NiwEnglisc/Rædung 2

Lesson 2 ~ Ƕilce Uhr hast þu?

This lesson will deal with verbs in the present tense, the definite article with subjects and direct objects, and adjectives with and without the definite article.

Verbs in the present tense (Verbe in þer andwarden Teid)

Verbs in the present tense have 3 total endings, that should be familiar to those who have studied Shakespeare, or German or Low German.

sg. pron.	sg. verb	pl. pron.	pl. verb
ic	finde	wiȝ	findeþ
þu	findest	ȝiȝ	findeþ
he, scie, it	findeþ	hje	findeþ

Nouns as subjects and objects

Nouns have a grammatical gender, which may or may not be the same as their natural gender. All this means is that the noun requires certain definite articles, adjective endings, and plurals to function in the sentence. There are masculine, feminine, and neuter nouns, most of which are identical as subjects and objects of sentences.

• Þie Frowe haþ anen Hund. The lady has a dog
• þe Hund findeþ þat Baan. the dog finds the bone

You can see here, that Hund dog doesn't change when used as the subject or object of the sentence. It is a masculine noun, because its definite article is þe. The word Baan uses þat which is neuter, and the word Frowe is feminine, and requires þie.

Definite Article

The definite article in Englisc retains the declensions that Old and Middle Englisc had, and modern German still has. It changes form according to the noun to which it's referring, so that you can tell the function of the noun in the sentence. It agrees in number, gender, and case with a noun.

Articles:

• masculine: þe
• feminine: þie
• neuter: þat

Those are the articles when used as the subject of a sentence. When used as a direct object:

• masculine: þen
• feminine: þie
• neuter: þat

You can see only the masculine article has a separate form.

Adjectives in Sentences

Adjectives are declined, or take endings, when used to describe nouns in sentences. When used as a predicate (after a form of "to be") then they take no inflection. It is old-fashioned to decline predicate adjectives for feminine nor plural nouns, and occurs only in poetry or to give an air of an older time when writing.

Examples:

• Mein Auto is ƕeit. My car is white
• Þe Hund is brun. the dog is brown
• Þe Katt is orange and ƕeit the cat is orange and white

but:

• here Haare sind blonde. her hair is blonde (not common. Correct form is: her Haar is blond)

Now, when an adjective precedes a noun, then it will take an ending, depending on the gender of the noun it follows.

Examples:

• hweit Huus white house
• brun Grund brown ground
• smalle Katte small cat
• niwe Blostme new flowers

You can see for the noun Katte, which is feminine, its adjective takes -e before it, and the plural noun Blostme flowers took -e for its adjective.

So we have:

use / gender	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
subject form nominative case	-0	-0	-e	-e

Adjectives can also follow nouns used as the direct object of a sentence. The direct object is the person, place, animal, or thing directly acted upon by the subject.

Examples:

• ic see hweite Hunde I see white dogs
• he drinkeþ grœnen Tee he drinks green tea
• wiȝ seeþ klar Water we see clear water
• hje bycgeþ ræde Rosen they are buying red roses
• hje habeþ alde Tynder they have old tinder

use / gender	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
subject form nominative case	-0	-0	-e	-e
object form accusative case	-en	-0	-e	-e

Note that feminine nouns and plural nouns take the same endings: -e. Masculine nouns add -en when used as the direct object of a sentence.

Adjectives with Definite Articles

When adjectives follow the definite article, they use what is called the weak declension. The definite article tells the gender and case, so the adjective doesn't have to, and its endings are weak or indistinct.

Examples as Subjects:

• þat grœne Gærs the green grass
• þe ȝonge Hund the young dog
• þie sciene Frowe the beautiful lady
• þie kalden Dage the cold days

use / gender	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
subject form nominative case	-e	-e	-e	-en

The article tells you the gender, so the adjective doesn't have to do so. The singular is all -e while the plural is -en

Examples as objects:

• ic fand þen brunen Hund I found the brown dog
• þu hast þie ferscen Rosen you have the fresh roses
• scie bohte þat hweite Auto she bought the white car
• wiȝ ageþ þie ȝongen Katten we own the young cats

use / gender	masculine	neuter	feminine	plural
subject form nominative case	-e	-e	-e	-en
object form accusative case	-en	-e	-e	-en

Like before the subject and object form for neuter and feminine nouns is the same. The plural is always -en, and the masculine has a distinct form.

