Old English grammar facts for kids

Old English, the language spoken in England over 1,000 years ago, had a grammar very different from the English we speak today. It was much more "inflected," meaning words changed their endings a lot to show their role in a sentence. Think of it like how we add '-s' to make a word plural (dog → dogs) or '-ed' for the past tense (walk → walked). Old English did this much more often!

This old language was similar to other Germanic languages like Proto-Germanic (the ancestor of languages like English and German). It kept many old word endings from an even older language called Proto-Indo-European.

Today, Old English grammar is most like modern Icelandic, which has kept many old language features. It also shares some similarities with modern German.

In Old English, nouns, pronouns, adjectives, and determiners (words like "the" or "that") all changed their endings. They had four main "cases" (like roles in a sentence): nominative, accusative, genitive, and dative. There was also a small fifth case called instrumental. Words also changed for two "numbers" (singular and plural) and three "genders" (masculine, feminine, and neuter). For "we both" or "you two," there were even special "dual" forms for pronouns!

The instrumental case was rare and often replaced by the dative. Adjectives and pronouns had to match the nouns they described in case, number, and gender. Verbs also changed to match their subjects in person and number.

Old English nouns had many different patterns for changing their endings, similar to Latin or Ancient Greek. Verbs had ten main ways to change, plus some smaller groups and irregular ones. Unlike Latin, Old English verbs only had two tenses (present and past) and didn't have a "passive voice" (like "the ball was thrown") built into the verb itself.

Nouns in Old English

Old English nouns are grouped by their gender. They change their endings based on their role (case) and whether they are singular or plural (number).

Noun Gender

Old English had three genders: masculine, feminine, and neuter. This is different from Modern English, where most nouns don't have a gender.

Every noun belonged to one of these three genders. Adjectives and determiners (like "the") would change their form to match the noun's gender. For example, "the" or "that" was sē for masculine nouns, sēo for feminine nouns, and þæt for neuter nouns.

Adjectives also changed their endings. A "golden ring" was gylden hring (because hring "ring" is masculine). But a "golden cup" was gyldenu cuppe (because cuppe "cup" is feminine).

In Old English, the words for "he" (hē) and "she" (hēo) could also mean "it." Hē was used for masculine nouns, and hēo for feminine nouns. The word hit was only for neuter nouns. This means even things that aren't alive could be called "he" or "she"!

Here's an example with the masculine noun snāw ("snow"):

Old English	Mē līcaþ sē snāw for þon þe hē dēþ þā burg stille.
Literal gloss	Me pleases the snow because he does the city quiet.
Translation	I like the snow because it makes the city quiet.

Now compare it with the neuter noun fȳr ("fire"), which uses hit:

Old English	Mē līcaþ þæt fȳr for þon þe hit dēþ þā burg hlūde.
Translation	I like the fire because it makes the city loud.

Sometimes, a noun's grammatical gender didn't match its natural gender. For example, mæġden ("girl") was neuter. In these cases, adjectives and determiners followed the grammatical gender, but pronouns followed the natural gender. So, "The girl who is standing there, do you know her?" was Þæt mæġden sēo þǣr stent, canst þū hīe? (sēo is feminine, hīe is feminine).

When two nouns of different genders were mentioned together, adjectives referring to both became neuter. For example, "Fame [masculine] and success [feminine] are double-edged" was Hlīsa and spēd bēoþ twieċġu (twieċġu is neuter plural).

How Gender Was Decided

In Old English, a noun's gender wasn't always about its meaning. It was often based on how the word sounded long ago. For example, names of metals were neuter not because they were metals, but because their old endings made them neuter.

However, there are some ways to guess a noun's gender:

• Living things: If a noun refers to a male or female, it usually has that gender (e.g., fæder "father" is masculine, mōdor "mother" is feminine). But there are exceptions like wīf ("woman") and mæġden ("girl"), which are neuter.
• Animal names: Names for male animals are masculine (like hana "rooster"). Names for female animals are feminine (like henn "hen"). General animal names (like swīn "pig") could be any gender.
• People (mixed gender): If a noun could refer to both males and females, it was usually masculine (like frēond "friend"). Exceptions include ċild and bearn (both "child"), which are neuter.
• Word endings:

* Nouns ending in -a are almost always masculine. * Compound words (like "woman" from "wife" + "man") take the gender of their last part. So wīfmann ("woman") is masculine because mann ("person") is masculine. * Words with certain suffixes (endings) have a set gender. For example, nouns ending in -ung are feminine.

