Niw Englisch/Grammar/Verbs

Verbs are very similar to both modern English and modern German. The verb has two simple forms: present and past, and three moods: indicative, subjunctive, imperative. Complex forms are made from helping verbs.

Present Tense
Just about every verb will follow this pattern.

Notice the plural is the same ending for all persons. The first person ends in 'e', second in 'est', and third in 'eþ'. This can sometimes shorten to just 'st' or 'þ' when the stem doesn't end in d or a consonant cluster.

Note the plural doesn't shorten, only the 2nd and 3rd person singular do.

With strong verbs, the 2nd and 3rd person will often umlaut, or change to a front vowel.

This was the indicative mood, the form of the verb used for facts or things that are happening now. For counter-factual or hypothetical or reported events, you use the subjunctive present. After the conjunction if you always use subjunctive form.

Present Subjunctive
The present subjunctive is formed by taking the infinitive -en off the verb, then adding the subjunctive endings:

Example: he sæȝþ, þat he sein Auto fare he says that he is driving is car (but I can't verify it) Example: scie sæȝde, þat scie sekk sei she said that she is sick (but I can't verify it)

Past Tense
There are two ways to form the past tense in Niw English, either the weak verb form, or the strong verb form. Weak verbs add a dental (de or te) before the personal suffixes, while strong verbs change vowels in a fairly regular pattern.

For both, the personal endings are going to be the same:

Weak Past Tense

Strong Past Tense

Past Subjunctive
The past subjunctive, or Subjunctive II, is best translated as 'would do'. After if, you use the subjunctive.

Examples: Ic bœke þiȝ if þu miȝ asktest I would bake for you if you would ask me The past subjunctive for weak verbs is the same as the regular past tense, so it is often avoided in favor of werðen + infinitive: Note: for Type 1 weak verbs, they do take an umlaut:

Future Tense
There is no conjugation for the future tense, rather, you use a helping verb, werðen to become and the infinitive of the verb. This is translated "I will find" and so on.

The Future Perfect is formed with werðen and the present perfect infinitive (past participle, plus haben/wesen): I will have found it becomes ic werðe it gefunden haben, or ic will have become a doctor becomes ic werðe an Læcce geworden wesen.

There are three types of verbs in Niw Englisc: strong, weak, and preterite present. Strong verbs change vowel to show tense, weak verbs add te or de, and preterite present change vowels in the singular, and have a suffix in the past tense.

Strong Verbs
There are seven kinds of strong verbs, according to the vowel change they have.

Type 1
Vowel change: ei-a-i

reiden: to ride Principle Parts: reiden (reideþ), rad, geridden

Type 2
Vowel change: ie-o-o; u-o-o

flieten: to float Principle Parts: flieten (flieteþ), flot, is gefloten

Others:
 * dufen: to dive (dyfþ, dof, gedofen)
 * flieȝen: to fly, flee (flieȝþ, flog, is geflogen)
 * flien: to flee (flieþ, floh, is geflohen); transitive aux. haben
 * kruden: to crowd, press forward, drive (krydþ, krod, gekroden)
 * lieden: to grow, spring up (liedeþ, lod, geloden); used of plants, animals, a people
 * tieȝen: to pull, drag, draw (tieȝþ, tog, is getogen); to bring, lead, put; to teach, educate, bring up; to draw near, go, proceed

Type 3
Vowel change: e/i-a-u/o

finden: to find Principle Parts: finden (findeþ), fand, gefunden

helpen: to help Principle Parts: helpen (hilpþ), help, geholpen

Type 4
Vowel alternation: e-a-o

beren: to bear Principle Parts: beren (birþ), bar, geboren Examples:
 * beran: to bear; (birþ, bar, geboren)

Type 5
Vowel alteration: e-a-e

kweðen: to say, speak Principle Parts: kweðen (kwiþþ), kwaþ, gekwedden

Type 6
Vowel alternation: a-o-a

baken: to bake Principle Parts: baken (bækþ), bok, gebaken

standen: to stand Principle Parts: standen (stændþ), stod, is gestanden Examples:
 * dragen: to drag, draw; (drægþ, drog, gedragen)
 * faren: to travel, go, drive, journey; (færþ, for, is gefaren)
 * scafen: to shave; (scæfþ, scof, gescafen)

