In the Germanic languages, strong verbs are those which mark their past tenses by means of ablaut. In English, these are verbs like sing, sang, sung. The term "strong verb" is a translation of German "starkes Verb", which was a term coined by the linguist Jakob Grimm.
This article discusses the history of the forms of these verbs in the West Germanic languages, i.e. English, German and Dutch, and the historical forms Old English and Old High German. For other aspects of Germanic verbs, see the articles English grammar, English verbs, German grammar, Dutch grammar, Germanic verb, Weak verb, Ablaut, Umlaut, Verner's law and Wandel.
Conjugation
As an example of the conjugation of a strong verb, we may take the Old English class 2 verb bēodan, "to command" (cf. English "bid").
This has the following forms:
While the inflections are perfectly regular, the vowel changes in the stem are not predictable without an understanding of the Indo-European ablaut system, and students have to learn the principal parts by heart: bēodan, bīett, bēad, budon, boden. The five principal parts are:
- 1. The infinitive: bēodan. The same vowel is used through most of the present tense.
- 2. The present tense 3rd singular: bīett. The same vowel is used in the 2nd singular.
- 3. The preterite 1st singular: bēad, which is identical to the 3rd singular.
- 4. The preterite plural: budon. The same vowel is used in the 2nd singular.
- 5. The participle: boden. This vowel is only used in the participle.
Strictly speaking, ablaut only causes a three-fold distinction. Parts 1 and 2 are from the e-grade, part 3 from the o-grade, and parts 4 and 5 from the zero grade. The other two distinctions are caused by different kinds of vowel harmony: part 2 is derived from part 1 by Umlaut. Part 5 is derived from part 4 by an a-mutation. Since these vowel-harmony processes only take place in some verbs, parts 2 and 5 are not always distinct.
Although the ablaut in PIE was very regular, the complexities of the vowel changes between PIE and Germanic mean that six different ablaut sequences (in German: Ablautreihen) exist in the Germanic languages. We refer to these as the six classes of the strong verb. In addition, there were originally reduplicating verbs, which in the West Germanic languages may be thought of as a seventh class. The Anglo-Saxon scholar Henry Sweet gave the classes names (the "drive conjugation", the "choose conjugation" etc), but normally they are simply referred to by numbers.
Class 1
Class 1, Sweet's "drive conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was followed by an i. This combination is effectively a diphthong in PIE, or in the zero-grade, a simple i. Regular vowel shifts in Germanic change ei>ī and oi>ai. Vowel harmony does not affect class 1.
|
| Part 1
| Part 2
| Part 3
| Part 4
| Part 5
|
| Ablaut grade
| e
| e
| o
| zero
| zero
|
| PIE
| ei
| ei
| oi
| i
| i
|
| Germanic
| ī
| ī
| ai
| i
| i
|
| Old English
| ī
| ī
| ā
| i
| i
|
| Old High German
| ī
| ī
| ei/ē
| i
| i
|
In Old English, Germanic ai becomes ā.
- rīdan rītt rād ridon riden ("to ride")
- wrītan wrītt wrāt writon writen ("to write")
- scīnan scīnt scān scinon scinen ("to shine")
Modern English has experienced a diphthongisation of ī (though it is still spelled with an i) and a shift ā>ō. The modern preterite is taken from the old preterite singular, and in the case of "shine", the past participle has also assimilated to the preterite singular.
- ride rode ridden
- write wrote written
- shine shone shone
Class 1 verbs in modern English are bide, bite, drive, ride, rise, shine, shite, slide, smite, write.
In Old High German, Germanic ai becomes ei, and then by OHG monophthogisation it becomes ē before a velar consonant. Thus Old High German has two subclasses, depending on the vowel in the preterite singular:
- 1a rītan rīt reit ritum giritan ("to ride")
- 1b līhan līh lēh ligum giligan ("to loan" - for an explanation of the consonant change, see Verner's law.)
Like English, Modern German diphthongises the ī (spelling it ei). The modern language takes its preterite from the old preterite plural, so the distinction between the two subclasses disappears. However a new subdivision arises because the i of the past tense forms is lengthened to ie before a single consonant. As it happens, reiten and leihen serve as examples of this too, but many OHG 1a verbs are in the modern long vowel group.
- (short vowel) reiten ritt geritten ("to ride")
- (long vowel) leihen lieh geliehen ("to loan")
Class 1 verbs in modern German are:
- with short vowels: beißen, bleichen, gleichen, gleiten, greifen, leiden, pfeifen, reißen, reiten, scheißen, schleichen, schleifen, schmeißen, schneiden, schreiten, spleißen, streichen, streiten, weichen (also the originally weak verb kneifen by analogy)
- with vowel lengthening: bleiben, gedeihen, leihen, meiden, reiben, scheiden, scheinen, schreiben, schreien, schweigen speien, steigen, treiben, verzeihen, weisen (also the originally weak verb preisen by analogy).
Class 2
Class 2, Sweet's "choose conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was followed by an u. In PIE it is therefore very similar to class 1. A regular vowel shift in Germanic changes ou>au. In two separate vowel harmony processes, the present singular is umlauted because of an i in the inflection and the u in the past participle is assimilated to the a in the inflection.
|
| Part 1
| Part 2
| Part 3
| Part 4
| Part 5
|
| Ablaut grade
| e
| e
| o
| zero
| zero
|
| PIE
| eu
| eu
| ou
| u
| u
|
| Germanic
| eu
| eu
| au
| u
| o
|
| Old English
| ēo
| īe
| ēa
| u
| o
|
| Old High German
| io
| iu
| ou / ō
| u
| o
|
There was also a sub-class with present stem in ū, an anomalous form which seems to originate in PIE.
In Old English, Germanic eu becomes ēo.