Telling Time

You can tell time in several ways using Englisc, and the most basic is with words describing the part of the day it is:

• Nu is Morgen. it is morning now
• hræde biþ Æfen. it will quickly be evening
• Hu lange oþ Middæȝ? How long until noon?

The words tell the approximate time of day it is:

• þe Morgen - the morning
• þe Middæȝ - noon
• þe Ofermiddæȝ - the afternoon
• þe Æfen - the evening
• þie Niht - the night
• þie Middniht - midnight

Telling Time with a Clock

The clock is used to tell time much like in English and in German as well.

Asking the time:

• Ƕilce Stunde is nu? - what time is it now? (literally, which hour is now?)
• Ƕenn is it nu? - when is it now?
• Ƕilce/Ƕat is þie Teid? - what is the time? (Hwilce/Hwat if your keyboard doesn't have a key for Ƕ)

Telling the time:

• Nu is feif Uhr tien. - It's 5:10
• Nu is þritien Uhr feiftien - It's 1:10 PM
• Nu is Aan Uhr feiftien ofermiddæȝs - it's 1:10 in the afternoon.
• It is feif ær twa - it is 5 before 2 PM; it's 1:55 PM
• it is þrie æfter six - it is 5 past 6 PM; it's 6:05 PM
• it is half six - it is half to six; it's 5:30 PM
• Nu is Vierðel ær sefen - it's a quarter till 7; it's 6:45 PM
• It is six Uhr tweȝnandþrittiȝ morgens - it's 6:32 in the morning.

The number two has the special form twa when telling the hour. Telling the minute is the regular tweȝn.

To tell AM or PM, you can either use the 24-hour clock, or use morgens or ofermiddæȝs for morning or afternoon, and æfens for evening time.

Times of Day

You can tell time using what used to be based on canonical time, but is often used to mean a specific time of day now, or a period of time starting then.

• Middniht - 12 AM
• Uhte - 3 AM
• Preim - 6 AM
• Undern - 9 AM
• Middæȝ - 12 PM
• Non - 3 PM
• Æfen - 6 PM
• Fornniht - 9 PM

If you meet someone for brunch, you could say ic mœte þiȝ ane Stunde æfter Undern and your friend would know you mean 10 AM. If you said ic bim þær um Uhte that would mean you'd be there around 3 AM. If a friend asked, Hast þu Undern free to mœten? he would be asking if you had some time between 9 AM and 12 PM to meet. It's a shorthand way to indicate a period of time.

Simple Sentences (Anfalde Kwidden)

• Ic em Paul. Ic habe anen hweiten Hund. - I am Paul. I have a white dog.
• Ƕilce Uhr hast þu? - What time do you have?
• Ƕilce ræde Rosen haþ scie? - Which red roses does she have?
• wiȝ fanden twa alde Katten - we found two old cats.
• ȝiȝ bohten þie þrie niwen Gamen. - you bought the three new games.
• þu gæst underns to Werkstedde. - you go to work at 9 AM.
• he haþ ane grœne Bok - he has a green book.
• scie hafde grœne Bœke. - she has green books.

Sample Dialog (Biȝspells-Gespræk)

Dialogue: What's your name?

Alex Hallo, Emma. Hu gæþ't?

       Hi, Emma.  How's it going?

Emma Hallo, Alex. It gæþ miȝ well. Ƕilce Uhr hast þu?

       Hi, Alex. It's going well. What time do you have?

Alex Ic habe twa Uhr ofermiddæȝs. Ƕat makst þu nu?

       It's two in the afternoon.  What're you doing now?

Emma Ic bycge ræde Rosen. And þu?

       I'm buying red roses.  And you?

Alex ic finde ȝonge Katten for meine Swester.

       I'm buying red roses.  And you?

Emma Scie will Katten?

       She wants cats?

Alex Ȝa, scie will twa ƕeite Katten.

       yes, she wants two white cats?

Emma ah, ok. Oþ lætter!

       ah, ok.  Till later!

Alex Eftseen!

       See ya again!

Vocabulary

Verbs:

• bycgen - to buy
• finden - to find
• gaan - to go
• wesen - to be
• willen - to want

Adjectives:

• ald - old
• ȝong - young
• ƕeit - white
• ƕilc - which (of many)?
• ræd - red