And similarly halsen, to embrace, salzen, to salt, spalten, to split, spannen, to span, vallen, to fall, valten, to fold, wallen, to bubble; bāgen, to quarrel, blāsen, to blow, brāten, to roast, lāȥen (see also § 99), to let, leave, rāten, to advise; meiȥen, to cut, scheiden, to separate, sweifen, to rove; bōȥen, to strike, stōȥen, to push, houwen (pret. hiu and hie, pl. hiuwen, hiewen), to hew, wuofen, to bewail.
gān, gēn, to go | gienc (gie) | giengen | (ge)gangen | |
| hāhen ([§ 29]) hān ([§ 38]) | , to hang | hienc (hie) | hiengen | gehangen |
| vāhen ([§ 29]) vān ([§ 38]) | , to catch | vienc (vie) | viengen | gevangen |
erren, ern, to plough | ier | ieren | gearn | |
On the interchange between h and ng, see [§ 30]; erren, ern from older *arjan.
B. Weak Verbs.
[§ 88.] The OHG. weak verbs were divided into three great classes according as the infinitive ended in -en from older *-jan, -on, or -ēn.
Inflectional tables in this section have been reformatted for greater readability. A representative screen shot of the original format is shown at the [end of the text].
The characteristic endings of the three OHG. classes were:—
| Present. | |||
| Class I. | Class II. | Class III. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indic. sing. | -u | -ōn | -ēn |
| -is(t) | -ōs(t) | -ēs(t) | |
| -it | -ōt | -ēt | |
| „plur. | -ēn | -ōn | -ēn |
| -et | -ōt | -ēt | |
| -ent | -ōnt | -ēnt | |
| Subj. sing. | -e | -o | -e |
| -ēs(t) | -ōs(t) | -ēs(t) | |
| -e | -o | -e | |
| „plur. | -ēn | -ōn | -ēn |
| -ēt | -ōt | -ēt | |
| -ēn | -ōn | -ēn | |
| Imper. sing. | -i | -o | -e |
| „plur. | -ēn | -ōn | -ēn |
| -et | -ōt | -ēt | |
| Preterite. | |||
| Class I. | Class II. | Class III. | |
| Indic. sing. | -ta, -ita | -ōta | -ēta |
| -tōs(t), -itōs(t) | -ōtōs(t) | -ētōs(t) | |
| -ta, -ita | -ōta | -ēta | |
| „plur. | -tun, -itun | -ōtun | -ētun |
| -tut, -itut | -ōtut | -ētut | |
| -tun, -itun | -ōtun | -ētun | |
| Subj. sing. | -ti, -iti | -ōti | -ēti |
| -tīs(t), -itīs(t) | -ōtīs(t) | -ētīs(t) | |
| -ti, -iti | -ōti | -ēti | |
| „plur. | -tīn, -itīn | -ōtīn | -ētīn |
| -tīt, -itīt | -ōtīt | -ētīt | |
| -tīn, -itīn | -ōtīn | -ētīn | |
| Past Participle. | |||
| Uninfl. form | -it | -ōt | -ēt |
| Infl.„ | -tēr, -itēr | -ōtēr | -ētēr |
| Infinitive. | |||
| -en | -ōn | -ēn | |
In OHG. the verbs of Class I were divided into two sub-divisions: (a) polysyllabic verbs and those containing an old long stem-syllable; (b) those which originally had a short stem-syllable (cp. [§ 31, 3]). The former formed their preterite in -ta, and the latter in -ita; and similarly in the inflected form of the past participle. In MHG. all the unaccented vowels i, e, a, o, u, ī, ē, ō regularly fell together in e ([§ 7]), so that the old distinction between the endings of the three classes of verbs was to a great extent obliterated. The OHG. verbs with a short stem-syllable belonging to Classes II and III came in MHG. to be inflected entirely like sub-division (b) of Class I; and those with a long stem-syllable mostly came to be inflected like sub-division (a) of Class I, see §§ [9, 2], [92].
Owing to all the OHG. unaccented vowels being weakened to e the MHG. endings are:—