- scēotan scīett scēat scuton scoten ("to shoot")
- bēodan bīett bēad budon boden ("to command")
- flēogan flīehþ flēag flugon flogen ("to fly")
- cēosan cīest cēas curon coren ("to choose" - note Verner's law consonant phenomenon)
An Old English example with the present stem in ū:
- scūfan scŷfþ scēaf scufon scofen ("to shove")
In Modern English, this is a small group characterised by the o vowel of the participle being assimilated to the preterite:
- shoot shot shot
- fly flew flew
Class 2 verbs in Modern English: choose, fly, freeze, shoot.
In Old High German, the usual pattern is:
- biogan biugu boug bugum gibogan ("to bend")
An Old High German example with present stem in ū:
- sūfan siufu souf sufum gisofan ("to drink")
A special case is known as wandel - this is umlaut throughout the whole of the present stem.
- briuwan briuwu brou brūwum gibrūwan ("to brew")
A small group sometimes called class 2b have Old High German monophthongisation in the preterite singular:
- biotan biutu bōt butum gibotan ("to offer")
Regular shifts on the way to Modern German change io>ie and ou>o. The modern preterite is based on the OHG preterite singular:
- biegen bog gebogen ("to bend")
- schieben schob geschoben ("to shove")
- saugen sog gesogen ("to suck")
Class 2 verbs in Modern German are: biegen, bieten, fliegen, fliehen, fließen, frieren, genießen, gießen, kriechen, riechen, schieben, schießen, schließen, sprießen, stieben, verlieren, ziehen; with ū-present: saufen, saugen.
Two anomalous class 2 verbs in modern German are lügen ("to tell a lie") and trügen ("to deceive"). This no doubt arises from a desire to disambiguate, Middle High German liegen, which (like English lie) had a double meaning. Trügen would have followed in its wake, because the two words form a common rhyming collocation.
Class 3
Class 3, Sweet's "bind conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was followed by a nasal (n) or a liquid (r/l) and another consonant. Also possible is h plus another consonant. So the combinations are:
- Class 3a: CVnC, CVnn, CVm, CVmm
- Class 3b: CVlC, CVll, CVrC, CVhC
In the zero-grade forms, the nasal or liquid became a syllabic sonorant in PIE, transcribed as a circle below the letter. [Provisional transcription here ol etc.] In Germanic, these syllabic nasals and liquids were not used, so a u vowel was added in compensation: ol>ul. Umlaut causes a shift e>i in the present singular, but in the case of the nasals, this shift takes place throughout the present stem: this is referred to as wandel - the same effect as umlaut, but triggered by the nasal consonant. The preterite singular shows the standard Germanic vowel shift o>a. In the participle, ul becomes ol through vowel harmony, but only with the liquid, as the vowel harmony is blocked by the nasal.
|
| Part 1
| Part 2
| Part 3
| Part 4
| Part 5
|
| Ablaut grade
| e
| e
| o
| zero
| zero
|
| PIE
| en / el
| en / el
| on / ol
| on / ol
| on / ol
|
| Germanic
| in / el
| in / il
| an / al
| un / ul
| un / ol
|
| Old English
| in / el
| in / il
| an / eal
| un / ul
| un / ol
|
| Old High German
| in / el
| in / il
| an / al
| un / ul
| un / ol
|
In Old English, class 3a is little changed from Germanic.
- drincan drinceþ dranc druncon druncen
- bindan bindeþ band bundon bunden
Class 3b experiences a diphthongisation called "Brechung" in preterite singular (a>ea); before r and h this also affects the present stem (e>eo).
- helpan hilpþ healp hulpon holpen ("to help")
- delfan dilfþ dealf dulfon dolfen ("to dig")
- sweltan swilt swealt swulton swolten ("to die")
- ceorfan cierfþ cearf curfon corfen ("to cut")
- feohtan fieht feaht fuhton fohten ("to fight")
West Saxon palatal diphthongization causes i>ie after g:
- gieldan gieldeþ geald guldon golden ("to pay")
Three verbs have an anomalous æ in preterite singular: berstan ("to burst"), bregdan ("to pull"), frignan ("to ask").
- berstan birst bærst burston borsten
In Modern English, this class is fairly large. This class is still relatively regular: the preterite is mostly formed from the OE preterite singular, occasionally from the preterite plural.
- drink drank drunk(en)
- sing sang sung
However, there are some anomalies. The class 3 verbs in modern English are:
- With nasal: begin, bind, burst, drink, find, run, shrink, sing, sink, slink, spin, spring, sting, stink, swim, win, wind
- With ll: swell
- With h: fight
In Old High German, class 3 has its vowels unchanged from Germanic:
- bindan bindu band bundum gibundan
- helfan hilfu half hulfum giholfan
Modern German takes the preterite from the OHG preterite singular.
- binden band gebunden
- helfen (hilf) half geholfen
However, the o of the IIIb participle has been passed by analogy to some IIIa verbs, and also to the preterite of some verbs of both groups:
- beginnen begann begonnen
- glimmen glomm geglommen ("to glow")
- quellen quoll gequollen ("to spring")
Class 3 verbs in modern German
- IIIa regular: binden, dringen, finden, gelingen, klingen, ringen, schlingen, schwinden, schwingen, singen, sinken, springen, stinken, trinken, zwingen
- IIIa with substitution of o in participle: beginnen, gewinnen, rinnen
- IIIa with substitution of o in preterite and participle: glimmen, klimmen, schwimmen
- IIIb regular: befehlen, bergen; bersten, gelten, helfen, schelten, sterben, verderben, werden, werfen
- IIIb with substitution of o: quellen, schmelzen, schwellen
Class 4
Class 5
Class 6
Class 7
Sources
External links
Conjugating Old English verbs
Last updated: 08-29-2005 03:48:15
