faran
FOCUSED PRACTICE · 1 PARADIGM · 4 FORMS
to go
Core drill · 200×
0 / 200 correct repetitions
- 1 Infinitive
- 2 Preterite Singular
- 3 Preterite Plural
- 4 Past Participle
0 / 4 forms · 4 lines
Strong Verbs — Principal Parts (Classes I–VII)
Historical Grammar
There are, likewise, two systems of conjugation in Old English: the Strong or Old Conjugation, and the Weak or New Conjugation.
The verbs of the Strong Conjugation (the so-called Irregular Verbs of Modern English) number about three hundred, of which not one hundred remain in Modern English (§ 101, Note). They form their preterit and frequently their past participle by changing the radical vowel of the present stem. This vowel change or modification is called ablaut (pronounced) áhp-lowt): Modern English sing, sang, sung; rise, rose, risen. As the radical vowel of the preterit plural is often different from that of the preterit singular, there are four principal parts or tense stems in an Old English strong verb, instead of the three of Modern English. The four principal parts in the conjugation of a strong verb are (1) the present indicative, (2) the preterit indicative singular, (3) the preterit indicative plural, and (4) the past participle.
Strong verbs fall into seven groups, illustrated in the following table:
103. (1) It will be seen from the conjugation of drīfan that the present stem in all strong verbs is used throughout the present indicative, the present subjunctive, the imperative, the infinitive, the gerund, and the present participle. More than half of the endings, therefore, of the Strong Conjugation are added directly to the present stem.
(2) That the preterit singular stem is used in only two forms of the verb, the 1st and 3d persons singular of the preterit indicative: Ic drāf, hē drāf.
(3) That the preterit plural stem is used in the preterit plural indicative, in the 2d person of the preterit singular indicative, and in the singular and plural of the preterit subjunctive.
(4) That the stem of the past participle (gedrif-) is used for no other form.
(1) The Infinitive and Participles are used chiefly in verb-phrases (§§ 138-141); but apart from this function, the Infinitive, being a neuter noun, may serve as the subject or direct object of a verb. Hātan (to command, bid), lǣtan (to let, permit), and onginnan (to begin) are regularly followed by the Infinitive: Hine rīdan lyste, To ride pleased him; Hēt ðā bǣre sęttan, He bade set down the bier; Lǣtað ðā lȳtlingas tō mē cuman, Let the little ones come to me; ðā ongann hē sprecan, then began he to speak.
CHAPTER XX.
STRONG VERBS: CLASSES IV, V, VI, AND VII.
CONTRACT VERBS.
| PRESENT | PRET. SING. | PRET. PLUR. | PAST PARTICIPLE. |
|---|---|---|---|
| I. | |||
| Bītan to bite: | |||
| Ic bīt-e, I bite or shall bite. | Ic bāt , I bit. | Wē bit-on, we bit. | Ic hæbbe ge -bit-en, I have bitten. |
| II. | |||
| Bēodan , to bid: | |||
| Ic bēod-e , I bid or shall bid. | Ic bēad, I bade. | Wē bud-on , we bade. | Ic hæbbe ge-bod-en , I have bidden. |
| III. | |||
| Bindan, to bind : | |||
| Ic bind-e, I bind or shall bind. | Ic bǫnd , I bound. | Wē bund-on, we bound. | Ic hæbbe ge-bund-en , I have bound. |
| IV. | |||
| Beran. to bear: | |||
| Ic ber-e, I bear or shall bear. | Ic bær , I bore. | Wē bǣr-on , we bore. | Ic hæbbe ge-bor-en , I have borne . |
| V. | |||
| Metan, to measure: | |||
| Ic mēt-e , I measure or shall measure. | Ic mæt, I measured. | Wē mǣton , we measured. | Ic hæbbe ge-met-en , I have measured. |
| VI. | |||
| Faran, to go: | |||
| Ic far-e, I go or shall go. | Ic fōr, I went. | Wē fōron, we went. | Ic eom ge-far-en, I have (am) gone . |
| VII. | |||
| Feallan, to fall: | |||
| Ic faell-e, I fall or shall fall. | Ic fēoll, I fell. | Wē fēoll-on, we fell. | Ic eom 3 ge-feall-en, I have (am) fallen . |
Loquentes Practice Reference
Our drill practices the four canonical stem principal parts across all seven ablaut classes. The table above is Smith’s own seven-group table (models bītan, bēodan, bindan, beran, metan, faran, feallan); the prose adds his Class I drīfan conjugation note (§103), his account of the Infinitive (§105, with rīdan) and Chapter XX’s principal-parts-only treatment of Classes IV–VII.