[38.]
Paradigms of sēo giefu, gift; sēo wund, wound; sēo rōd, cross; sēo leornung, learning; sēo sāwol, soul:
| Sing. N. | gief-u | wund | rōd | leornung | sāwol |
| G. | gief-e | wund-e | rōd-e | leornung-a (e) | sāwl-e |
| D.I. | gief-e | wund-e | rōd-e | leornung-a (e) | sāwl-e |
| A. | gief-e | wund-e | rōd-e | leornung-a (e) | sāwl-e |
| Plur. N.A. | gief-a | wund-a | rōd-a | leornung-a | sāwl-a |
| G. | gief-a | wund-a | rōd-a | leornung-a | sāwl-a |
| D.I. | gief-um | wund-um | rōd-um | leornung-um | sāwl-um |
[39.]
Note (1) that monosyllables with short stems (giefu) take u in the nominative singular; (2) that monosyllables with long stems (wund, rōd) present the unchanged stem in the nominative singular; (3) that dissyllables are declined as monosyllables, except that abstract nouns in -ung prefer a to e in the singular.
Note.—Syncopation occurs as in masculine and neuter a-stems. See [§ 27, (4)].
[40.]
Present and Preterit Indicative of bēon (wesan) to be:
| Present (first form). | Present (second form). | Preterit. | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sing. 1. | Ic eom | 1. Ic bēom | 1. Ic wæs | ||||||
| 2. | ðū eart | 2. ðū bist | 2. ðū wǣre | ||||||
| 3. | hē is | 3. hē bið | 3. hē wæs | ||||||
| Plur. 1. | wē |  | 1. wē | | 1. wē | | |||
| 2. | gē | sind(on), sint | 2. gē | bēoð | 2. gē | wǣron | |||
| 3. | hīe | 3. hīe | 3. hīe | ||||||
Note 1.—The forms bēom, bist, etc. are used chiefly as future tenses in O.E. They survive to-day only in dialects and in poetry. Farmer Dobson, for example, in Tennyson’s Promise of May, uses be for all persons of the present indicative, both singular and plural; and there be is frequent in Shakespeare for there are. The Northern dialect employed aron as well as sindon and sind for the present plural; hence Mn.E. are.