• Other rules:

* Letters of the alphabet are all masculine. * Metals are all neuter. * Adjectives used as nouns (like colors) are neuter unless they refer to people. * Verbs used as nouns are neuter.

Sometimes, the same thing could be called by different nouns with different genders. For example, a "mountain" could be beorg (masculine) or dūn (feminine).

Feminine Word Endings

Old English often had two words for types of people: a general term (like "singer") and a specific female term (like "female singer"). Here are some endings used to make words feminine:

• -en: Added to words like god ("god") to make gyden ("goddess").
• -estre: The female version of -ere and -end (both meaning "-er"). So sangere ("singer") became sangestre ("female singer").
• -e: The female version of -a. For example, wyrhta ("worker") became wyrhte.

Sometimes, the female word was completely different, like hlāford ("master") and hlǣfdiġe ("mistress").

Noun Cases

Old English nouns had five cases, which showed their job in a sentence:

• Nominative: The subject of the sentence, the one doing the action. Hē lufode hīe ("He loved her"). Words that come after "to be" are also nominative.
• Accusative: The direct object, the one being acted upon. Hē lufode hīe ("He loved her").
• Genitive: Shows possession, like "dog's" or "of the dog." Ġesāwe þū þæs hundes bān? ("Have you seen the dog's bone?"). It was also used to show that something was part of a group, like manna hēap ("a group of people").
• Dative: The indirect object, the one receiving something. Iċ sealde hire þone beall ("I gave her the ball").
• Instrumental: Shows what is being used to do something. Hwæl mē meahte mid āne sleġe besenċan ("A whale could sink me with one blow"). This case was disappearing and often replaced by the dative.

Noun Classes (Declensions)

Nouns didn't all change their endings the same way. They belonged to different "classes," each with its own set of endings.

a-stems

This was the largest group of nouns (60%!). They could be masculine or neuter.

a-stem declension

Case	Masculine hund « dog »		Neuter
			Light sċip « boat »		Heavy hūs « house »
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative−Accusative	hund	hundas	sċip	sċipu	hūs	hūs
Genitive	hundes	hunda	sċipes	sċipa	hūses	hūsa
Dative	hunde	hundum	sċipe	sċipum	hūse	hūsum

ō-stems

This was the second largest group, mostly feminine nouns.

ō-stem declension

Case	Light ġiefu « gift »		Heavy rād « ride »
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ġiefu	ġiefa	rād	rāda
Accusative	ġiefe	ġiefa, -e	rāde	rāda, -e
Genitive		ġiefa		rāda
Dative		ġiefum		rādum

n-stems

These nouns could be any gender, but there were only a few neuter ones (like ēage "eye"). They are also called "weak nouns" because most of their endings are the same (-an). Other nouns are called "strong nouns."

n-stem declension

Case	Masculine mōna « moon »		Feminine sunne « sun »
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mōna	mōnan	sunne	sunnan
Accusative	mōnan		sunnan
Genitive		mōnena		sunnena
Dative		mōnum		sunnum

Root nouns

These nouns change their vowel sound in the dative singular and nominative/accusative plural. This is why some Modern English words still change their vowel for the plural, like "man" to "men" or "foot" to "feet."

root noun declension

Case	Masculine mann « person »		Feminine
			Light hnutu « nut »		Heavy gōs « goose »
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative−Accusative	mann	menn	hnutu	hnyte	gōs	gēs
Genitive	mannes	manna	hnute	hnuta	gōse	gōsa
Dative	menn	mannum	hnyte	hnutum	gēs	gōsum

r-stems

This small group only had five nouns: fæder ("father"), mōdor ("mother"), brōþor ("brother"), sweostor ("sister"), and dohtor ("daughter").

r-stem declension

Case	fæder		mōdor		brōþor		sweostor		dohtor
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative−Accusative	fæder	fæderas	mōdor	mōdru, -a	brōþor	(ġe)brōþor, -ru, -ra	sweostor	(ġe)sweostor, -ru, -ra	dohtor	dohtor, -ru, -ra
Genitive		fædera		mōdra		(ġe)brōþra		(ġe)sweostra		dohtra
Dative		fæderum	mēder	mōdrum	brēþer	(ġe)brōþrum		(ġe)sweostrum	dehter	dohtrum

z-stems

These four neuter nouns (ċild "child", ǣġ "egg", lamb "lamb", and ċealf "calf") had plural endings that started with -r-.

z-stem declension

lamb
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative−Accusative	lamb	lambru
Genitive	lambes	lambra
Dative	lambe	lambrum

Noun Irregularities

Even within these classes, there were many variations. For example:

• Some nouns had two different plural forms.
• Some nouns lost a vowel in their middle when endings were added, like gristel ("cartilage") becoming gristles ("of cartilage").
• If a noun ended in h, the h often disappeared, and the vowel before it became longer.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Old English changed their endings to match the case, gender, and number of the noun they described. For example, the adjective cwic ("alive") had many different forms like cwic, cwicu, cwicne, and so on.

