University:
California State University, Northridge
Course:
ENGL 302 | Introduction to Modern Grammar
Academic year:

2024
Views:

43

Pages:

2
Author:

aterizareofn

Preterite-Present Verbs A few Old English verbs (unfortunately they are important and rather common) combine features of strong verbs and weak verbs. These verbs take what would normally be a strong verb past tense (also called a preterite) and transfer it to the present tense. They then build a weak verb paradigm upon that strong verb present tense. This sounds confusing, but makes sense when you see it applied to an actual verb. The basic idea is that preterite-present verbs are strong verbs that have their past tenses and present tenses swapped. This is why they are called "preterite-present." Preterite-present verbs are often used as modals; they are combined with other verbs (usually those other verbs are in the infinitive form) to produce constructions like "remember to go" or "dare to fight." The important verbs in this category are: agan = to possess cunnan = to know dugan = to achieve durran = to dare magan = to be able to motan = to be allowed to munan = to remember nugan = to suffice sculan = must, to be obligated unnan = to grant þurfan = to need witan = to know You'll be seeing these words a lot, so you might as well memorize them now. Conjugating Preterite-Present Verbs To construct a conjugation for a Preterite Present Verb, do the following: Subtract the an ending from the infinitive. This gives you the stem of the verb: witan -an = wit Use the Strong Verb Paradigm to determine what the Past Singular would be: wit would be a Class I Strong Verb, so we know that the Preterite would be wat wit ==> wat This now becomes the stem for the paradigm, and what you would have expected to be the present tense (wit, which, remember, is the stem minus the an ending of the infinitive) moves to the past tense. Preterite-Present Verbs Examples Present Tense Singular 1st Person 2nd Person 3rd Person Plural 1st, 2nd and 3rd Persons wat wast wat witon Past Tense Singular 1st, 2nd and 3rd Persons wiste or wisse 1st, 2nd and 3rd Persons wiste or wisse Plural