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Adjectives and Adverbs

Adjectives

The syntax of adjectives

In Present-day English, our word order requires us to place adjectives before the noun. We would say the small house was built on the hill rather than the house small was built on the hill. The word order in Old English does not have this requirement for adjectives. To keep things simple, the adjectives in noun phrases in the following examples will come before the noun – but be aware that this isn’t always the case!

Strength

It may seem a foreign concept to Present-day English speakers, but Old English adjectives will either be considered either grammatically strong or weak.

In terms of morphology, the strength of an adjective will impact the inflection of the root word. Weak adjectives tend to have less variation in their inflections compared to strong adjectives and are considered grammatically weak. What’s important to remember is that when selecting an adjective for translation, you’ll be given both a weak and strong option.

The strength of an adjective is determined by whether it is following a definite determiner (the/that/those) or possessive determiner (his/her/their) or not. OE has no indefinite determiner (a/an), so when translating any adjectives following a PDE indefinite determiner, the adjectives will automatically be strong. Due to OE conveying meaning through inflections rather than word order, we need to ensure that the strength of an adjective is selected correctly.

Let’s take a look at some examples of adjective strength:

In the PDE sentence I saw the young child, we would need to translate the adjective young as weak since it follows the definite determiner the.

I saw the young child = ic geseah þone ḡeonge c̄ild

However, if we changed the PDE sentence to I saw a young child, we would need to use the strong form of the adjective young as it is now following an indefinite determiner – which OE does not have.

I saw a young child = ic geseah ḡeong c̄ild

In the PDE sentence the river is cold, we would need to use the strong form of the adjective as there is no determiner or possessive pronoun before cold.

the river is cold = seo ēa is ceald

A sentence can contain both weak and strong adjectives. In the sentence that big forest is near, we can see that the first adjective big is following the determiner that, meaning it must be a weak adjective. The second adjective near does not come after a determiner, meaning that it must be strong.

that big forest is near = se mic̄ela weald is nēah

Gender

As explained in the section regarding Old English nouns, there are three grammatical genders used in OE: masculine, feminine, and neuter.  The gender of an adjective is dependent on the gender of the noun that it is describing.

For example, in the noun phrase the beautiful flowers, the noun blotsman (flowers) is masculine, so the masculine form of the adjective is also used, fæḡeran (beautiful).

The beautiful flowers = þā fæḡeran blotsman

Adjectives of different genders can be used within the same sentence, providing there are multiple nouns with differing genders. In the PDE sentence the wise king told seven secrets to his frightened daughter, the adjective wise would need to be in the masculine form as it is modifying a masculine noun.

the wise king = se snotora cyning

However, because daughter is a feminine noun in Old English, the adjective frightened must also be feminine.

his frightened daughter = his āclan dehter

Number

Old English adjectives can either be singular or plural. The singular form is used when the adjective is only describing one thing and the plural is used when an adjective is describing multiple things. Like with gender, the noun that the adjective is describing will dictate the number of the adjective.

For example, in the PDE sentence the proud soldier fights, the adjective proud would need to be singular as it is only describing one person.

the proud soldier fights = se hygewlanc cempa campaþ

If we then change the sentence to the proud soldiers fight, the noun is now plural. Therefore, the adjective must also be plural.

the proud soldiers fight = þā hygewlancan cempan campaþ

Case

Old English adjectives fall under four cases: nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. Like strength, gender, and number, the case of an adjective will determine the ending that the adjective will take. The case of the noun that the adjective is describing impacts the case of the adjective as they must agree with one another.

The nominative case is used for the subject of a sentence – the adjective must be describing the person or the thing that is performing the action within the sentence.

For example, in the sentence the wise king told seven secrets to his frightened daughter, the noun king is performing the action in the sentence, so this must be the subject. Because the king is described using the adjective wise, this must also be in the nominative case.

the wise king = se snotora cyning

The accusative case is used for the direct object of a sentence – the adjective must describe the thing being affected by the action within the sentence.

For example, in the sentence the sharp sword cuts my right leg, my right leg is the direct object of the sentence as it is directly affected by the verb cuts. Right is an adjective and, along with the possessive determiner and noun, the translation must be in the accusative case.

my right leg = mīn swīþran scāncan.

The dative case is used for the indirect object of a sentence – the adjective must be describing something not directly affected by the verb.

