Irregular verbs: sellan – solde – sold; tellan – tolde – told;
Preterite-present verbs: were preserved, their forms underwent changes due to the general tendencies of the period
Conjugation: uderwent considerable changes: as a result of levelling of unstressed vowels the difference between the endings –an, -on- and –en was lost. The final – n, which characterized many verb forms, was lost. It proved stable only in some second participles, where it has been preserved down to the MnE period. But there were dialectal varieties in the verb endings. An example of conjugation (weak verb haven) 1 have, 2 hast 3 hath Pl. Han Past 1 hadde 2 haddest 3 hadde pl. hadden); to be (ben) 1 am 2 art 3 is pl.: ben Past: was, were, was; pl.: weren).
The Perfect: Perfect forms, which arose in OE, are widely used in ME. In Chaucer’s works there are many sentences with the Present Perfect and the Past Perfect Perfect forms of intransitive verbs were derived by means of the verb (ben) be.
The Continuous: In ME there appeared first instances of a continuous aspect, consisting of the verb be and the first particple. They were very rare. The origin is not quite clear. Ilyish gives the following explanation: he is on huntinge: the preposition ‘on’ became weakened and turned into a prefix ‘a-‘: he is a-hunting: then the prefix was dropped and the verbal substantive ‘huntinge’ became a participle. Perfect continuous forms are quite rare in ME.
Future Tense: A special future form, which started in OE, became in ME a regular part of the tense system. Chaucer uses this form in many cases. Occasionally, however, the future meaning may be accompanied by some modal shade.
Moods: The Subjunctive mood preserved in ME many features it had in OE. An unreal condition referring to the present is expressed by the phrase ‘ wolde + infinitive; if the action refers to the past the phrase ‘ wolde + perfect infinitive is used.
The Passive voice: was very widely developed in ME: the phrase ‘ben + second particple could express both a state and an action. Only the context would show which of the two was meant in each particular case.
MnE:
Conjugation: important changes took place here: 1) the first person sing. ending – e was lost; the 3d person singular –eth was replaced by –s (the Northern dialect). In Shakespeare’s works both ending are used. In the 17th century it was fully superceded by – s, and –eth was preserved in elevated style.The second person ending – st connected with the personal pronoun ‘thou’ was gradually supercede during the 17th century.
Strong verbs: The 4 forms were reduced to 3: infinitive, past tense, second participle.
The Second participle: The – en ending of the second participle proved strong enough in many verbs to withstand the general tendency to drop unstressed endings. Sometimes 2 forms coexist: with –en and without it: the verb ‘ to bite’ – the 2nd participle – bitten or bit. Compare British ‘ got’ and American ‘ gotten’.
Weak verbs: in weak verbs the distinction between classes disappears. The unstressed – e disappeared in all cases, and is only preserved in words ending in – t/d: end- ended; Some strong verbs become weak and some weak verbs become strong. A few irregular verbs became regular.
Invariable verbs: In MnE a group of invariable verbs came into existence. Most of them stemmed from weak verbs with a root ending in –d/t; a few came from strong verbs of different classes: for example, cutten – cutte –cutt – became invariable as a result of disappearance of unstressed endings
The Perfect: the system of perfect forms goes on unfolding in the MnE period. Perfeect forms of intransive verbs derived by means the verb ‘be ‘ are coming out of use, but still are rarely found.
Continuous forms occur more frequently, sometimes present simple is used for an action taking place at the moment of speech. Sometimes ‘always’ is used with a continuous form, with an emotional coloring.. Sometimes the present and past prefect continuous forms are used. In the 19th century passive continuous forms arise, though they were limited to the present an the past. The mood system developed in MnE towards creating more precise means of expressing modal meanings.
Use of Auxiliary ‘ do’. In Early MnE the verb ‘do’ was widely used as an axilliary in affirmative sentences devoid of any emphatic character. ‘Do’ is also found in negative and interrogative sentences. However, forms without ‘do’ are also used.
The Gerund: The gerund which came into being in ME, developed further in MnE, gradually separated from the verbal substantive in – ing. The gerund is followed by a noun indicating the object of the action, sometimes it is followed by an of-phrase. In MnE analytical gerund forms appear: the perfect and the passive gerund.