dative	fōte	fōtum	hnyte, hnute	hnutum	bēc, bōc	bōcum

Other such nouns include (with singular and plural nominative forms given):

Masculine: tōþ, tēþ 'tooth'; mann, menn 'man'; frēond, frīend 'friend'; fēond, fīend 'enemy' (cf. 'fiend')

Feminine: studu, styde 'post' (cf. 'stud'); hnitu, hnite 'nit'; āc, ǣc 'oak'; gāt, gǣt 'goat'; brōc, brēc 'leg covering' (cf. 'breeches'); gōs, gēs 'goose'; burg, byrg 'city' (cf. German cities in -burg); dung, ding 'prison' (cf. 'dungeon' by way of French and Frankish); turf, tyrf 'turf'; grūt, grȳt 'meal' (cf. 'grout'); lūs, lȳs 'louse'; mūs, mȳs 'mouse'; neaht, niht 'night' Feminine with loss of -h in some forms: furh, fyrh 'furrow' or 'fir'; sulh, sylh 'plough'; þrūh, þrȳh 'trough'; wlōh, wlēh 'fringe'. Feminine with compression of endings: cū, cȳ 'cow' (cf. dialectal plural 'kine')

[edit] Nouns of relationship

Nouns of Relationship
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
Accusative	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

Neuter nouns with -r in plural:

Lamb 'lamb' n.
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lamb	lambru
Accusative	lamb	lambru
Genitive	lambes	lambra
Dative	lambe	lambrum

Other such nouns: cealf, cealfru 'calf'; ǣg, ǣru 'egg' (the form 'egg' is a borrowing from Old Norse); cild 'child' has either the normal plural cild or cildru (cf. 'children', with -en from the weak nouns).

[edit] Adjectives

Adjectives in Old English are declined using the same categories as nouns: five cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and two numbers (singular, plural). In addition, they can be declined either strong or weak. The weak forms are used in the presence of a definite or possessive determiner, while the strong ones are used in other situations. The weak forms are identical to those for nouns, while the strong forms use a combination of noun and pronoun endings:

The Strong Adjective Declension
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	–	-e	–	-u/–	-u/–	-e, -a
Accusative	-ne	-e	–	-u/–	-e	-e, -a
Genitive	-es	-ra	-es	-ra	-re	-ra
Dative	-um	-um	-um	-um	-re	-um
Instrumental	-e	-um	-e	-um	-re	-um

For the '-u/–' forms above, the distinction is the same as for strong nouns.

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gōd 'good'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gōd	gōde	gōd	gōd	gōd	gōde, -a
Accusative	gōdne	gōde	gōd	gōd	gōde	gōde, -a
Genitive	gōdes	gōdra	gōdes	gōdra	gōdre	gōdra
Dative	gōdum	gōdum	gōdum	gōdum	gōdre	gōdum
Instrumental	gōde	gōdum	gōde	gōdum	gōdre	gōdum

Example of the Weak Adjective Declension: gōd 'good'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gōda	gōdan	gōde	gōdan	gōde	gōdan
Accusative	gōdan	gōdan	gōde	gōdan	gōdan	gōdan
Genitive	gōdan	gōdena	gōdan	gōdena	gōdan	gōdena
Dative	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum
Instrumental	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum

Note that the same variants described above for nouns also exist for adjectives. The following example shows both the æ/a variation and the -u forms in the feminine singular and neuter plural:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: glæd 'glad'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	glæd	glade	glæd	gladu	gladu	glade
Accusative	glædne	glade	glæd	gladu	glade	glade
Genitive	glades	glædra	glades	glædra	glædre	glædra
Dative	gladum	gladum	gladum	gladum	glædre	gladum
Instrumental	glade	gladum	glade	gladum	glædre	gladum

The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -h:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: hēah 'high'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hēah	hēa	hēah	hēa	hēa	hēa
Accusative	hēane	hēa	hēah	hēa	hēa	hēa
Genitive	hēas	hēara	hēas	hēara	hēare	hēara
Dative	hēam	hēam	hēam	hēam	hēare	hēam
Instrumental	hēa	hēam	hēa	hēam	hēare	hēam

The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -w:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gearu 'ready'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gearu	gearwe	gearu	gearu	gearu	gearwe
Accusative	gearone	gearwe	gearu	gearu	gearwe	gearwe
Genitive	gearwes	gearora	gearwes	gearora	gearore	gearora
Dative	gearwum	gearwum	gearwum	gearwum	gearore	gearwum
Instrumental	gearwe	gearwum	gearwe	gearwum	gearore	gearwum

[edit] Determiners

Old English had two main determiners: se, which could function as both 'the' or 'that', and þes for 'this'.

the/that
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	se	þæt	sēo	þā
Accusative	þone	þæt	þā	þā
Genitive	þæs	þæs	þǣre	þāra, þǣra
Dative	þǣm	þǣm	þǣre	þǣm, þām
Instrumental	þȳ, þon	þȳ, þon	–	–

Modern English 'that' descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form, and 'the' from the masculine nominative form, with 's' replaced analogously by the 'th' of the other forms. The feminine nominative form was probably the source of Modern English 'she.'

this
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	þes	þis	þēos	þās
Accusative	þisne	þis	þās	þās
Genitive	þisses	þisses	þisse, þisre	þisra
Dative	þissum	þissum	þisse, þisre	þissum
Instrumental	þȳs	þȳs	–	–

[edit] Pronouns

Most pronouns are declined by number, case and gender; in the plural form most pronouns have only one form for all genders. Additionally, Old English pronouns reserve the dual form (which is specifically for talking about groups of two things, for example "we two" or "you two" or "they two"). These were uncommon even then, but remained in use throughout the period.

[edit] Personal pronouns

First Person
Case	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	ic, īc	wē	wit
Accusative	mec, mē	ūsic, ūs	uncit, unc
Genitive	mīn	ūre	uncer
Dative	mē	ūs	unc

Second Person
Case	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	þū	gē	git
Accusative	þēc, þē	ēowic, ēow	incit, inc
Genitive	þin	ēower	incer
Dative	þe	ēow	inc

Third Person
Case	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	hē m., hēo f., hit n.	hiē m., hēo f.	–
Accusative	hine m., hīe f., hit n.	hiē m., hīo f.	–
Genitive	his m., hire f., his n.	hiera m., heora f.	–
Dative	him m., hire f., him n.	him	–

Many of the forms above bear strong resemblances to their contemporary English language equivalents: for instance in the genitive case ēower became "your", ūre became "our", mīn became "mine".

[edit] Prepositions

Prepositions (like Modern English words by, for, and with) often follow the word which they govern, in which case they are called postpositions. They are not declined.

[edit] See also

• Old English language (list of prepositions)
• Old English phonology