D) Weak Verbs

The number of weak verbs in OE by far exceeded that of strong verbs. In fact, all the verbs, with the exception of the strong verbs and minor groups were weak. Their number was constantly growing since all new verbs derived from other stems were conjugated weak. Among the weak verbs there were many derivatives of OE noun and adjective stems and also derivatives of strong verbs built from one of their stems (usually - Past sg), e.g.

OE talu n tellan v NE tale, tell

OE full adj fyllan v NE full, fill

OE findan, v str. fandian v NE find

Weak verbs formed their Past and Participle II by means of the dental suffix -d- or -t-. In OE the weak verbs are subdivided into three classes differing in the ending of the Infinitive, the sonority of the suffix and the sounds preceding the suffix.

The main differences between the classes were as follows: in class I the Infinitive ended in -an, seldom -ian; the Past form had - de, -ede or -te; Participle II was marked by - d, - ed or -t. Some verbs of Class I had a double consonant in the Infinitive, others had a vowel interchange in the root, used together with suffixation.

Class II had no subdivisions. In Class II the Infinitive ended in -ian and the Past tense stem and Participle II had [o] before the dental suffix. This was the most numerous and regular of all the classes.

The verbs of Class III had an Infinitive in -an and no vowel before the dental suffix; it included only four verbs with a full conjugation and a few isolated forms of other verbs. Genetically, the division into classes goes back to the differences between the derivational stem-suffixes used to build the verbs or the nominal stems from which they were derived.

The verbs of Class I, being i-stems, originally contained the element [-i/j] between the root and the endings. This caused palatal mutation of the root-vowel, and the lengthening of consonants.

In the Past tense the suffix -i- was weakened to -e- after a short root-syllable; if the preceding consonant was voiceless the dental suffix was devoiced to [t]. If the root ended in [t] or [d] with a preceding consonant the dental suffix could merge with the [t,d] of the root and some forms of the Past and Present tense became homonymous.

Participle II of most verbs preserved -e- before the dental suffix, though in some groups it was lost.

The verbs of Class II were built with the help of the stem-suffix -ō, or -ōj- and are known as ō -stems. The Infinitives of all the verbs of Class II ended in -ian but the root-vowel was not affected because at the time of palatal mutation, the verbs preserved the full stem-suffix -ōj- and the long [o:] protected the root-vowel from assimilation.

Class III was made up of a few survivals of the PG third and fourth classes of weak verbs, mostly - æj -stems. The doubling of the consonants in the Infinitive and the mutated vowels are accounted for by the presence of the element -i/-j- in some forms in Early OE.

Table 7

Weak verbs in OE

Principal forms Classes	Infinitive	Past Tense	Participle II	NE
I	-an/-ian tellan	-de/-ede/-te tealde	-ed/-d/-t teald	tell
II	-ian lōcian	-ode lōcode	-od lōcod	look
III	-an libban	-de lifde	-d lifd	live

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