Philology 1 - Middle English Grammar

Middle English Grammar © Peter Hofstee 2011

CASES Nominative: Accusative: Genitive: Dative:

Subject; Complement (He is a man). Direct object. Possessive. Indirect object (‘She gave a cookie to him’).

PERSONAL PRONOUNS First-person pronouns

Second-person pronouns1

singular

plural

singular (inf.)

plural (formal)

nom.

I (I)

we (we)

thou/thow (you)2

ye (you)

acc.

me (me)

us (us)

thee (you)

you/yow (you)

gen.

my⒩⒠ (my)

our⒠⒮ (our)

thyn⒠ (your)

your⒠⒮ (your)

dat.

me (me)

us (us)

thee (you)

you/yow (you)

Third-person pronouns masculine

neuter

feminine

plural

nom.

he (he)

it, hit (it)

she (she)

they (they)

acc.

hym, him (him)

it, hit (it)

hir⒠, hyr⒠ (her)

hem (them)

gen.

his (his)

his (its)

hir⒠⒮ (her)

hir⒠⒮ (their)

dat.

hym, him (him)

it, hit (it)

hir⒠, hyr⒠ (her)

hem (them)

__________ 1 The sg. forms were used to indicate formality and distance, while the pl. forms expressed a degree of formality, distance and politeness. Note that God was also addressed informally with ‘thou’. 2

Also occur in contracted forms, e.g.: artow (art thou/thou art), canstow (can you/you can).

1

NOUNS

singular

plural

nom. / acc.

stoon

stoones

gen.

stoones

stoones

dat.

stoon⒠

stoones

Variant plural forms also include: • : ‘yeris’, ‘wyvys’. • if the word ends in : ‘tirauntz’, ‘instrumentz’. • , derived om the OE weak noun declension: ‘children’, ‘oxen’.

ADJECTIVES (Descended om OE; the table below applies to singular monosyllabic adjectives.) Weak (ending with ‘-e’)

Strong

If preceded by a definite article (the).

If preceded by an indefinite article (a, an).

If preceded by a demonstrative.

All other instances.

If preceded by a possessive pronoun. If preceded by a proper noun in gen. case (e.g. ‘Goddes owene son’) If preceded by an adjective in vocative case (cf. Latin, used for exclamations): ‘O deere housbonde!’

OPEN AND CLOSE VOWELS Long o: • Close /o:/ ➛ In PDE pronounced with /u/ (‘good’), /u:/ (‘foot’), or /ʌ/ (‘other’). • Open /ɔ:/ ➛ A diphthong in PDE. Or, sometimes the PDE spelling is . Long e: • Close /e:/ ➛ In PDE the spelling is or . • Open /ɛ:/ ➛ In PDE the spelling is . Silent e: ‘riche’ plus ‘h’ or vowel ➛ the ‘e’ is dropped.

2

VERBS VERB MOODS: Indicative, subjunctive (expressing a possibility or desire) and imperative. WEAK VERBS: Preterite is formed by adding . STRONG VERBS: Preterite is formed by change of stem vowel (as in PDE bind/bound).

Present forms

sg.

pl.

Preterite (past) forms

Subjunctive forms

WEAK

STRONG

PRESENT

PRETERITE

loue (love)

louede

bounde

loue

binde

louede

louest (love)

louedest

bounde

loue

binde

louede

loueth* (loves)

louede

bounde

loue

binde

louede

loue(n) (love)

louede(n)

bounde(n)

loue(n)

binde(n)

louede(n)

* Third p. sg. variation: rideth, rit; sitteth, sit, writeth, writ; byndeth, bynt. Participle forms Present participle: Weak past participle: Strong past participle:

louyng⒠, bindyng⒠ ⒴louede ⒴bounde⒩

The irregular verb ‘be’ INDICATIVE

sg.

pl.

SUBJUNCTIVE

PARTICIPLES

IMPERATIVE

present

preterite

present

preterite

present

past

am

was

be

were

beyng⒠

been

art

were

be

were

is

was

be

were

be⒠⒩ ar⒠⒩

were⒩

are⒩

were⒩

be

beth

Verb phrases, auxiliaries, etc. myghte ≠ ‘might’, but usually means ‘could’. gan + infinitive: ‘gan’ is used as an auxiliary, indicating past tense (e.g. gan wype = ‘wiped’) shal: only translated with ‘shall’ if used with ‘I’. shulan & willan: mostly full verbs in ME. kunnan = know how

3

CONJUNCTIONS al ‘although, even if ’ and, and if ‘if ’ als, al so ‘as’ but, but if ‘if, unless’ eek/eke ‘also’ for, for that ‘because’

forthy ‘therefore’ forwhy ‘because’ for to ‘in order to’ or… or ‘either… or’ other, outher ‘or’ sin/syn ‘since’

sithe⒩ ‘since’ ther(as) ‘where’ wher ‘whether’; also used to introduce a question

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS that (that) tho (those, then) this (this)

thise/these (these) ilke/thilke (the same/that, this)

yon (yonder)

FREQUENTLY USED WORDS again al be that anon benedicte⒠ but, but if can, kan clepe⒩ ech eek, eke ful han hem hem lost/liste hight ilke koude maugre namely nat ne noght nones, nonys nyce

back 3 although at once bless us unless know (how to), be able call each also very have them they wanted named, called same knew (how to), could in spite of especially, specifically not not, nor nought, nothing; not occasion foolish

o⒪, (that) ⒪on pardee rede right (adv.) sith somdel swich syn task: taketh than(ne) ther, ther as thoughte (imp.) thynketh (imp.) war a ware yow wher where as whylom yaf ycleped ydo

one “by God”; certainly advise, interpret, read just, quite since, then somewhat such since take then, than where it seemed it seems aware (‘beth war⒠’) beware, take heed where, whether where once (upon a time), formerly gave named done

Negated verbs nam nas nere niste

am not was not were not did not know

nolde noot nys nyste

would not know not is not knew not

__________ 3 Context-dependent, e.g. with a verb of movement. 4