Verbs

Verbs and Old English may seem more complicated than Present-day English at first glance, but compared to other word categories it is relatively simple.

A good first step when translating from PDE to OE is identifying some important details about the modern-day English verb.  

• First, looking at mood; is the verb indicative, subjunctive, imperative, or infinitive?
• Next, identify the tense of the word; in this case we either have present tense or past tense, known as preterite tense.   
• I fear you (present)
• I feared you (preterite)
• There are also present participles (usually a noun ending in “ing” in PDE) and past participles (which use auxiliaries to show past tense).
• Once these two details have been identified, it is time to look at the subject noun in the sentence being translated.
• Is this noun (the person or thing completing the verb being translated) in the first person (e.g., I), second person (e.g., you), third person (e.g., he, she, the king), or plural (e.g., the men, we, they)
• Once you have identified this feature on the subject relating to the verb, you can apply this to the verb also.

Tense

Tense in OE and PDE are similar. OE has two tenses: present and past (or preterite). Future tense is something that can also be expressed in English, however this is commonly done with the use of auxiliary verbs.

Example:

Present tense: I fear you = ic ondrǣde ēowic

Preterite tense: I feared you = ic ondrēd ēowic

Mood

Mood in Present-day English is also similar to mood in Old English. There is the indicative mood, which is the most common and is used to show factual statements e.g. I sleep. The imperative mood expresses direct commands or requests, e.g. Walk to the house. The Subjunctive mood expresses hypothetical or unrealised events. This mood is considered a little unusual because it does not describe any particular tense. It commonly uses were or was, for example I could fight if I were younger.

Noun agreement

When translating a verb from PDE to OE, you must also consider the other words around it because the words all have to agree with each other – known as having concord. For verbs, that means it must agree with the nouns surrounding it. Taking one of the above examples, I fear you, we have to look at the noun that is performing the action (the subject noun.) This subject noun is first person singular, so we take the first person (as well as indicative and present tense for mood and tense, respectively) form of fear, which is ondrǣde. Let’s take a look at some examples considering the aspects of translation that we’ve discussed:

Sentence: The husband and the wife walked into their big house.

Verb: walked

Mood: indicative

Tense: Past/Preterite

Subject noun(s): The husband and the wife (plural)

So, we need the indicative, past tense, plural form of the verb walk, which is ēodon.

Se bonda and seo wīf ēodon in heore micelum hūse.

Sentence: The wise king told seven secrets to his frightened daughter.

Verb: told

Mood: indicative

Tense: Preterite

Subject noun: The wise king (third person)

So, we need the indicative, past tense, third personal form of the verb tell, which is tealde.

Se snotora cyning tealde seofon diernu tō his āclan dehter.

Sentence: I fear for my child’s life

Verb: fear

Mood: Indicative

Tense: Present

Subject noun: I (first person)

So, we need the first person, indicative, present tense form of the verb fear, which is ondrǣde.

Ic ondrǣde tō mīn c̄ildes fēore.

Sentence: The sharp sword cuts my right leg.

Verb: cuts

Mood: Indicative

Tense: Present

Subject noun: the sharp sword (third person)

So, we need the third person, indicative, present tense form of the verb cut, which is ceorfe.

þæt sc̄earp sweord ceorfe mīn swīþran sc̄ancan.