Strong and Weak Adjectives

Adjectives had two main sets of endings: "strong" and "weak."

• The weak endings were used after words like "the," "this," or "my." For example, "the live scorpion" was sē cwica þrōwend.
• The strong endings were used the rest of the time. So, "a live scorpion" was cwic þrōwend.

Here are tables showing the endings for cwic ("alive"):

Strong declension of cwic

Singular	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	cwic	cwic	cwicu
Accusative	cwicne		cwice
Genitive	cwices		cwicre
Dative	cwicum
Instrumental	cwice
Plural	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	cwice	cwicu	cwica
Accusative			cwica, -e
Genitive	cwicra
Dative−Instrumental	cwicum

Weak declension of cwic

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter	Any gender
Nominative	cwica	cwice	cwice	cwican
Accusative	cwican
Genitive	cwican			cwicena
Dative−Instrumental				cwicum

Adjective Irregularities

While most adjectives followed the patterns above, some had small differences:

• Some adjectives kept the ending -u (like bisigu sweord "busy swords"), while others lost it.
• Adjectives ending in -e lost the -e before other endings.
• If an adjective ended in h, the h disappeared, and the vowel before it became longer.

Degrees of Adjectives

Old English didn't use "more" and "most" like we do. Instead, it used endings like -ra (for "more" or "-er") and -ost or -est (for "most" or "-est").

• "More beautiful" was fæġerra, literally "beautiful-er."
• "Most beautiful" was fæġerost, literally "beautiful-est."

Some words changed their vowel for the comparative and superlative, like eald ("old") becoming ieldra ("older") and ieldest ("oldest").

A few words became completely different words:

• gōd ("good") → betera ("better"), betst ("best")
• miċel ("much/big") → māra ("more/bigger"), mǣst ("most/biggest")

Articles

Old English did not have a word for "a" or "an." Nouns were often used by themselves.

Old English	Ūs is lēofre þæt wē hæbben healtne cyning þonne healt rīċe.
Literal gloss	Us is dearer that we have crippled king than crippled kingdom.
Translation	We'd rather have a crippled king than a crippled kingdom.

The word for "the" was sē, which also meant "that." It had many forms depending on the noun's case, gender, and number.

Declension of sē

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	sē	þæt	sēo	þā
Accusative	þone		þā
Genitive	þæs		þǣre	þāra
Dative	þām			þām
Instrumental	þon, þȳ

The word "the" was used similarly to Modern English, but sometimes less often. For example, it wasn't usually used with:

• River names (e.g., Temese for "the Thames").
• Names of peoples (e.g., Seaxan for "the Saxons").
• Some locations (e.g., sǣ for "the sea," eorðan for "the ground").
• Abstract ideas like sōþ ("the truth") or ǣ ("the law").
• Many time divisions (e.g., morgen for "the morning").
• Dryhten ("the Lord").
• Cardinal directions (e.g., norþ for "the north").

However, if these words referred to something specific, "the" would be used (e.g., "the woods behind my house").

Demonstratives

Demonstratives are words like "this" or "that." The word for "this" was þēs, and it also changed its endings:

Declension of þēs

	Singular			Plural
	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	þēs	þis	þēos	þās
Accusative	þisne		þās
Genitive	þisses		þisse	þissa
Dative	þissum			þissum
Instrumental	þȳs

The word ġeon meant "that over there" (like "yon" in old English stories). It was used for things far away and changed its endings like a regular adjective.

Pronouns

Question Words (Interrogative Pronouns)

Hwā ("who") was used for people, and hwæt ("what") for things, just like today. They changed their endings too:

Declension of hwā and hwæt

	"who"	"what"
Nominative	hwā	hwæt
Accusative	hwone
Genitive	hwæs
Dative	hwām
Instrumental	hwon, hwȳ

Hwelċ ("which" or "what kind of") and hwæðer ("which," used for two choices) changed their endings like adjectives.

