Appendix Paradigms
Middle English Grammar 1
Appendix · Paradigm Summary
📜 Paradigm Summary
One table each for nouns, the article and demonstratives, adjectives, pronouns and verbs. Every entry comes from Chapters 1 to 9 and carries its chapter number. Nothing here is new, and no gap has been filled: where the chapters had no verified form, the cell says "not given". Most of the sources were Wikipedia pages as a page tool summarised them, and some tables came through garbled, so treat this as a study aid, not a reference grammar.
Nouns (Chapter 2)
| Feature | Form | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Strong plural | -(e)s | Survives as the ordinary -s |
| Weak plural | -(e)n | From Old English n-stems; oxen, children |
| Strong genitive | -es | The only ending in use by the end of the period |
| Some formerly feminine or weak nouns | -e or none | fole hoves |
| Relationship nouns in -er | often none | fader bone |
| Dative | lost in early Middle English | Full paradigm: not given |
| Gender | grammatical, then natural | Regional noun forms: not given |
Article and demonstratives (Chapter 3)
| Word | Forms given | Note |
|---|---|---|
| the | þe | Reduced from the Old English forms; a full paradigm and a date for the invariant form: not given |
| a / an | a, an | From ān; n lost before consonants by the 15th century |
| this | þis and variants | Southwest þues, þusse; Northern and East Anglia yis |
| that | þat | Conjunction, pronoun and determiner |
| these, those | Plural demonstratives: not given | |
Adjectives (Chapter 4)
| Context | Form |
|---|---|
| Before a plural noun, after the, after a demonstrative or possessive, in direct address (single-syllable adjectives) | adjective + -e |
| Elsewhere | unmarked |
| Already ending in -e | no second -e |
| Comparative / superlative | -er / -est; with vowel shortening greet, gretter; with umlaut long, lenger; -lier / -liest or -loker / -lokest for -ly, -lich |
| Dialect forms, full agreement | not given |
Personal pronouns (Chapter 5)
| Person | Subject | Object | Possessive |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | ic / ich / I | me / mi | min / minen (pl.) |
| 2nd singular | þou / þu / tu / þeou | þe | þi / ti |
| 3rd masculine | he | him / hine | his / hisse / hes |
| 3rd feminine | scheo / scho / ȝho | heo / his / hie / hies / hire | hio / heo / hire / heore |
| 3rd neuter | hit | hit / him | his |
| 1st plural | we | us / ous | ure[n] / our[e] / ures / urne |
| 2nd plural | ȝe / ye | eow / [ȝ]ou / ȝow / gu / you | eower / [ȝ]ower / gur / [e]our |
| 3rd plural (Old English line) | heo / he | his / heo[m] | heore / her |
| 3rd plural (Old Norse line) | þa / þei / þeo / þo | þem / þo | þeir |
Regional notes from Chapter 5: hine gave way to him south of the Thames by the early 14th century; the neuter dative him was largely replaced by it by the 15th century; heyr survived in some areas. The source's column layout was approximate. Rules for thou and ye: not given.
Verb endings (Chapters 6 and 7)
| Feature | Form | Dialect |
|---|---|---|
| Present, 1st singular | -e | |
| Present, 2nd singular | -(e)st | |
| Present, 3rd singular | -eþ, variant -es | Northern -es also here |
| Present plural | -eþ | Southern |
| Present plural | -en | Midland, from about 1200 |
| Present plural | -es | Northern |
| Infinitive | -en | |
| Present participle | -ende / -ynge | not assigned |
| Weak past | -ed(e), -d(e), -t(e) | |
| Strong past | stem vowel change, e.g. binden → bound | |
| Past participle | weak: past stem with i- / y-; strong: i- + -en |
Irregular verbs (Chapter 7)
| Verb | Present (1sg, 2sg, 3sg, plural) | Past (singular, plural) |
|---|---|---|
| be (been) | am, art, is, aren | was, weren |
| have (haven) | have, hast, haþ, haven | hadde, hadden |
| do (don) | do, dost, doþ / doth, doþ / don | didde, didden |
| go (gon) | go, gost, goþ, goþ / gon | wend / yede / yode |
| will (willen) | will, wilt, will, wollen | wolde, wolden |
| shall (schulen) | schal, schalt, schal, schulen | scholde |
| may (mowen) | may, myghst, may, mowen | mighte, mighten |
The other modals (can, dare, must, know, owe, need) are in Chapter 7. Their rows were flagged as unclear in the source, so they are not repeated here.
Negation (Chapter 8)
ne alone, then ne ... not, then not alone (15th century). Questions: not given.