The Verb

As in all Germanic languages the OE verbs fall into two main classes: the strong verbs and the weak verbs. The grammatical characteristics of the verb are as follows: person, number, tense, voice, mood.

Person and Number: 2 numbers and 3 persons are distinguished. Forms of person are distinguished only in the singular and only in the Indicative Mood at that. Dual pronouns take plural forms.

Tense. OE tense system comprises only 2 tenses: the Present and the Past. The absence of the Future Tense is compensated by the use of the Present Tense in the meaning of the Future.

Ic ārīse and ic fare to minum fæder and ic sec™e.

Future may also be expressed by the combinations of the verbs willan/scullan+ Infinitive:

Wille ic āsec™an.

Voice.Most finite forms are active. The only finite form with a passive meaning is the form hatte – Past Sg. of the verb hāttan (to call). Usually passivity was expressed periphrastically by means of the words bēon,wesan(to be),weorþan (become) + Past Participle. Modern English passive voice developed from this kind of expressing passivity:

Þa bōc þe is enemned on læden Pastoralis (The book which is called in Latin “Pastoralis”).

Mood.Three moods are distinguished as usual: the Indicative, the Imperative, the Subjunctive. The strong verbs are characterized by the root-vowel variation. Four principle forms are distinguished which are: the Infinitive, the Past Singular, the Past Plural, the Past Participle.

There are 7 classes of strong verbs.

Class	Infinitive	Past Sg.	Past Pl.	Past Participle	Vowel interchange
I	wrītan	wrāt	writon	writen	i-ā-I-i
II	bēodan	bēad	budon	boden	ēo-ēa-u-o
III	a) a nasal drincan b) l helpan c) r steorfan	+consonant dranc +consonant healp +consonant stearf	druncon   hulpon   sturfon	druncen   holpen   storfen	i-a-u-u   e-ea-u-o   eo-ea-u-o
IV	beran	bær	bæron	boren	e-æ- æ-o
V	tredan	træd	trædon	treden	e-æ- æ-e
VI	faran	fōr	fōron	faren	a-ō-ō-a
VII	hātan	het	hēton	hāten	ā-e-ē-ā

Class 7 comprises verbs with original reduplication (подвоєння). But in OE for the most part they had lost their reduplicated form.