Presents

Old English
Part 5

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 Caveats of Weak Verbs
-rian Verbs
Verbs with this ending seem to belong to weak II verbs,
but actually belong to the weak I class. They usually
form their past tense as all weak I verbs do, with -ed-.
nerian “to save” - nered “saved”
Present

Iċ nerie I save

Þū nerest you (s) save

hē/hēo/hit nereþ he/she/it saves

wē neriaþ we save

ġē neriaþ you (plural) save

hīe neriaþ they save

Past

Iċ nerede I saved

Þū neredest you (s) saved

hē/hēo/hit nerede he/she/it saved

 wē neredon we saved

ġē neredon you (plural) saved

hīe neredon they saved

Irregular and vowel changing weak verbs

There are a handful of verbs which have less
predictable past tense forms. A few of these even
survived and are used frequently today.

Infinitive Past (sing) Past Part.

þyncan “to think” þūhte “thought” þūht “thought”
sēcan “to seek” sōhte “sought” sōht “sought”
tǣcan “to teach” tǣhte “taught” tǣht “taught”
wyrcan “to work” worhte1 “worked” worht “worked”
tellan “to tell” tealde “told” teald “told”
cwellan “to kill” cwealde “killed” cweald “killed”
cweċċan “to cweahte “shook” cweaht “shaken”
shake”
sellan “to give, sealde “gave, sold” seald “given, sold”
sell”

1
This is the root of the word wrought, which became an adjective, and the verb became regular.
reċċan “to reach” reahte “reached” reaht “reached”
bycgan “to buy” bohte “bought” boht “bought”
rēċan “to care” rohte “cared” roht “cared”
streċċan “to streahte streaht
stretch” “stretched” “stretched”
brengan “to bring” brohte “brought” broht “brought”

Here is a sample of how the above verbs are often

conjugated:
wyrcan “to work” - worht
Present

Iċ wyrce I work

Þū wyrcest you (s) work

hē/hēo/hit wyrceþ he/she/it works

wē wyrcaþ we work

ġē wyrcaþ you (plural) work

hīe wyrcaþ they work

Past

Iċ worhte I worked
Þū worhtest you (s) worked

hē/hēo/hit worhte he/she/it worked

wē worhton we worked

ġē worhton you (plural) worked

hīe worhton they worked

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