2. Weak verbs form their past tense and past participle in it or yt, the latter being more common in E. In certain cases the vowel drops out, as in dwelt. After r, l (ll), n, the ending is often in d, as herd, ansuerd, etc.
Note.—Felt for the ordinary feld occurs once, in III. 119. Cald, too, for callit, is forced to a rhyme (XIII. 61). The proper past of send is send.
3. The present tense indicative is, I spek, thou spekis, he spekis, we spek, etc. But when the personal pronoun is separated from the verb, or when the subject is a noun or relative pronoun or other form, the ending is in is or ys throughout. Cf. yhow that takis (XVI. 592); yhe that this redis (VI. 269); all men fleis the did (IX. 90), etc.
4. The imperative plural is in is (ys): departis us (VI. 543). It is more rare without the ending (XI 309; XII. 227, etc). This, however, is the rule when the imperative is followed by its pronoun: luk yhe (XII. 217).
5. The present participle ends in and. Doubling of the consonant may occur after a short vowel—e.g., wonnand (X. 160).
6. The verbal noun (so-called) ends in yng or ing. In many examples the g is dropped, as the tendency was and is in Scots, and we have a form in yn(e). Cf. fechting (XII. 119) and fechtyn (III. 241). And these may rhyme, which shows that in sound the difference was not apparent (cf. IX. 120). Sometimes the particular form depends on the MS.—e.g., VI. 520, C supposing: E supposyn. The same thing is found in proper names with a similar termination.
7. The past participle of strong verbs has ending yn or in, seldom en. Clymen in X. 648, where the correct form, clummyn, is given in 606, is either really a surviving or intruded infinitive, or has been assimilated to it.
N.B.—VII. 524, C cum: E cummyn; X. 506, C won: E wonnyn.
8. The infinitive has dropped all trace of an ending. The e which sometimes appears is silent. It is formed by prefixing to or till, in certain cases with for in addition. For one case we have a reduced infinitive with at: a-do (X. 348).