# Extended Grammar ## expand\_more **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. Sort **Singular** **Possessive** **Plural** **Meaning** **Regular** aventure aventures (chance,risk) stound stoundes (time, moment) wight wightes wightes (creature) **Short vowel and consonant** bryd bryddes bryddes (bird) god goddes , goddis goddes , goddis (god) **Irregular** deer deer (deer) hors horses hors **Stem changes** mous mouses mys (mouse) gos goses gees **Old -en plurals** eye, ye eyen, eighen, yen (eye) fo, foo fon [foos] (enemy) too toon [toos] (toes) 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** Sort**Subject** **Possessive** **Object** I, **ich** my, **myn** me **thou** **thy, thyn** **thee** he his him she her hir(e) it, **hit** **his** it, **hit** **Plural** we oure us ye youre you they **hire** them, **hem** 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. Sort Weak Strong Singular sik lay the goode man his opinion was good O goode Custance A good man was ther Plural for the goode men his hors were goode 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. Sort **Positive** **Comparative** **Superlative** **Regular** strong stronger strongest grete gretter grettest **Irregular** good bet best bad badder , werse werste muche(l) mo meste "many, more, etc." Iyte(l) lasse/lesse leeste "small, smaller " 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. SortIndicative Doun on hir knees falleth she to grounde. *She falls down on her knees to the ground* Subjunctive And he falle, he hath non helpe to rise *If he should fall, he would have no help to get up* A verray pestilence upon yow falle! *May a real plague afflict you!* Al falle it foule or faire *Whether it turn out good or evil* 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. SortSingular Go bet! (*Go quickly!*) Com hider, love, to me (*Come hither, l ove, to me*) Plural Gooth forth! ([*you, pl*.] *go forth.!*) "Cometh neer," quod he, "my lady Prioress." ( *Come nearer, " he said "my lady Prioress.* ") 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: SortSing. Plu. Sing. Plu. I herde we herden I wente we wenten thou herdest ye herden thou wentest ye wenten he herde they herden he wente they wenten 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: SortSing. Plu. Sing. Plu. I am we be(e)n, aren I was we were(n) thou art ye be(e)n, aren thou were(n) ye were(n) he/she/hit is they be(e)n, aren he were(n) they were(n) 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. SortPresent Sing ular Present PIural Preterite dar, darst (dare) dorste, durste may, mayst (to be able) mowe(n) myghte, myghtest, myghte(n) mot, most (must, may) mote(n) moste,muste, muster, mosten owe, owest, oweth (ought, owe, own) owe(n) oght, oughtest, oughten tharf (it is necessary) thurfen thurfte kan, kanst (know how, know) connen coude woo(s)t (know, discover) witen wiste shal, shalt (must)* shul, shulle(n) sholde, sholdest, sholden \* 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: Sorthim liketh it pleases him him list it pleases him; he wants him reweth it pains hirn ; he rues, repents hire mette it dreamed to her; she dreamed us nedeth it is lacking to us; we need deigned hym nat it was not proper to him; he disdained hire oughte it was right for her; she ought us moste it is necessary for us; we must it remembreth me I remember 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**). Sortthenke(n) And after wyn on Venus moste I thynke *After drinking I must think of Venus (lovemaking)* Nay, nay, I thoghte it revere, trewely! No, no, I never thought it (such a thing), truly! thynke(n) Which was the mooste fre, as thynketh yow? *Who was the most generous, as it seems to you?* But nathelees, hir thoughte that she dyde *But nevertheless, it seemed to her that she was dying*