2. Weak verbs

The weak verbs derived their past tense stem and the stem of participle II from the present tense stem with the help of the dental suffix -d- or -t-; normally they did not change their root vowel, but in some verbs suffixation was accompanied by a vowel interchange.

The number of weak verbs in OE by far exceeded that of strong verbs. In fact, all the verbs, with the exception of the strong verbs and the minor groups (which make a total of about 315-320 units) were weak. Their number was constantly growing since all new verbs derived from other stems were conjugated weak (except derivatives of strong verbs with prefixes). Among the weak verbs there were many derivatives of OE noun and adjective stems and also derivatives of strong verbs built from one of their stems (usually the second stem, i.e. past sg), e.g.

OE talu n tellan v NE ‘tale, tell’

OE full adj fyllan v NE ‘full, fill’

OE findan, v str. fandian v NE ‘find, find out’

As has already been pointed out, weak verbs formed their past and participle II by means of the dental suffix -d- or -t- (a specifically Germanic trait). In OE the weak verbs are subdivided into three classes differing in 1) the ending of the Infinitive, 2) the sonority of the suffix, and 3) the sounds preceding the suffix. The principal forms of the verbs in the three classes are given in Table 4.4, with several subclasses in Class I.

The main differences between the classes were as follows.

In Class I the infinitive ended in -an, seldom -ian (-ian occurs after [r]); the past form had -de, -ede or -te; participle II was marked by -d, -ed or -t. Some verbs of Class I had a double consonant in the infinitive (subclass b), others had a vowel interchange in the root, used together with suffixation (types e and f). Weak verbs of this class were divided into regular and irregular. Regular verbs were most numerous; all of them were influenced by palatal mutation in all the forms. If the root of a verb ended in a voiceless consonant the dental suffix –de turned into –te.

Class II had no subdivisions. In Class II the infinitive ended in -ian and the past tense stem and participle II had [o] before the dental suffix. This was the most numerous and regular of all the classes. It included verbs borrowed from Scandinavian, Latin and French.

The verbs of Class III had an infinitive in -an and no vowel before the dental suffix; it included only four verbs with a full conjugation and a few isolated forms of other verbs, because most verbs of this class in OE passed over to Class II.

Genetically, the division into classes goes back to the differences between the derivational stem-suffixes used to build the verbs or the nominal stems from which they were derived.

Table 4.4

Weak verbs in Old English

Principal forms Classes	Infinitive	Past Tense	Participle II	NE
I	-an/-ian	-de/-ede/-te	-ed/-d/-t	stir tame deem keep tell think
	styrian temman dēman cēpan tellan þyncan	styrede temede dēmde cēpte tealde þūhte	styred temed dēmed cēped teald þūht
II	-ian	-ode	-od	look
	lōcian	lōcode	lōcod
III	-an	-de	-d	live have
	libban habban	lifde hæfde	lifd hæfd

Participle II of weak verbs, like that of strong verbs, was often marked by the prefix e-. In the above table the forms of Participle II are given without this prefix.

Besides, participle II of most verbs preserved -e- before the dental suffix, though in some groups it was lost (types (e), and (f)).

Two groups of verbs in Class I, types (e) and (f), had one more peculiarity – an interchange of root-vowels: the infinitive had a mutated vowel like all the verbs of Class I, while the other two forms retained the original non-mutated vowel – probably these forms had no stem-suffix at the time of palatal mutation. The diphthong [ea] in tealde (type e) is the result of breaking before [ld]; it is found in the WS dialect, the Anglian forms being talde, e-tald. The absence of the nasal [n] in the past and participle II and the long vowel of þyncan – þūhte, e-þūht is the result of the loss of nasal consonants before fricatives.

The verbs of Class II were built with the help of the stem-suffix -ō, or -ōj- and are known as ō-stems. Their most conspicuous feature – the element -o- before the dental suffix in the past and participle II – is a remnant of the stem-suffix. The infinitives of all the verbs of Class II ended in -ian but the root-vowel was not affected because at the time of palatal mutation, the verbs preserved the full stem-suffix -ōj- and the long [o:] protected the root-vowel from assimilation.

Class III was made up of a few survivals of the PG third and fourth classes of weak verbs, mostly -æ:j-stems. The doubling of the consonants in the infinitive and the mutated vowels are accounted for by the presence of the element -i/-j- in some forms in Early OE.