Irregular verbs

Additionally there is a further group of four verbs which are irregular, the verbs "want" (modern "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: "want", "do", "go", and "be" are the most commonly used verbs in the language, and are very important to the meaning of the sentences in which they are used. Idiosyncratic patterns of inflection are much more common with important items of vocabulary than with rarely-used ones.

Dōn 'to do' and gān 'to go' are conjugated alike; willan 'to want' is similar outside of the present tense.

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. Therefore, wesan is used as the past, imperative, and present participle versions of sindon, and does not have a separate meaning. The bēon forms are usually used in reference to future actions. Only the present forms of bēon contrast with the present forms of sindon / wesan in that bēon tends to be used to refer to eternal or permanent truths, while sindon / wesan is used more commonly to refer to temporary or subjective facts. This semantic distinction was lost as Old English developed into modern English, so that the modern verb 'to be' is a single verb which 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 participle forms from bēon.

ME: All types existing in OE preserved in ME – strong, weak, irregular, preterit-present. In each type we find changes due to phonetic developments of this period, but the proportional value of the weak ones is greater and continues to grow. Some of the former strong verbs are drifting in the direction of weak ones. The OE prefix Зe- reduced to y-. Now it is mostly found in the second participle. In most dialects it disappeared by the 14 th c. Non-finite forms have changed in the direction from nominal (именной) to verbal parts of speech. The infinitive loses the category of case and acquires a pre-infinitival particle to. The suffix an, ian changed into –en, n. To written, to maken. But the tendency to lose final consonant is strong and finally they lost –en, -n. Participle I – suffix –ende turns into –ung (liornunge – learning), which also was shifting toward less distinct form –ynge/inge. Changes in strong and weak verbs (Verba, 132-133) The categories: Tense – future tense appear and two auxiliaries – shall/will (shal/wol). As well as Present and Past perfect with the auxiliary to haven. The passive voice expressed by the combination ben + PII expressing a state as well as an action is widely used in ME. The problem of aspect is disputable one. The prefix Зу- was lost. And continuous new form was rising, but it was not used in literary English. The category of mood retains the former subdivision in the indicative, the imperative and the subjunctive. The category of mood was enriched by analytical formations wolde +inf, and sholde +inf.

Speaking about Preterite-Present verbs we may say these verbs underwent multiple changes in ME and ENE: phonetic and analogical changes which affected their forms, and semantic changes which affected their functions. Several preterite-present verbs died out. The surviving verbs lost some of their old forms and grammatical distinctions but retained many specific peculiarities. In NE their paradigms have been reduced to two forms or even to one. ME can (from OE cann) was used not only in sg but also in the pl by the side of cunnen, the descendant of OE pl cunnon; the latter, as well as the Subj. forms cunnen, cune died out by the end of the ME period. The past tense Ind. And Subj. appears in ME in two variants: couth(e) and coud(e). Couth became obsolete (устарелый) in NE but coud was preserved. The insertion of l in spelling may be due to the analogy of should where l was etymologically justified. In ME the verb can especially its past participle is still used in the original meaning “know”. However can is much more common as a modal verb indicating physical or mental ability.

NE: In this period it becomes more specialized in meaning. The loss of endings greatly simplified the verbal paradigm. There were no longer endings marking the 1^st person singular, plural present indicative and the infinitival suffix -an→en→e was also lost. Personal ending of the 3d person singular in the present tense –th is replaced by –s; hath – has, thinketh – thinks. The traditional classification of strong and weak verbs gives way to division into regular and irregular. The verbs that are derived from other parts of speech are all regular and form their past tense and PII by adding –sd suffix now perceived as ending. All borrowed verbs form their past tense in the same way, and so they are regular. Many traditionally strong verbs show the tendency to change their former past pense forms to a more productive and more widespread way of formation of past with the same ending. The tendency was so strong that spme verbs became regular, though further development of the language brought them back into the group of irregular. Irregular verbs include those former strong verbs that preserved the vowel interchange in the root. (Verba, 178). Modal verbs The changes in preterit-present are significant. Some verbs are lost altogether. The rest lost the greater part of their paradigms and turned into a group of modal (defective) verbs. Now they are almost all used as modal auxiliaries with the bare infinive. The non-finite forms – infinitive, participle and gerund can hardly be called the nominal parts of speech. The gerund becomes quite common, the use of it doesn’t differ a lot from the present-day practice. So the categories of the ENE remain basically the same – tense, voice, time correlation, mood.. The categories of number and person are not so distinct. The moods are the same as they were in ME.

Pronoun. Adjective. Numerals. Adverb. (6^th lectures)

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