Old English/Adjectives

Introduction: Introduction - Grammar - Orthography
Parts of speech: Nouns - Verbs - Pronouns - Adjectives - Adverbs - Participles - Gerund - Conjunctions - Prepositions

What are adjectives? They are words used to describe either nouns or pronouns. Like nouns and pronouns, they are declined according to number, gender, and case; and their number, gender, and case must always agree with the noun or pronoun that they are modifying. In addition, adjective are also declined in either of two ways: strong or weak. This is governed by certain factors, for which should see the section on the question "Strong or Weak?" bellow.

Strong Declension

Adjectives in Old English agree with the noun they describe in case, gender, and number. There are several variations on the general declension, but overall, adjectives decline thus:

Singular
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	-	-	-(u)
Accusative	-ne	-	-e
Genitive	-es	-es	-re
Dative	-um	-um	-re
Instrumental	-e	-e	-re

Notice that the genitive, dative, and instrumental feminine are all -re, the masculine and neuter genetive are both "-es", and masculine and neuter dative are both "-um", and masculine and neuter instrumental are both "-e". Also, the neuter adjective adds no ending in the nominative/accusative case, just like neuter nouns themselves. Basically, you can see that the adjective ending will roughly correspond to the article ending (þæs and -es, þǣm and -um, þǣre and -re', etc.).

Here's an example:

"Gōd" - "good"
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	gōd	gōd	gōd
Accusative	gōd-ne	gōd	gōd-e
Genitive	gōd-es	gōd-es	gōd-re
Dative	gōdu-m	gōd-um	gōd-re
Instrumental	gōd-e	gōd-e	gōd-re

In the plural, we find:

Plural
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	-e	-(u)	-a, -e
Accusative	-e	-(u)	-a, -e
Genitive	-ra	-ra	-ra
Dative	-um	-um	-um
Instrumental	-um	-um	-um

Notice that genitive and dative are the same in all genders for plural. Note also the the instrumental is exactly the same as the dative. The "-e" ending for nominative and accusative feminine was used in later Old English.

Here's an example of the plural:

"Gōd" - "good"
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	gōd-e	gōd	gōd-a, gōd-e
Accusative	gōd-e	gōd	gōd-a, gōd-e
Genitive	gōd-ra	-ra	-ra
Dative	gōd-um	gōd-um	gōd-um
Instrumental	gōd-um	gōd-um	gōd-um

Weak Declension

Here's the singular weak declension:

Singular
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	-a	-e	-e
Accusative	-an	-e	-an
Genitive	-an	-an	-an
Dative	-an	-an	-an
Instrumental	-an	-an	-an

Notice that the weak declension is much more uniform and simple than the strong declension. Notice also that it is exactly the same as the weak noun declension.

Here's an example of the singular:

Singular
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine
Nominative	gōd-a	gōd-e	gōd-e
Accusative	gōd-an	gōd-e	gōd-an
Genitive	gōd-an	gōd-an	gōd-an
Dative	gōd-an	gōd-an	gōd-an
Instrumental	gōd-an	gōd-an	gōd-an

Here's the plural weak declension:

"Gōd" - "good"
Case	All genders
Nominative	-an
Accusative	-an
Genitive	-ena
Dative	-um
Instrumental	-um

Notice again that: It is simpler than the strong declension; it is exactly the same as the weak noun declension; and it is exactly the same for all genders.

Here's an example of a weak plural adjective:

"Gōd" - "good"
Case	All genders
Nominative	gōd-an
Accusative	gōd-an
Genitive	gōd-ena
Dative	gōd-um
Instrumental	gōd-um

Strong or Weak?

You can tell when to use the strong or weak declension.

An adjective would be declined weak if:

1. It was always declined weak (like most ordinal numbers, and all comparative adjectives)
2. It was preceded by the definitive article ("se/sēo/þæt" and all its declined forms), either demonstrative (either "se/sēo/þæt" and all its declined forms, or "þes/þis/þēos" and all its forms), or any possessive personal pronoun except for the third person ("his/hire/heora")
3. It was used as a nickname and came after the personal name it modified (for more info see: Old English/Titles and Nicknames

In all other cases, the adjective was declined strong, including if it came after a linking verb (like in "Iċ eom grēat" - "I am great" or "Þā wihta wǣron fǣtta" - "The creatures were fat").

Adjectives with æ in the stem

If an adjective has a monosyllabic stem and has æ for its vowel, and the æ is followed by a single consonant, as in the words glæd ("glad") and blæc ("black), then an extra rule comes into play: the æ changes to an a whenever the adjective acquires a suffix which begins with a vowel.