Old English	Hwæðer wēnst þū is māre, þē þīn sweord þē mīn?
Translation	Which one do you think is bigger, your sword or mine?

Personal Pronouns

First-person ("I," "we") and second-person ("you") pronouns were the same for all genders. They also had special "dual" forms for groups of two people (like "we both" or "you two").

Personal pronouns

Case	1st person			2nd person			3rd person
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular			Plural
							Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	iċ	wit	wē	þū	ġit	ġē	hē	hit	hēo	hīe
Accusative	mec	unc	ūs	þē	inc	ēow	hine	hit	hīe
Dative	mē						him		hire	him
Genitive	mīn	uncer	ūre	þīn	incer	ēower	his			heora

Many of these forms look like our modern words. For example, ēower became "your," ūre became "our," and mīn became "my." However, the third-person plural pronouns (like "they," "them," "their") came from Old Norse, a different language, during the Middle English period.

Verbs

Old English verbs were divided into two main groups: strong verbs** and **weak verbs.

• Strong verbs changed their main vowel to form the past tense (like sing, sang, sung).
• Weak verbs added an ending to form the past tense (like love, loved).

Strong Verbs

Strong verbs changed their vowel sound for the past tense. In Modern English, these are often called "irregular verbs" (like swim, swam, swum). But in Old English, they were very common and followed clear patterns.

There were seven main classes of strong verbs, each with its own vowel change pattern. Over time, many Old English strong verbs became weak verbs in Modern English (like help, helped instead of help, holp).

Here's a table showing how the stem vowel changed in strong verbs:

Stem changes in strong verbs

Verb class		Stem vowel
Class	Root weight	Non-past	First past	Second past	Past participle
1	heavy	ī	ā	i
2		ēo, ū	ēa	u	o
3		e (+CC)	æ	u	o
		e (+lC), eo (+rC/ hC)	ea
		i (+nC)	a		u
4	light	e(+r/l)	æ	ǣ	o
5		e(+other)			e
6		a	ō		a
7	heavy	various	ē or ēo		same as infinitive

The first past stem was used for "I" and "he/she/it" in the past tense. The second past stem was used for "you" (singular) and all plural forms in the past tense.

Here's an example of a strong verb, stelan ("to steal"):

Strong verb conjugation

Strong verb conjugation				Stelan "to steal"
Infinitives				stelan	-an
				tō stelanne	tō -anne
Participle	Present			stelende	-ende
	Past			(ġe)stolen	(ġe)- -en
Indicative	Present	Singular	1st person	stele	-e
			2nd person	stilst	-st
			3rd person	stilþ	-þ
		Plural		stelaþ	-aþ
	Past	Singular	1st person	stæl	-_
			2nd person	stǣle	-e
			3rd person	stæl	-_
		Plural		stǣlon	-on
Subjunctive	Present	Singular		stele	-e
		Plural		stelen	-en
	Past	Singular		stǣle	-e
		Plural		stǣlen	-en
Imperative		Singular		stel	-_
		Plural		stelaþ	-aþ

Weak Verbs

Weak verbs formed their past tense by adding endings with -d- or -t- (like our modern -ed). Most Old English verbs were already weak verbs. There were two main types, Class I and Class II.

Class I Weak Verbs

These verbs often showed a vowel change in their stem compared to the noun they came from (like dēman "to judge" from dōm "judgment").

Conjugation of dǣlan

Infinitive	dǣlan	(tō) dǣlenne
Indicative	Present	Past
1sg.	dǣle	dǣlde
2sg.	dǣlst	dǣldest
3sg.	dǣlþ	dǣlde
pl.	dǣlaþ	dǣldon
Subjunctive	Present	Past
sg.	dǣle	dǣlde
pl.	dǣlen	dǣlden
Imperative
sg.	dǣl
pl.	dǣlaþ
Participle	Present	Past
	dǣlende	(ġe)dǣled

Class II Weak Verbs

These verbs are easy to spot because most of them end in -ian (like hopian "to hope"). This was the most common way to make new verbs in Old English. Their stems usually looked just like the word they came from (like lufu "love" becoming lufian "to love").

Their endings were also much simpler and more regular than other verb classes.

