| Present. | Preterit. | Past Participle. |
|---|---|---|
| I. | ||
| Fręmman, to perform: | ||
| Ic fręmm-e, I perform or shall perform. | Ic fręm-ede, I performed. | Ic hæbbe ge-fręm-ed, I have performed. |
| II. | ||
| Bodian, to proclaim: | ||
| Ic bodi-e, I proclaim or shall proclaim. | Ic bod-ode, I proclaimed. | Ic hæbbe ge-bod-od, I have proclaimed. |
| III. | ||
| Habban, to have: | ||
| Ic hæbbe, I have or shall have. | Ic hæf-de, I had. | Ic hæbbe ge-hæf-d, I have had. |
[19.]
There remain a few verbs (chiefly the Auxiliary Verbs of Modern English) that do not belong entirely to either of the two conjugations mentioned. The most important of them are, Ic mæg I may, Ic mihte I might; Ic cǫn I can, Ic cūðe I could; Ic mōt I must, Ic mōste I must; Ic sceal I shall, Ic sceolde I should; Ic eom I am, Ic wæs I was; Ic wille I will, Ic wolde I would; Ic dō I do, Ic dyde I did; Ic gā I go, Ic ēode I went.
All but the last four of these are known as Preterit-Present Verbs. The present tense of each of them is in origin a preterit, in function a present. Cf. Modern English ought (= owed).
[1.] Most grammars add a sixth case, the vocative. But it seems best to consider the vocative as only a function of the nominative form.
[2.] Of course our “apostrophe and s” (= ’s) comes from the Old English genitive ending -es. The e is preserved in Wednesday (= Old English Wōdnes dæg). But at a very early period it was thought that John’s book, for example, was a shortened form of John his book. Thus Addison (Spectator, No. 135) declares ’s a survival of his. How, then, would he explain the s of his? And how would he dispose of Mary’s book?
[3.] Early West Saxon had no distinctive form for the future. The present was used both as present proper and as future. Cf. Modern English “I go home tomorrow,” or “I am going home tomorrow” for “I shall go home tomorrow.”
[4.] The prefix ge- (Middle English y-), cognate with Latin co (con) and implying completeness of action, was not always used. It never occurs in the past participles of compound verbs: oþ-feallan, to fall off, past participle oþ-feallen (not oþ-gefeallen). Milton errs in prefixing it to a present participle:
“What needs my Shakespeare, for his honour’d bones,
The labour of an age in piled stones?