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You are here: English 401 > Lessons > Lesson 6 > strong verb: singan

A Taste of the Strong Verbs

Old English verbs are called "strong" if they change their root vowel to indicate changes of tense, etc. (as opposed to the "weak" verbs, which add a suffix as we have seen). We still have quite a number of the Old English strong verbs in Modern English. They form a large part of the odd jumble of verbs called the "irregular" verbs.

In fact, Old English strong verbs and their Modern English descendants are perfectly regular, they just follow a different set of rules from the weak verbs (which were the ancestors of the now much larger class of "regular" verbs). Old English had more strong verbs than Modern English has "irregular" verbs: some have been lost from the language and others have become weak verbs over time.

The Modern English verb sing is an example of this group of verbs. It becomes sang in the past tense, and its past participle is sung. The Old English pattern for this verb is as follows in the present and past (preterite) indicative:

Strong Verb singan - 'sing' - present
singanOld EnglishModern English
Indicative
Sg. 1 ic singeI sing
2 þu singestyou sing (singular)
3 heo singeþshe sings
Pl. we (ge, hie) singaþwe (you pl, they) sing

 

Strong Verb singan - 'sing' - preterite
singanOld EnglishModern English
Indicative
Sg. 1 ic sangI sang
2 þu sungeyou sang (singular)
3 he sanghe sang
Pl. ge (we, hie) sungonyou (we, they) sang

Things to notice:


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