Middle English Grammar

Peter Hofstee 2011

CASES
Nominative: Accusative: Genitive: Dative: Subject; Complement (He is a man). Direct object. Possessive. Indirect object (She gave a cookie to him).

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
First-person pronouns singular nom. acc. gen. dat. I (I) me (me) my (my) me (me) plural we (we) us (us) our (our) us (us) Second-person pronouns1 singular (inf.) thou/thow (you)2 thee (you) thyn (your) thee (you) plural (formal) ye (you) you/yow (you) your (your) you/yow (you)

Third-person pronouns masculine nom. acc. gen. dat. he (he) hym, him (him) his (his) hym, him (him) neuter it, hit (it) it, hit (it) his (its) it, hit (it) feminine she (she) hir, hyr (her) hir (her) hir, hyr (her) plural they (they) hem (them) hir (their) hem (them)

__________ 1 The sg. forms were used to indicate formality and distance, while the pl. forms expressed a degree of formality, distance and politeness. Note that God was also addressed informally with thou.
2

Also occur in contracted forms, e.g.: artow (art thou/thou art), canstow (can you/you can).

NOUNS

singular nom. / acc. gen. dat. stoon stoones stoon

plural stoones stoones stoones

Variant plural forms also include: <-is, -ys>: yeris, wyvys. <-z> if the word ends in <t>: tirauntz, instrumentz. <-en>, derived om the OE weak noun declension: children, oxen.

ADJECTIVES
(Descended om OE; the table below applies to singular monosyllabic adjectives.) Weak (ending with -e) If preceded by a denite article (the). If preceded by a demonstrative. If preceded by a possessive pronoun. If preceded by a proper noun in gen. case (e.g. Goddes owene son) If preceded by an adjective in vocative case (cf. Latin, used for exclamations): O deere housbonde! Strong If preceded by an indenite article (a, an). All other instances.

OPEN AND CLOSE VOWELS

Long o: Close /o:/ In PDE pronounced with /u/ (good), /u:/ (foot), or // (other). Open /:/ A diphthong in PDE. Or, sometimes the PDE spelling is <oa>. Long e: Close /e:/ In PDE the spelling is <e> or <ee>. Open /:/ In PDE the spelling is <ea>. Silent e: riche plus h or vowel the e is dropped.

VERBS
VERB MOODS: Indicative, subjunctive (expressing a possibility or desire) and imperative. WEAK VERBS: Preterite is formed by adding <-d>. STRONG VERBS: Preterite is formed by change of stem vowel (as in PDE bind/bound).

Present forms

Preterite (past) forms

WEAK STRONG

Subjunctive forms
PRESENT PRETERITE

sg.

loue (love) louest (love) loueth* (loves)

louede louedest louede louede(n)

bounde bounde bounde bounde(n)

loue loue loue loue(n)

binde binde binde binde(n)

louede louede louede louede(n)

pl.

loue(n) (love)

* Third p. sg. variation: rideth, rit; sitteth, sit, writeth, writ; byndeth, bynt. Participle forms Present participle: Weak past participle: Strong past participle:

louyng, bindyng louede bounde

The irregular verb be

INDICATIVE SUBJUNCTIVE PARTICIPLES IMPERATIVE

present sg. am art is pl. be ar

preterite was were was were

present be be be are

preterite were were were were

present beyng

past been

be

beth

Verb phrases, auxiliaries, etc. myghte might, but usually means could. gan + innitive: gan is used as an auxiliary, indicating past tense (e.g. gan wype = wiped) shal: only translated with shall if used with I. shulan & willan: mostly full verbs in ME. kunnan = know how

COUNCTIONS
al although, even if and, and if if als, al so as but, but if if, unless eek/eke also for, for that because forthy therefore forwhy because for to in order to or or either or other, outher or sin/syn since sithe since ther(as) where wher whether; also used to introduce a question

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
that (that) tho (those, then) this (this) thise/these (these) ilke/thilke (the same/that, this) yon (yonder)

FREQUENTLY USED WORDS

again al be that anon benedicte but, but if can, kan clepe ech eek, eke ful han hem hem lost/liste hight ilke koude maugre namely nat ne noght nones, nonys nyce Negated verbs nam nas nere niste back 3 although at once bless us unless know (how to), be able call each also very have them they wanted named, called same knew (how to), could in spite of especially, specically not not, nor nought, nothing; not occasion foolish am not was not were not did not know o, (that) on pardee rede right (adv.) sith somdel swich syn task: taketh than(ne) ther, ther as thoughte (imp.) thynketh (imp.) war a ware yow wher where as whylom yaf ycleped ydo one by God; certainly advise, interpret, read just, quite since, then somewhat such since take then, than where it seemed it seems aware (beth war) beware, take heed where, whether where once (upon a time), formerly gave named done

nolde noot nys nyste

would not know not is not knew not

__________ 3 Context-dependent, e.g. with a verb of movement.

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