ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives have three genders, and the same cases as nouns, though with partly different endings, together with strong and weak inflection. In the masc. and neut. sing. they have an instrumental case, for which in the fem. and plur., and in the weak inflection the dative is used.

STRONG ADJECTIVES.

Adjectives with a short syllable before the endings take -u in the fem. sing. nom. and neut. pl. nom., those with a long one drop it.

		SINGULAR.
		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
(a)	Nom.	cwic (alive),	cwic,	cwic-u.
	Acc.	cwic-ne,	cwic,	cwic-e.
	Dat.	cwic-um,	cwic-um,	cwic-re.
	Gen.	cwic-es,	cwic-es,	cwic-re.
	Instr.	cwic-e,	cwic-e.	(cwicre).

		PLURAL.
	Nom.	cwic-e,	cwic-u,	cwic-e.

	Dat.		cwic-um.
	Gen.		cwic-ra.

So also sum (some), fǣrlic (dangerous).

Those with æ, such as glæd (glad), change it to a in dat. gladum, &c.

Those in -e, such as blīþe (glad), drop it in all inflections:—blīþne, blīþu, blīþre.

Those in -ig, -el, -ol, -en, -er, -or often contract before inflections beginning with a vowel, as in hāliġ (holy), hālges, hālgum; miċel (great), miċlu, miċle. Not, of course, before consonants:—hāliġne, miċelne, miċelra.

Those in -u, such as ġearu (ready), change the u into a w before vowels:—ġearwes, ġearwe.

Adjectives with long syllable before the endings drop the u of the fem. and neuter:—

		Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
(b)	Nom. Sing.	gōd (good),	gōd,	gōd.
	Plur.	gōde,	gōd,	gōde.

Fēa (few) has only the plural inflections, dat. fēam, gen. fēara.

Hēah (high) drops its second h in inflection and contracts:—hēare, nom. pl. hēa, dat. hēam, acc. sing. masc. hēanne.

Fela (many) is indeclinable.

WEAK ADJECTIVES.

The weak inflections of adjectives agree exactly with the noun ones:-

	SINGULAR.
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	gōd-a,	gōd-e,	gōd-e.
Acc.	gōd-an,	gōd-e,	gōd-an.
Dat.	gōd-an,	gōd-an,	gōd-an.
Gen.	gōd-an,	gōd-an,	gōd-an.

	PLURAL.
Nom.		gōd-an.
Dat.		gōd-um.
Gen.		gōd-ra.

The vowel- and consonant-changes are as in the strong declension.

COMPARISON.

The comparative is formed by adding -ra, and is declined like a weak adjective:—lēof (dear), lēofra masc., lēofre fem., lēofran plur., etc.; mǣre (famous), mǣrra. The superlative is formed by adding -ost, and may be either weak or strong:—lēofost (dearest).

The following form their comparisons with mutation, with superlative in -est (the forms in parentheses are adverbs):—

eald (old),	ieldra,	ieldest.
lang (long),	lęnġra,	lęnġest.
nēah (near),	(nēar),	nīehst.
hēah (high),	hīerra,	hīehst.

The following show different roots:—

gōd (good),	bętera,	bętst.
yfel (evil),	wiersa,	wierrest.
miċel (great),	māra (mā),	mǣst.
lȳtel (little),	lǣssa (lǣs),	lǣst.

The following are defective as well as irregular, being formed from adverbs:—

ǣr (formerly),	ǣrra (ǣror),	ǣrest.
fore (before),	. . .	forma, fyrmest.
ūt (out),	ȳterra,	ȳtemest.

NUMERALS.

CARDINAL.

ORDINAL.

ān,

one.

forma (first).

twā,

two.

ōþer.

þrēo,

three.

þridda.

fēower,

four.

fēorþa.

fīf,

five.

fīf-ta.

siex,

six.

siex-ta.

seofon,

seven.

seofoþa.

eahta,

eight.

eahtoþa.

nigon,

nine.

nigoþa.

tīen,

ten.

tēoþa.

ęndlufon,

eleven.

ęndlyf-ta.

twęlf,

twelve.

twe,lf-ta.

þrēo-tīene,

thirteen.

þrēo-tēoþa.

fēower-tīene,

fourteen.

fīf-tīene,

fifteen.

siex-tīene,

sixteen.

seofon-tīene,

seventeen.

eahta-tīene,

eighteen.

nigon-tīene,

nineteen.

twęn-tiġ,

twenty.

þri-tiġ,

thirty.

fēower-tiġ,

forty.

fīf-tiġ,

fifty.

siex-tiġ,

sixty.

hund-·seofon-tiġ,

seventy.

hund-·eahta-tiġ,

eighty.

hund-·nigon-tiġ,

ninety.

hund
hund-·tēontiġ,

hundred.

hund-·ęndlufontiġ,

hundred and ten.

hund-·twęlftiġ,

hundred and twenty.

þūsend,

thousand.

Ān is declined like other adjectives.

Twā is declined thus:—

	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	twēġen,	twā,	twā.

Dat.		twǣm.
Gen.		twēġra.

So also bēġen (both), bā, bǣm, bēġra.

Þrēo is declined thus:—

	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nom.	þrīe,	þrēo,	þrēo.

Dat.		þrim.
Gen.		þrēora.

The others up to twęntiġ are generally indeclinable. Those in -tiġ are sometimes declined like neuter nouns, sometimes like adjectives, and are often left undeclined. When not made into adjectives they govern the genitive.

Hund and þūsend are either declined as neuters or left undeclined, always taking a genitive:—eahta hund mīla (eight hundred miles), fēower þūsend wera (four thousand men).

Units are always put before tens:—ān and twęntiġ (twenty-one).

The ordinals are always weak, except ōþer, which is always strong.