Conjugation of lufian

Infinitive	lufian	(tō) lufienne
Indicative	Present	Past
1sg.	lufiġe	lufode
2sg.	lufast	lufodest
3sg.	lufaþ	lufode
pl.	lufiaþ	lufodon
Subjunctive	Present	Past
sg.	lufiġe	lufode
pl.	lufiġen	lufoden
Imperative
sg.	lufa
pl.	lufiaþ
Participle	Present	Past
	lufiende	(ġe)lufod

Preterite-Present Verbs

These verbs are special because their "present" tense forms actually look like the "past" tense forms of strong verbs. This is because they came from very old verbs that described a state of being (like "I have seen" meaning "I know"). There were only about a dozen of these verbs, but they were very common, like magan ("can"), sċulan ("should/must"), and witan ("to know").

They are often irregular, but can be grouped by how they change:

Preterite-present stems

Preterite-present verbs		Participle		Indicative			Subjunctive		Imperative
Class	Infinitive (Meaning)	Present	Past	Present		Past	Present	Past	Singular	Plural
				Singular	Plural
1	Āgan "to own"	āgende	(ġe)āgen	āh-	āg-	āht-	āg-	āht-	āge	āgaþ
	Durran "to dare"	durrende	(ġe)dorren	dearr-	durr-	dorst-	dyrr-	dyrst-	dyrre	durraþ
	Mōtan "may, to be allowed to"	mōtende	(ġe)mōten	mōt-		mōst	mōt-	mōst-	mōte	mōtaþ
	Witan "to know (a fact)"	witende	(ġe)witen	wāt-	wit-	wist-	wit-	wist-	wite	witaþ
2	Cunnan "to know (how to)"	cunnende	(ġe)cunnen, (ġe)cūþ	cann-	cunn-	cūþ-	cunn-	cūþ-	cunne	cunnaþ
	Ġemunan "remember"	ġemunende	ġemunen	ġeman-	ġemun-	ġemund-	ġemun-	ġemund-	ġemune	ġemunaþ
	Unnan "grant"	unnende	(ġe)unnen	ann-	unn-	ūþ-	unn-	ūþ-	unne	unnaþ
3	Dugan "work with, avail"	dugende	(ġe)dugen	deah-	dug-	doht-	dug-	doht-	ġeduge	ġedugaþ
	Ġenugan "to enjoy, use"	ġenugende	ġenugen	ġeneah-	ġenug-	ġenoht-	ġenug-	ġenoht-	ġenuge	ġenugaþ
	Magan "can, be able to"	mæġende	(ġe)mæġen	mæg-	mag-	meaht-	mæg-	miht-	mæge	magaþ
4	Sċulan "should, must"	sċuldende	(ġe)sċulen	sċeal-	sċul-	sċold-	sċyl-	sċyld-	sċyle	sċulaþ
	Þurfan "to need"	þurfende	(ġe)þurfen	þearf-	þurf-	þorft-	þyrf-	þyrft-	þyrfe	þurfaþ

Anomalous Verbs

There are four verbs that are very irregular: "to be," "to do," "to go," and "to want." These are some of the most common verbs, so it's not surprising they have unique patterns.

The verb "to be" actually uses parts from three different old words! In the present tense, wesan was used for most situations, while bēon was used for future events or general statements.

Anomalous verbs

Anomalous verbs				Bēon, "to be"	Wesan, "to be"	Dōn, "to do"	Gān, "to go"	Willan "to want"
Infinitive				bēon	wesan	dōn	gān	willan
				tō bēonne	to wesanne	tō dōnne	tō gānne	tō willenne
Participle	Present			bēonde	wesende	dōnde	gānde	willende
	Past			(ġe)bēon		(ġe)dōn	(ġe)gān	*(ġe)willen
Indicative	Present	Singular	1st person	bēo	eom	dō	gā	wille
			2nd person	bist	eart	dēst	gǣst	wilt
			3rd person	biþ	is	dēþ	gǣþ	wile
		Plural		bēoþ	sind	dōþ	gāþ	willaþ
	Past	Singular	1st person	wæs		dyde	ēode	wolde
			2nd person	wǣre		dydest	ēodest	woldest
			3rd person	wæs		dyde	ēode	wolde
		Plural		wǣron		dydon	ēodon	woldon
Subjunctive	Present	Singular		bēo	sīe	dō	gā	wille
		Plural		bēon	sīen	dōn	gān	willen
	Past	Singular		wǣre		dyde	ēode	wolde
		Plural		wǣren		dyden	ēoden	wolden
Imperative		Singular		bēo	wes	dō	gā	wille
		Plural		bēoþ	wesaþ	dōþ	gāþ	willaþ

Prepositions

Prepositions are words like "by," "for," and "with." In Old English, they sometimes came *after* the word they belonged to, especially with pronouns. These were called "postpositions."

