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Middle English Morphology
Middle English Morphology
MORPHOLOGY
Lecture 2
The Middle English Verb
Present Indicative Mood
Pr Sg V Sg Pr Pl V Pl
I singe we singen
thou singest ye singen
sche singeth they singen
The phrase she singeth is used for she sings, I singe for I sing, etc. Notice that the plural forms all end in -en.
Infinitives also end in -en, like to singen rather than to sing.
When we talk about the past tense, we distinguish between strong verbs (like singen) and weak verbs
(like bathen). This is because preterite indicative verbs (actions that happened in the past) change their root
vowel and add fewer endings if they're strong, or add -d- or -t- and take more endings if they're weak:
Strong Verbs in the Past Tense
Past Indicative Mood
Pr Sg V Sg Pr Pl V Pl
I sang/song we songe(n)
thou song(e) ye songe(n)
sche sang/song they songe(n)
Weak Verbs in the Past Tense
Past Indicative Mood
Pr Sg V Sg Pr Pl V Pl
I bathede we bathede(n)
thou bathedest ye bathede(n)
sche bathede they bathede(n)
Strong verbs include seen, knowen see, know, and nearly any other verb
that still changes (through "ablaut") its root vowel in Modern English. Weak
verbs are the majority, but other examples are loven, wende love, went.
1.The imperative mood uses a verb as a command. In the singular,
the bare verb occurs (sing!), while the plural ends in -(e)th
(singeth!).
2. Making conditional statements, or for other moods, modal
verbs are used as auxiliary or helping verbs: I shal singe, thou
mightest come, we sholde goon I will sing, you might come,
we should go.
3. The present participle ends in -ing or -inge (like bathinge). The
past participle of weak verbs ends in -d or -t, while strong verbs
modify their stem's vowel and take -e(n). Both weak and strong
past participles often take the prefix y- (like bathed or y-
sungen bathed, sung).
4. Thesubjunctive mood is found more frequently than in Modern
English. It occurs in contrary-to-fact statements. In the singular, we
find a form with -e (she singe she (may or may not) sing), while the
plural has -en (ye singen all of you (may or may not) sing).
5. Negative sentences use the particle ne before the verb and,
increasingly common in Chaucer's day, nat after the verb: I ne wol, I
wol nat I don't wish (to); he ne wot, he wot nat he didn't
know; tarieth nat! don't wait! It is quite common to
find ne contracted with the verb: nis (ne + is) isn't; not (ne +
wot) didn't know (from the verb witen to know (facts or
information)).
The Middle English Noun