For example, here is the strong declension of glæd.

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: glæd 'glad'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	glæd	glade	glæd	gladu	gladu	glade
Accusative	glædne	glade	glæd	gladu	glade	glade
Genitive	glades	glædra	glades	glædra	glædre	glædra
Dative	gladum	gladum	gladum	gladum	glædre	gladum
Instrumental	glade	gladum	glade	gladum	glædre	gladum

There is no need to supply the weak declension, since in the weak declension every suffix begins with a vowel.

Adjectives with -w

We shall give ġearu ("ready") as an example of this type of adjective. Here is the strong declension:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gearu 'ready'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ġearu	ġearwe	ġearu	ġearu	ġearu	ġearwe
Accusative	ġearone	ġearwe	ġearu	ġearu	ġearwe	ġearwe
Genitive	ġearwes	ġearora	ġearwes	ġearora	ġearore	ġearora
Dative	ġearwum	ġearwum	ġearwum	ġearwum	ġearore	ġearwum
Instrumental	ġearwe	ġearwum	ġearwe	ġearwum	ġearore	ġearwum

This again can be explained in terms of a few simple rules:

• Where the ordinary strong declension has no suffix, -w adjectives have the suffix -u.
• Where the ordinary strong declension has a suffix beginning with a consonant, -w adjectives have an o followed by the appropriate suffix.
• Where the ordinary strong declension has a suffix beginning with a vowel, -w adjectives have a w followed by the appropriate suffix.

There is no need to give the weak declension, since in the weak declension every number and case has a suffix beginning with a vowel; -w adjectives will therefore uniformly precede this suffix with a w.

Adjectives with -e

Adjectives such as swēte ("sweet") follow a very simple rule: the e at the end is displaced by any suffix, but stays where it is if there is no suffix. Hence the strong declension looks like this:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: swēt "sweet"
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	swēte	swēte	swēte	swētu	swētu	swēte
Accusative	swētne	swēte	swēte	swētu	swēte	swēte
Genitive	swētes	swētra	swētes	swētra	swētre	swētra
Dative	swētum	swētum	swētum	swētum	swētre	swētum
Instrumental	swēte	swētum	swēte	swētum	swētre	swētum

Again, there is no real need to give the weak declension — or the strong one, really, since the rule is so simple.

Comparatives and Superlatives

The comparative and superlative forms are like Modern English "more" and "most", as is "more intelligent" and "most intelligent" or "better" and "best".

In Old English, all comparative adjectives were declined according to the weak declension - no matter what. The comparative degree was usually formed with the suffix "-ra" (the "a" being the weak masculine singular ending - so it should be replaced by other grammatical endings when it is declined). The superlative degree ("most") was usually formed by adding the suffix "-ost" to an adjective; but like the normal positive degree, it was sometimes declined weak and sometimes declined strong (see the "Strong or Weak?" section above for more information). For example:

• wīs ("wise") - wīsra ("wiser") - wīsost ("wisest")
• cræftiġ ("crafty, skilled") - cræftiġra ("craftier, more skilled") - cræftigost ("craftiest, most skilled")
• hefiġ ("heavy, important") - hefiġra (""heavier, more important") - hefigost ("heaviest, most important")

Some common adjectives undergo i-mutation in the comparative and superlative, and have -est instead of -ost as the superlative suffix. Examples are:

• eald ("old") - ieldra ("older") - (ieldest)
• ġeong ("young") - ġingra ("younger") - ġingrest ("youngest")
• hēah ("high") - hīerra ("higher") - hīehst ("highest")
• strang ("strong") - strengra ("stronger") - strengest ("strongest")
• lang ("long") - lengra ("longer") - lengest ("longest")

Some adjectives formed their comparative and superlative degrees irregularly, and need to be memorized:

• gōd ("good") - betera ("better") - betst ("best")
• yfel ("bad, evil") - wirsa ("worse") - wirst ("worst")
• lytel ("little, small") - læssa ("smaller, less") - læst
• miċel ("much, great") - māra ("more, greater") - mǣst ("most, greatest")

Adjectives and Cases

Sometimes adjectives in Old English can govern cases, like prepositions. German does the same thing with adjectives such as gleich, which can operate both as a descriptive adjective, and a predicate adjective with a noun "object". In Old English, adjectives often took the dative case, but could also take other cases as well.

Adjectives Governing the Dative

1. Gelīc - like
2. Midsprecende - speaking on behalf of
   1. þu þe wǣre midsprecende þǣm Hǣlende thou who wert speaking on behalf of the Lord