Adjective in Old English had five grammatical categories: three dependent grammatical categories, i.e forms of agreement of the adjective with the noun it modified – number, gender and case; definiteness – indefiniteness and degrees of comparison. Adjectives had three genders and two numbers. The category of case in adjectives differed from that of nouns: in addition to the four cases of nouns they had one more case, Instrumental. It was used when the adjective served as an attribute to a noun in the Dat. case expressing an instrumental meaning.
Most adjectives in OE could be declined in two ways: according to the weak and to the strong declension. The formal differences between the declensions, as well as their origin, were similar to those of the noun declensions. The strong and weak declensions arose due to the use of several stem-forming suffixes in PG: vocalic a-, o-, u- and i- and consonantal n-.Accordingly, there developed sets of endings of the strong declension mainly coinciding with the endings of a-stems of nouns for adjectives in the Masc. and Neut. and of o-stems – in the Fem.
Some endings in the strong declension of adjectives have no parallels in the noun paradigms; they are similar to the endings of pronouns: -um for Dat. sg, -ne for Acc. Sg Masc., [r] in some Fem. and pl endings. Therefore the strong declension of adjectives is sometimes called the ‘pronominal’ declension. As for the weak declension, it uses the same markers as n-stems of nouns except that in the Gen. pl the pronominal ending -ra, is often used instead of the weak –ena.
Degrees of comparison.
Most OE adjectives distinguished between three degrees of comparison: positive, comparative and superlative. The regular means used to form the comparative and the superlative from the positive were the suffixes -ra and -est/ost. Sometimes suffixation was accompanied by an interchange of the root-vowel. Some adjectives were suppletive and completely changed the root in the comparative and superlative degrees.
Means of form-building
Positive
Comparative
Superlative
NE
Suffixation
soft
softra
softost
soft
Suffixation + vowel interchange
lanʒ
lenʒra
lenʒest
long
eald
ieldra
ieldest
old
Suppletion
ʒod
bettra
bet(e)st
good
lytel
læssa
læst
little
OE Verb. Finite forms, non-finite forms.
The OE verb was characterized by many peculiar features. Though the verb had few grammatical categories, its paradigm had a very complicated structure: verbs fell into numerous morphological classes & employed a variety of form-building means. All the forms of the verb were synthetic, as analytical forms were only beginning to appear. The non-finite forms had little in common with the finite forms but shared many features with the nominal parts of speech.
Finite forms
Finite forms regularly were distinguished between two numbers: singular & plural. The category of Person was made up of three forms: the 1st, the 2nd, the 3rd. The verb-predicate agreed with the subject of the sentence in 2 grammatical categories: number& person: he bindeð – 3rd person sing. (he binds).
Mood & Tense were specifically verbal categories: the category of Mood was constituted by the Indicative, Imperative & Subjunctive. In order to understand the structure of the verb system, one should get acquainted with the meanings & use of moods & tenses in OE.
The use of the Subjunctive Mood in OE was in many aspects different from its use in later ages. Subjunctive forms presenting indirect speech the usage was variable. Indicative forms occurred by the side of Subjunctive. The meaning of the tense-forms was also very general, as compared with later ages & with present-day English. The forms of Present were used to indicate present & future action.
The Past Tense was used in a most general sense to indicate various events in past (including those which are nowadays expressed by the forms of the Past Continuous, Past Perfect, Present Perfect & other analytical forms).
Non-Finite Forms
In OE there were 2 non-finite forms of the verb: the Infinitive & the Participle.
Thus the Infinitive could have 2 case-forms which may be called the "Common case" & the "Dative case”
Common Dative
Cēpan to cepenne
"Common case" form was widely used in different syntactical functions, the Dative case was used on a limited scale, when the Infinitive functioned as an adverbial modifier of purpose.
Lc ʒā to drincenne (I go to drink)
The Participle was a kind of a verbal adjective which was characterized not only by nominal but also by certain verbal features. Participle I was opposed to Participle II > Present Participle – Past Participle:
Present Participle (active mainly) Past Participle (passive mainly)
Writende writen
Drincende drunken
Participle I expressed present or simultaneous processes & qualities, while Participle II expressed state & qualities resulting from past action.
2019-08-13
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