Extended Grammar

NOUNS

Nouns in Middle English, like those in Modern English, generally add -s if the word ends with a vowel or -es if the word ends with a consonant to indicate the possessive and plural.

Notice that words ending with consonants preceded by short vowels double their consonants before adding the usual endings.

Some nouns retain the OE dative ending (-e) when they appear as the object of a pronoun in certain fixed expressions&emdash;such as lif. and on live or bed, and to bedde. A select few nouns sometimes appear with no inflection for the genitive singular, such as Lady Chapel (Our Lady's Chapel) and fader soule (father's soul). Others are brother, chirche, and herte.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS
 

Note particularly those forms that differ from Modern English (in boldface). Though there is no hard and fast rule, the "thou" form is generally used as the familiar form of address to children, intimates and inferiors. Conversely, the "you" form is used in polite situations and when addressing superiors.

ADJECTIVES

There are two possibilities for adjectival inflection. The so called "weak" inflection is used after definite articles, and possessives, in the vocative (O goode God), and often before proper names; it is formed by adding e to the base word. The "strong" inflection is used the rest of the time, and is simply the base word with no inflection when singular. Both strong and weak adjectives add e in the plural.

Comparative Adjectives

As in Modern English, -er and -est are added to the adjective stem to form the comparative and superlative forms, though there are some irregular forms.

In a few archaic forms the OE genitive -es is preserved:

alleskinnes   of every kind

noskinnes   of no kind

The old form alder (or alther ) is sometimes used with the superlative to form a compound adjective:

alderbeste   best of all

alderlest   least of all

alderfirst   first of all

alther-fairest   fairest of all

ADVERBS

Adverbs Adverbs are formed from adjectives by adding -ly, -liche or -e. See the Vocabulary list at the end for some of the most common Chaucerian adverbs.

VERBS

The present tense is formed with -e, -rest, and -eth in the singular and -en in the plural:

I,ich here, finde

thou herest, findest

he, she, hit hereth, findeth

we, ye, they heren, finden

The pronoun thou is often suffixed to the verb (usually in questions):

herestow do you hear?

woostow do you know?

*Note: when the stem of the verb ends in -d or -t, the third person singular form is often contracted:

he fynt - he findeth

he rit - he rideth

The present subjunctive is easily formed by the simple addition of -e to the verb stem. Note that the subjunctive is used much more frequently in Middle English than it is today.

The imperative singular usually has no ending (occasionally -e is added to the stem); plural imperatives add -eth to the stem. Stems ending in a vowel usually do not add anything.

Note the use of the plural imperative for polite address.

PRETERITES

As in Modern English the preterite is formed by the addition of -d or -t to the verb stem (the weak conjugation) or by a change in the stem vowel (the "strong" conjugation as in sing, sang, sung). In the weak conjugation the personal endings are often superadded:

Strong verbs form their preterites by regular vowel changes. No personal singular endings are added, but the second person singular and plural have a different vowel from the first and third persons singular. This distinction had already begun to fade by Chaucer's time, however, and the same vowel is frequently used throughout the preterite. Take the verb ginnen (to begin) as an example:

I gan

thou gonne

he, she, it gan

we gonnen

The past participle of both strong and weak verbs frequently has a y prefix; the weak past participle ends in -d or -t, the strong in -e or -en. Example: (y)gonne and (y)herd. As always, the verbs "been," to be, and "gon," to go, are irregular. The forms for the present and preterite are as follows:

Past participle - (y)be(n)

PRETERITE PRESENT

These are usually auxiliary ("helping") verbs, and many of them survive in Modern English. Their present tense is formed on an old preterite, so that the third person singular has no inflectional ending. Their preterites are weak.

* shal also has its modern sense of futurity.

Be careful. These words often have meanings different from their Modern English counterparts.

Some Special Cases

The verb "ginnen," to begin, is most often used in the preterite as a mere auxiliary signifying past time: he gan riden (he rode). Its sense of beginning is usually apparent only when the dependent infinitive is preceded by for to: he gan for to riden (he began to ride). The verb "don," to do, is often used with a causative sense: he did don him sleen (he had him killed).

IMPERSONAL VERBS

Middle English has a great many impersonal constructions. These are some of the most common:

Note the difference between the personal verb thenke(n) and the impersonal thynke(n): the subject of thenken is in the nominative case (I); since thynken is impersonal, it takes not a subject pronoun, but rather an object pronoun (you, hir).