Chapter 7. Preterite-present verbs
Like previous keys, this key provides more information than is sometimes required; for
instance, person information is also given outside the present and past singular indicative.
1. Bringað mē eal þæt ġē āgon!
a. person 2nd number plural
tense present
b. Bring me all that you possess!
2. Iċ āh byrnan and gōd sweord.
a. person 1st
number singular
tense present
b. I own /a corslet/corslets/ and /a good sword/good swords/.
3. Ēadgār āhte maniġe þrælas.
a. person 3rd
number singular
tense past
b. Ēadgār owned many slaves.1
4. Iċ ġeare can þisne cræft.
a. person 1st
number singular
tense present
b. I know this skill well.
5. —
6. —
7. Ne dear iċ feohtan onġēan þām entum.
a. person 1st
number singular
tense present
b. I /do not dare to/dare not/ fight against the giants.
8. Ne dorste iċ nān ðing wiðcweðan.
a. person 1st
number singular
tense past
b. I /did not dare to/dared not/ contradict /anything/any things/.
9. —
10. Nān sceaða ne mæġ his mādmas forstelan.
a. person 3rd
number singular
tense present
b. No criminal /can/may/ steal his treasures.2
11. Iċ wēne þæt þū meaht þisne man ġehǣlan.
a. person 2nd number singular
tense present
b. I think that you will be able to heal this /man/person/.
12. —
13. —
14. Iċ mōt sittan hēr on benċe.
a. person 1st
number singular
tense present
b. I /must/am allowed to/ sit here on /a/the/ bench.
15. Cyning sceal rīċe healdan.
a. person 3rd
number singular
tense present
b. A king must /govern/rule/ a kingdom.
16. —
17. Dēoflu sceolon on helle wunian.
a. person 3rd
number plural
tense present
b. Demons must remain in Hell.
18. —
1
A minor error in the OE sentence: þrælas should be þrǣlas (cf. the Glossary entry).
In both (8) and (10), multiple negation occurs: the effect of combining ne and nān is to make the negation more
emphatic (see Baker 2007: 80–81).
2
19. Ælfred cyning ūðe mē þisses landes.
a. person 3rd
number singular
tense past
b. King Ælfred granted me this land.3
20. —
21. Iċ ne wāt hwǣr þū eart.
a. person 1st
number singular
tense present
b. I do not know where you are.
22. —
23. —
3
Baker’s (2007) Glossary mentions only that unnan takes a genitive object; however, as the entry for unnan in BT
makes clear, the recipient of what is granted – i.e. the indirect object – is in the dative (here, mē), while the thing
that is granted (here, þisses landes) is in the genitive.