For example, in the sentence the wise king told seven secrets to his frightened daughter, the noun phrase his frightened daughter, which contains the adjective frightended, is the indirect object and therefore must be in the dative case.

his frightened daughter = his āclan dehter

The genitive case is used for possession – when the adjective describes something that belongs to someone or something.

For example, in the sentence he burns the small town’s forest, the noun phrase the small town’s would be genitive.

the small town’s = þæs minnan tūnes.

In the PDE sentence the beautiful flowers scratch the young child, we have to use the nominative form of the adjective beautiful (fæḡeran), but the accusative form of the adjective young (ḡeonge).

the beautiful flowers scratch the young child = þā fæḡeran blotsman clawaþ þæt ḡeonge magutimber

Grade

Comparatives

Comparatives are adjectives that compare one noun to another. For example, in the sentence my tree is taller, the adjective denoting the property of the tree is a comparative. Like other adjectives, the gender of a comparative will be dependent on the gender of the noun it is modifying, and its case will be dependent on the role within the sentence. However, it is important to note that comparatives are always weak. To form a comparative adjective, we must place an r between the stem of the adjective and the inflectional suffix – the ending added to the root. In the example my tree is taller, the noun tree is neuter, singular, and nominative, meaning that the comparative must also be neuter, singular, and nominative. It must also be weak as comparatives always are. The sentence would translate to mīn trēow is brantre – brant being the stem of the adjective, r being the suffix needed to make it a comparative, and e being the suffix it takes as a singular, neuter, nominative, and weak adjective.

Superlatives

Superlatives are adjectives which tell us the most extreme form of something. For example, in the sentence she is the fairest, the adjective fairest is a superlative, as opposed to the adjectives fair or fairer. Unlike comparatives, superlatives can be weak or strong. Superlatives must take the suffixes -ost or -st in between the adjective stem and suffix. In the sentence she is the fairest, the root of the superlative adjective would be wenlic, the suffix -ost must be added to make it a superlative, and the suffix -e must be added as it is a feminine, singular, weak, nominative adjective. The translation of the sentence would therefore be hēo is se wenlicoste.

 Understanding OE adjectives

To translate Present-day English to Old English correctly, we need to realise the strength, gender, number, and case of an adjective.

If we wanted to translate young in the sentence my young child plays with the oldest dog, we would need to:

  1. Identify the adjective's strength
  2. Identify the adjective's gender
  3. Identify the adjective's number
  4. Identify the adjective's case


  1. Because the adjective follows the possessive determiner my, it must be weak
  2. Because the noun child is neuter, the adjective must also be neuter
  3. Because the noun child is singular, the adjective must also be singular
  4. Because the noun child is doing the action in the sentence, it must be the subject and in the nominative case, therefore making any adjectives describing it also nominative

Using this information and the tables below, we can determine that the translation of young in the sentence would be geonge.

If we wanted to translate oldest in the sentence my young child plays with the oldest dog, we would need to:

  1. Identify the adjective’s strength
  2. Identify the adjective’s gender
  3. Identify the adjective’s number
  4. Identify the adjective’s case


  1. Because the adjective followed the determiner the, it must be weak
  2. Because the noun dog is masculine, the adjective must also be masculine
  3. Because the noun dog is singular, the adjective must also be singular
  4. Because the noun dog is directly impacted by the action in the sentence, it must be the direct object and in the accusative case, therefore making the adjective also accusative
  5. We can see that the adjective here is a superlative, so it must take the additional suffix -ost/-st in between the stem and suffix

Using the information above and the tables below, we can see that the correct translation of oldest would be ealdostan.

Adverbs

Old English adverbs are fairly simple compared to other word classes. They’re formed by adding an inflection to an adjective or noun - or sometimes they don’t take any inflections at all.

If we had the PDE sentence the girl ate quickly we can identify quickly as an adverb since it is describing how the action – the verb – has been done.

the girl ate quickly = mǣgþ ǣt hraþe

Here, the adverb hraþe is the root word and adjective hraþ (meaning quick) with an -e suffix.

In the PDE sentence they think entirely of priesthood, the adverb is entirely since it describes how the act of thinking is being done.

they think entirely of priesthood = hīe hygþ eall of sācerdhāde

The adverb here takes no inflection from the adjective and noun eall (meaning all for both word classes).

In the PDE sentence I spoke humbly, we can identify humbly as the adverb since it describes how the person completed the act of speaking.

I spoke humbly = ic spræc ēaþmōdlīce

The adverb here is the adjective ēaþmōd (humble) with the suffix -līce added to make it an adverb.