Type 7
Vowel alterations: a-e-a; o-e-o

halden: to hold Principle Parts: halden (hældþ), held, is gehalden Examples:
 * ƕopen: to threaten (ƕœpþ, ƕepp, geƕopen)

Type 7 Irregular
These type 7 verbs are the remnants of the reduplication verbs.

spaten: to spit Principle Parts: spaten (spætþ), speft, is gespaten Examples:
 * beaten: to beat; (beaten, beft, gebeaten)
 * dræden: to dread; (drædþ, drerd, gedræden); with reflexive dative, accusative of thing; hje drædeþ hjem þen Kraken they're afraid of the octopus; without dative, uses genitive; scie drædeþ þes Kraken.
 * haaten: to be named, call; (hætþ, heht, gehaaten)
 * to be called: (hatte); he hatte Michael: he is called Michael
 * to name, call: þu hætþ hin Nick: you call him Nick. (with double accusative)
 * to order, command; (hætþ, heht, gehaaten); he heht mic kommen: he ordered me to come (w.a. pronoun and infinitive)
 * laken: to play, jump around; (lækþ, lelk, gelaken)
 * læten: to let, allow; (lætþ, lert, gelæten)
 * ondræden: to dread; (ondrædþ, ondrerd, ondræden)
 * ræden: to advise; (rædþ, rerd, geræden)
 * this verb has several meanings:
 * to read (rædþ, redd, geræden)
 * to advise (rædþ, rerd, geræden)
 * to interpret, explain (rædþ, redd, geræden)
 * weak: to prepare (rædþ, rædde, geræded)
 * geræden: to consult, give counsel; to arrange, direct, set in order, ordain (gerædþ, geredd, geræden)
 * spaten: to spit; (spætþ, spert, gespaten)

Weak Verbs
There are 3 kinds of weak verbs, the type 1, type 2, and irregular (type 3).

Type 1
Historically a large class of verbs, today these are those with vowel alteration in the past tense (formerly class 1b in Old English). Vowel alterations: e-o-o

þenken: to think Principle Parts: þenken (þenkþ), þohte, geþoht

Others:
 * bringen: to bring (brohte, gebroht)
 * bycgen: to buy (bohte, geboht)
 * dreccen: to afflict (drahte, gedraht)
 * dwellen: to hinder (dwallde, gedwalld)
 * kweccen: to shake (kwahte, gekwaht)
 * kwellen: to kill (kwalde, gekwald)
 * leccen: to moisten (lahte, gelaht)
 * ræcen: to reach (rahte, geraht)
 * reccen: to narrate (rahte, geraht)
 * seken: to seek, search, look for (sohte, gesoht)
 * ~ to: to try to get from (to): ic seke feif Bœke to þem Bokscoppen I'm trying to get five books from the bookstore
 * sellen: to sell (sallde, gesalld)
 * to sell for a price (~ wiþ): þu sellst þie Bok wiþ feif Pund? you're selling the book for five pounds?
 * to sell at a price (~ to): wiȝ selleþ Kaffee to þrim Pund. we sell coffee at three pounds.
 * to give something (w.a.) to somebody (w.d.); he sallde him þat Auto: he gave him the car
 * stellen: to place, put (stallde, gestalld)
 * streccen: to stretch (strahte, gestraht)
 * tæcen: to teach (demonstrate, show) (tahte, getaht)
 * to teach from books would be læren
 * to show the way: he tahte þem Werr þen Pæþ. he showed the man the path
 * tellen: to count (tallde, getalld)
 * þeccen: to cover (þahte, geþaht)
 * þenken: to think (þohte, geþoht)
 * þynken: to seem (þuhte, geþuht) impersonal w.d. pronoun; miȝ þynkþ, þat he is ȝong it seems to me that he's young.
 * weccen: to awake, wake, rouse from sleep (wahte, gewaht); transitive verb
 * to rouse from sleep
 * to enliven, stimulate, refresh
 * to excite, stir up
 * to raise what is depressed
 * to kindle, give life to; he wahte þat Fyr he kindled the fire
 * wyrken: to work (worhte, geworht); also seen as werken and worken
 * with accusative: to make, form, construct
 * to work, do, perform

Type 2
Historically, verbs ending in -ian in Old English belonged to this class. Today these are all regular weak verbs.