Here's a list of some Old English prepositions:

Prepositions

Old English	Definition	Notes
æfter	after	Ancestor of modern after.
ǣr	before	Ancestor of modern ere (old-fashioned for "before").
æt	at	Ancestor of modern at.
andlang	along	Ancestor of modern along. Used with the genitive case.
bæftan	behind	Ancestor of modern (nautical) abaft.
be, bī	by, about	Ancestor of modern by.
beforan	before	Ancestor of modern before.
beġeondan	beyond	Ancestor of modern beyond.
behindan	behind	Ancestor of modern behind.
binnan	in, within
benēoðan	beneath	Ancestor of modern beneath.
betwēonum	between	Ancestor of modern between.
bufan	above	Ancestor of modern above.
būtan	without, except	Ancestor of modern but.
ēac	also	Ancestor of modern (old-fashioned) eke.
for	for, because of, instead of	Ancestor of modern for.
fram	from, by	Ancestor of modern from.
ġeond	through	Ancestor of modern yonder.
in	in	Ancestor of modern in.
innan	within
intō	into	Ancestor of modern into.
mid	with	Related to modern German mit.
nēah	near	Ancestor of modern nigh.
of	from, out of	Ancestor of modern of and off.
ofer	over	Ancestor of modern over.
on	on, in	Ancestor of modern on.
onbūtan	around	Ancestor of modern about.
onġēan	opposite, against; towards; in reply to	Ancestor of modern again.
oþ	until
samod	together
tō	to	Ancestor of modern to.
tōeācan	in addition to, besides
tōforan	before
tōgeagnes	towards, against
tōweard	toward	Ancestor of modern toward.
þurh	through	Ancestor of modern through.
under	under	Ancestor of modern under.
undernēoðan	underneath	Ancestor of modern underneath.
uppon	upon, on
ūtan	without, outside of	The adverb ūt is the ancestor of modern out.
wiþ	against	Ancestor of modern with.
wiþinnan	within	Ancestor of modern within.
wiþūtan	outside of	Ancestor of modern without.
ymb	around

Sentence Structure (Syntax)

Old English sentence structure was similar to Modern English in many ways. But because words changed their endings so much, the word order could be more flexible.

Here are some key differences:

• Word Order: The verb often came second in a sentence, like in German.
• Questions and Negatives: Old English didn't use "do" to form questions or negatives (like "Do you live?" or "I do not live"). Instead, they just inverted the verb or added "not."
• Multiple Negatives: You could use many negative words in a sentence, and they made the negative meaning even stronger.
• Connecting Clauses: When connecting sentences like "When X, Y," Old English used "th-" words (like þā X, þā Y) instead of "wh-" words.

Word Order Details

Old English had flexible word order because word endings showed how words related to each other. You could often move words around and still understand the meaning.

Main sentences often had a verb-second (V2) order. This means the verb was usually the second main part of the sentence, no matter what came first. You can still see hints of this in Modern English phrases like "Hardly did he arrive..." or "Over went the boat."

In sentences with a main clause and a subordinate clause (like "When I went home, I slept"), the subordinate clause often had the verb at the end, while the main clause had the verb second.

Questions

To ask a question in Old English, you usually just swapped the subject and the verb. For example, hīe libbaþ ("they live") became libbaþ hīe? (literally "live they?"). We still do this with "be" (Am I?) and "have" (Have they?), but for most other verbs, Modern English uses "do."

Relative and Subordinate Clauses

Old English didn't use "who," "when," or "where" to start relative clauses (like "The man whom I saw") or subordinate clauses ("When I got home, I went to sleep").

Instead, relative clauses used:

1. The word þe (which didn't change).
2. The demonstrative pronoun se, sēo, þæt (like "that").
3. A combination of both, like se þe.

Subordinate clauses often used "correlative conjunctions," which were pairs of words, often "th-" words. For example:

Þā ic hām ēode, þā slēp ic.

(word-for-word) "Then I home went, then slept I."

(translated) "When I went home, I slept."

The word order usually helped tell the difference: the subordinate clause often had the verb at the end, and the main clause had the verb second.

Other "correlative conjunctions" included:

• þǣr X, þǣr Y: "Where X, Y"
• þonne X, þonne Y: "Whenever X, Y"

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