Conjugation of Weak Verbs

The Indicative mood

cēpan (keep), tellan (tell), lufian (love), libban (live)

		Class 1		Class 2		Class 3
Number	Person	Present	Past	Present	Past	Present	Past
Singular	1	ic cēpe, telle	ic cēpte, tealde	ic lufie	lufode	ic libbe	lifde
	2	Þū cēpest, tellest	þū cēptest, tealdest	þū lufast	lufodest	þū liofast	lifdest
	3	hē cēpeþ telleþ	hē cēpte, tealde	hē lufaþ	lufode	hē liofaþ	lifde
Plural	1,2,3	wē, ʒe, hīe cēpaþ, tellaþ	wē, ʒe, hīe cēpton, tealdon	wē, ʒe, hīe lufiaþ	wē, ʒe, hīe lufodon	wē, ʒe, hīe libbaþ	wē, ʒe, hīe lifdon

2.6.8.3. Preterite-Present Verbs

Besides strong and weak verbs, there was a small yet important group of verbs in OE, which shared some of the characteristics of both strong and weak verbs. Out of 12 verbs of the group, six have survived in Modern English: can, may, must, ought, shall and dare.

They are termed preterite-presents because their present tenses are derived from old preterites (the past of strong verbs), whereas their past is built on the pattern of the past of weak verbs.

Originally they were strong verbs whose past tense forms gained a «present» meaning and ousted the present tense forms. It is noteworthy, that in modern English the present tense of the verb can is similar in form to the past tense of the verb to run - ran, and may resembles lay, the past tense of the verb to lie. To fill the deficiency left in the preterite (past) these verbs developed new past tense forms of the weak pattern. Most verbs did not have a full paradigm and were in this sense «defective».

The origin of the present tense forms of preterite-presents from the past of strong verbs, which had no inflexion, explains the absense of the ending - (e) ð in the 3-rd person singular present

Conjugation of Preterite - Present verbs

Present tense

cunnan (verb of the 3-rd class)

Person	Singular number	Plural number
1	ic cann	wē ʒē cunnon hīe
2	þū canst
3	hē cann

Most of the preterite – presents did not indicate actions but expressed a kind of attitude to an action denoted by another verb or an infinitive which followed the preterite-present, but some of them could also be used as notional verbs. Eventually preterite–presents developed into modal verbs.

Basic Forms of Preterite-Present Verbs

Class	Infinitive	Present sg	Present pl	Past	Past Participle	Meaning
1	witan	wāt	witon	wiste	ʒewiten	know
1	āʒan	āʒ, āh	āʒon	āhte	āʒen	possess
2	duʒan	dēaʒ	duʒon	dohte	-–	worthy
3	cunnan	cann	cunnon	cūðe	cūð, cunnon	be able
3	unnan	ann	unnon	ūþe	ʒeunnen	give, grant
3	þurfan	þearf	þurfon	þorfte	–	need, want
3	durran	dearr	durron	dorste	–	dare
4	sculan	sceall	sculon	scēolde/scolde	–	be bound
4	munan	mon,man	munon	munde	munde/ emunnen	remember
5	–	mōt	mōton	mōste	–	be able
	maʒan	mæʒ	maʒon	meahte	–	be able
	–	ʒeneah	ʒenuʒon	ʒenuʒon	–	sufficient

It will be noted that in modern English must and ought another shifting of meaning from«past» to «present» has taken place: the secondary weak preterites have acquired a «present» meaning thus making the former strong preterites with the «present» meaning superfluous. This accounts for the fact that the verbs must and ought to have only one form each.