WEAK VERBS.

There are three conjugations of weak verbs—(1) in -an, pret. -de (hīeran, hīerde, 'hear'); (2) in -ian, pret. -ede (węnian, węnede, 'wean'); (3) in -ian, pret. -ode (lufian, lufode, 'love'). The verbs of the first two conjugations nearly all have a mutated vowel in the present and infinitive, which those of the third conjugation very seldom have.

I. an-verbs.

This class of weak verbs has the same endings as the strong verbs, except in the pret. and past partic., which are formed by adding -de and -ed respectively, with the following consonant changes.

-ndde becomes -nde as in sęnde from sęndan (send).
-llde ,, -lde ,, fylde ,, fyllan (fill).
-tde ,, -tte ,, mētte ,, mētan (find).
-pde ,, -pte ,, dypte ,, dyppan (dip).
-cde ,, -hte ,, tǣhte ,, tǣċan (show).

The past partic. is generally contracted in the same way:—sęnd, mētt, tǣht, but some of them often retain the uncontracted forms:—fylled, dypped. When declined like adjectives they drop their e where practicable:—fylled, plur. fylde; hīered, hīerde.

The 2nd and 3rd pres. sing. ind. are contracted as in the strong verbs.

(a) 'Hear'-class.

INDICATIVE. SUBJUNCTIVE.
Pres. sing. 1. hīer-e (hear), hīer-e.
2. hīer-st, hīer-e.
3. hīer-þ, hīer-e.
plur. hīer-aþ, hīer-en.
Pret. sing. 1. hīer-de, hīer-de.
2. hīer-dest, hīer-de.
3. hīer-de, hīer-de.
plur. hīer-don, hīer-den.
Imper. sing. hīer; plur. hīer-aþ. Infin. hīer-an.
Ptc. pres. hīer-ende; pret. hīer-ed.
Gerund. tō hīer-enne.

Further examples of this class are:—