The present plural of schal is schul, schulen, or schyn.
The verb to be is thus conjugated:—
INDICATIVE MOOD. | |
| PRESENT TENSE. | PAST TENSE. |
| Singular. | |
|---|---|
| (I) am. | (I) was, watȝ. |
| (Thou) art. | (Thou) was, watȝ. |
| (He) is, bes, betȝ. | (He) was, watȝ. |
| Plural. | |
| (We) arn, are, ar. | (We) wern, were. |
| (Ȝe) arn, are, ar. | (Ȝe) wern, were. |
| (Thay) arn, are, ar. | (Thay) wern, were. |
The verbs be, have, wille, have negative forms; as, nam = am not; nar = are not; nas = was not; naf = have not; nade = had not; nyl = will not.
The following contractions are occasionally met with: bos = behoves; byhod = behoved; ha = have; ma = make; man = make (pl.) matȝ (mas) = makes; ta = take; tatȝ (= tas) = takes; tane, tone = taken.
[V.] Adverbs.
The Norse forms hethen, quethen (whethen),[66] and thethen, seem to have been known to the West-Midland dialect as well as the Saxon forms hence (hennes, henne), whence (whennes), thence (thennes), etc.[A] The adverbs in-blande (together), in-lyche (alike), in-mydde (amidst), in-monge (amongst), are due, perhaps, to Scandinavian influence.
[VI.] Prepositions.
The preposition from never occurs in the following poems; it is replaced by fro, fra (Northumbrian), O.N. frá.