Past Tense

The Weak Verbs (t-verbs)

In English the weak verb has a form of -ed in the simple past, which then makes it the same as the past participle. Examples include:

love → loved
hear → heard
rain → rained
wait → waited

Old English did indeed distinguish between the past participle and the simple past of a verb, but the endings are very similar: either -ode, -ede or simply -de. The difference between these endings is not important, but the presence of the d, which survives in Modern English practically unchanged, is the important factor.

lufian → lufode
hīeran → hīerde
rignan → rign(e)de

The Strong Verbs (n-verbs): "He book a cake?"

The main feature of strong verbs in all three languages is the stem-vowel change as the only marker of a strong verb in the simple past. As with the past participles, there are patterns of stem-vowel changes that you should be able to recognize with practice. Below is a rough table of stem-vowel correspondences between Old English and Modern German. Note that not all verbs will fall neatly into these categories and that this is by no means an exhaustive classification of the sound correspondences.

¹This category could actually be included in the previous category as the underlying vowel was æ; before 'r + consonant' or 'l + consonant' the vowel was "broken" to ea (Mitchell and Robinson 38). This also applies to the infinitives: e → eo (only before 'r + consonant').

The Mixed Weak Verbs

This small class of verbs displays the same characteristics as in the past participial form, namely a vowel change plus the -te ending in German and Old English (-t in Modern English). The stem vowel of the simple past form is the same as the stem vowel of the past participle.

Modal Verbs and Other Preterite-Present Verbs

The preterite-present verbs have acquired a mixed weak simple past form, as the old simple past, which was strong, was shifted to the present tense. The modal verbs are used quite often in the simple past, especially in German, where the simple past is favored over the present perfect.

As you can see in the table, the forms of the Old English and German preterite-present verbs nearly coincide.

Endings in the Simple Past

Implications for Old English Modal Verbs in the Present Tense

And this is only the beginning of the places where Old English is more difficult than German. Another aspect of verb endings shows up in the Old English modal verbs. We have seen that the present tense forms of the modal verbs are the old strong simple past forms and we have in both German and Old English two stems (one for the singular, e.g., ich kann, and one for the plural, e.g., wir können). Consequently we should expect strong verb simple past endings in the present tense for Old English modal verbs and other preterite-present verbs. (The German endings in the simple past for the du-form and the plural forms are the same as in the present tense).

Part of our suspicion is correct. We do find that the endings plural forms of the Old English modal verbs correspond to the simple past endings, e.g, wē cunnon ('we can') and gē þurfon ('you pl. need'). However, the þū-form is a bit strange, as we find the present tense -st or just a -t where we would expect to find a vowel change plus e: þū canst or even þū scealt, the latter of which becomes thou shalt. The reasons behind such endings would require another guide even longer than this Comparison, but in this apsect the preterite-present verbs in Old English may be even more difficult than those in German.

(Old English forms from Mitchell and Robinson 35-52, 152-158)

Exercises and Activities