Strong Verbs

132. In the strong verbs the plur. of the pret. indic. generally has a different vowel from that of the sing. The 1 sg. pret. of the middle voice always has the vowel of the pl. pret.: gāfumk. The pret. subj. has the vowel of the pret. indic. plur. mutated: skaut (he shot), skutu (they shot), skyti (he might shoot). But there is no mutation in verbs of the first conj.: hljōpi, inf. hlaupa (leap).

133. The pres. indic. sing. mutates the root-vowel in all three persons: ek skȳt, þū skȳtr, hann skȳtr, infin. skjōta (shoot). e however is not mutated: ek gef, þū gefr. The inflectional r is liable to the same modifications as the r of nouns (§ 32): skīnn, vęx, infin. skīna (shine), vaxa (grow).

134. Verbs in ld change the d into t in the 1, 3 sg. pret. indic. and in the imper. sg.: helt (held), halt (hold!), infin. halda. nd becomes tt, and ng becomes kk under the same conditions: binda (bind), ganga (go), pret. batt, gekk, imper. bitt, gakk.

135. The t of the 2 sg. pret. indic. is doubled after a long accented vowel: þū sātt (thou sawest). If the 1 sg. pret. indic. ends in t or ð, the 2 sg. ends in zt: lēt (I let), þū lēzt, bauð (I offered) þū bauzt.

136. There are seven conjugations of strong verbs, distinguished mainly by the characteristic vowels of their preterites.

137.

I. 'Fall'-conjugation

Infin.Third Pres.Prt. Sing.Prt. Pl.Ptc. Prt.
falla (fall)fęllrfellfellufallinn
lāta (let)lætrlētlētulātinn
rāða (advise)ræðrrēðrēðurāðinn
heita (call)heitrhēthētuheitinn
halda (hold)hęldrhelthelduhaldinn
ganga (go)gęngrgekkgengugęnginn
fā (get)færfekkfengufęnginn
--------------------------
auka (increase)eykrjōkjōkuaukinn
būa (dwell)bȳrbjōbjoggubūinn
hǫggva (hew)hǫggrhjōhjogguhǫggvinn
hlaupa (leap)hleyprhljōphljōpuhlaupinn

138. The following have weak preterites in r: