Verbs
Middle English Grammar 1
Chapter 6 · Verbs: Weak and Strong
📜 Verbs: Weak and Strong
Verbs kept more of their endings than nouns did, and this is where the dialects differ most clearly. This chapter follows the Verbs subsection of Wikipedia's Middle English article: the present-tense endings, the infinitive and participles, and the two ways of making a past tense. The irregular verbs (be, have, do, will) are for Chapter 7. For the Old English verbs this system came from, see Old English Grammar 1.
The present tense
| Person | Ending | Example given |
|---|---|---|
| 1st singular | -e | ich here (I hear) |
| 2nd singular | -(e)st | þou spekest (thou speakest) |
| 3rd singular | -eþ, variant -es | he comeþ (he cometh, he comes) |
| Plural | depends on dialect: see below |
The plural, dialect by dialect
| Dialect | Plural present ending | What the article says |
|---|---|---|
| Southern | -eþ | Keeps the Old English ending |
| Midland | -en | Appears from about 1200 |
| Northern | -es | Used in the 3rd singular and in the plural |
| East Midland, West Midland, Kentish | The subsection names only Southern, Midland and Northern, so I give nothing separate for these three. | |
Infinitive and participles
| Form | Ending |
|---|---|
| Infinitive | -en |
| Present participle | -ende or -ynge |
| Past participle, weak verbs | the past-tense stem, with the prefixes i-, y- and sometimes bi- |
| Past participle, strong verbs | i- plus -en |
The subsection does not assign -ende or -ynge to a dialect, so I do not. It does not cover the imperative or the subjunctive in this subsection.
Weak verbs
- The past tense adds -ed(e), -d(e) or -t(e).
- The past participle uses the same past-tense forms, without personal endings, with the prefixes above.
- The article's weak-verb table shows -ede and -eden and, for the 2nd singular, -edest. The page tool said the table's cells were misaligned, so I do not give a full person-by-person paradigm.
Strong verbs
- Strong verbs make the past tense by changing the stem vowel, called apophony. The article's example is binden, past bound.
- The subsection describes no separate vowel-change classes, so I list none. Old English Grammar 1 covers the classes of the earlier language.
- The article's table gives strong past endings of -e (and -est) in the singular and -en in the plural, though the person slots were not clearly aligned.
What this chapter could not give
- A full paradigm: both verb tables came through partly garbled, so only the clear cells are used.
- Forms for the East Midland, West Midland and Kentish dialects separately, and the Chaucerian London practice.
- A list of strong verbs beyond binden, and their vowel patterns.
- Dates other than the Midland -en plural from about 1200.
Words to know
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Weak verb | A verb whose past tense adds a dental ending (-ed, -d, -t) |
| Strong verb | A verb whose past tense changes the stem vowel |
| Apophony | A change of vowel inside a word to show a grammatical change |
| Infinitive | The "to ..." form of a verb |
| Participle | A verb form used like an adjective or with a helper verb |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Think of the answer first, then click to check.
1. What are the 1st and 2nd singular present endings?
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-e and -(e)st.
2. What is the 3rd singular ending, and its variant?
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-eþ, variant -es.
3. Give the plural present ending in the Southern, Midland and Northern dialects.
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Southern -eþ; Midland -en (from about 1200); Northern -es.
4. Which dialect keeps the Old English plural ending?
Show answer
The Southern dialects.
5. What is the infinitive ending?
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-en.
6. Name the three ways a weak verb can form its past tense.
Show answer
Adding -ed(e), -d(e) or -t(e).
7. How does a strong verb make its past tense? Give the article's example.
Show answer
By changing the stem vowel; binden becomes bound.
8. How does the strong past participle differ from the weak one?
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Strong: i- plus -en. Weak: the past-tense stem with prefixes such as i- or y-.
9. Translate þou spekest.
Show answer
"Thou speakest" (you speak, singular).
10. Why does this chapter give no separate East Midland, West Midland or Kentish verb endings?
Show answer
The article's Verbs subsection names only Southern, Midland and Northern, and the chapter does not fill the gap from memory.