Irregular Weak Verbs
There are 4 weak verbs which are irregular, historically speaking.


 * haben: to have (hæfþ, hafde, gehafd)
 * hycgen: to think (hyjþ, hogde, gehogd)
 * this verb is used to mean: to think, consider, meditate; to determine, intend, strive; unlike þenken, which is used in all other cases of modern 'think'
 * libben: to life (lifþ, lifde, gelifd)
 * secgen: to say (sæjþ, sæjde, gesæjd)

Preterite Present
There are several preterite-present verbs, several of which are common modal verbs.

Present Indicative Present Subjunctive: Present Perfect: ic habe gekuþ Present Perfect Subjunctive: þu habest gekuþ Past Indicative: Past Subjunctive: Past Perfect: ic hafde gekuþ; þat ic gekuþ hafde Past Perfect Subjunctive: ic hæfde gekuþ; þat ic gekuþ hæfde Future Indicative: ic werðe kunnen; þat ic kunnen werðe Future Subjunctive: þu werðest kunnen; þat þu kunnen werðest Future Perfect: ic werðe kunnen haben; þat ic XYZ werðe kunnen haben Future Perfect Subjunctive: þu werðest kunnen haben; if þu XYZ werðest kunnen haben


 * agen: to own (ag, agst, ag; ahte, geagen)
 * benugen: to need, want, require w.g.
 * principle parts: benugen (beneah), benohte, benugen
 * dugen: to avail, be of use (deag, deagst, deag; dohte, gedugen)
 * durren: to dare (darr, darrst, darr; dorste, gedurren)
 * frakunnen: to despise, scorn, mistrust
 * gemunen: to remember (geman, gemanst, geman; gemunde, gemunen)
 * genugen: to suffice, be sufficient, not be wanting w.g. (genugen (geneah), genohte, genugen)
 * kunnen: to know how to, can, be able to
 * principle parts: kunnen (kann), kuðe, gekunnen
 * magen: to be able to, can
 * principle parts: magen (mæȝ), mahte, gemagen
 * moten: to have permission to, may
 * principle parts: moten (mot, most), moste, gemoten
 * scullen: to be obligated to, shall (scall, scollde, gescullen)
 * þurfen: to need (þarf, þorfte, geþurfen)
 * unnen: to grant (ann, uðe, geunnen)
 * witten: to know (waat, wiste, gewitten)

Of the above, the modal verbs (which take infinitives to complete their meaning) are: kunnen, durren, magen, moten, þurfen, scullen, willen

Example: ic þarf gaan  I need to go ic will gaan I want to go ic mot gaan I may go ic scall gaan I shall go ic darr gaan I dare to go ic mæȝ gaan I can go (I am able to go) ic kann gaan I know how to go

Wesen: To be
The verb to be is irregular in practically every Indo-European language, and Niw Englisc is no different.

Present Tense
Indicative: Subjunctive: Present Perfect: wesen + gewesen: ic em gewesen Present Perfect Subjunctive: ic sei gewesen

Past Tense
Indicative: Subjunctive: Past Perfect: ic was gewesen Past Perfect Subjunctive: ic wære gewesen

Future Tense
Alone amongst all verbs, wesen has a future tense, supplied by the future infinitive been. Indicative: Subjunctive (pronounced in two syllables bay-eh, bay-est, etc.): Referring to the present or near present: Future Perfect: ic bim gewesen I will have been Future Perfect Subjunctive: ic bee gewesen I may want to have been

Referring to the past from a future time frame: Future Perfect: ic bim gebeen I will have been Future Perfect Subjunctive: ic bee gebeen I may want to have been