Conjugation of oe bēon, me ben, ne be

	OE	ME	NE
Infinitive Pres. Indicative 1st p. sg 2nd p. sg 3rd p. sg Plural Pres. Subjunctive Singular Plural Imperative Singular Plural Participle I Past Indicative 1st p. sg 2nd p. sg 3rd p. sg Plural Past Subjunctive Singular Plural Participle II	*wesan bēon eom/am bēo/biom eart bist/bis is biþ sint/sindon bēoþ earon/aron sīe, sy bēo sīen, sy bēon wes bēo wesaþ bēoþ wesende bēonde wæs wæ:re wæs wæ:ron wæ:re wæ:ren —	been am art is been/ are(n) be been bee beeth beyng(e) beande was were was weren were weren been	be am - is are be be being was — was were were been

The redistribution of suppletive forms in the paradigm of be made it possible to preserve some of the grammatical distinctions which were practically lost in other verbs, namely the distinction of number, person and mood.

1.2.4. The origin of modern irregular verbs

In OE most verbs were regular, i.e. they built up their forms in accordance with patterns established in the language. In ME not only the few OE irregular – preterite-presents or anomalous verbs were preserved, but also new irregular verbs appeared. This was due, first of all, to the disappearance of the division of verbs into strong and weak, most strong verbs losing their regular pattern of conjugation and thus becoming irregular.

Another source of irregular verbs was the 1^st class of weak verbs. Three groups of verbs originally belonging to the 1^st class of weak verbs later became irregular:

1. verbs with a long root vowel, the root ending in -t or -d:

OE mētan mētte mētt

ME meten mette mett

NE meet met met

In ME the root vowel of the 2^nd and 3^rd forms was shortened due to the rhythmic tendency of the language requiring the shortening of all vowels if followed by two consonants. In NE the long root vowel in the first form was changed due to the Great Vowel Shift.

2. verbs with a long root vowel, the root ending in a consonant other than -t or -d:

OE cēpan cēpte cēpt

ME kepen kepte kept

NE keep kept kept

In ME the dental suffixation of the 2^nd and 3^rd forms is supplemented with a quantitative vowel interchange similar to that explained above, and in NE both vowel interchange (quantitative and qualitative) and suffixation serve as form-building means.

3. verbs with a short root vowel, the root ending in -t or -d:

OE settan sette sett

ME setten sette sett

NE set set set

No changes took place in the root vowel, the ending disappeared due to the final reduction of unstressed vowels, and now the verb builds up its forms without any material manifestation.

Even in the 2^nd class of weak verbs examples of irregularity can be found. One of them is the verb to make.

OE macian macode macod

ME maken makede maked

NE make made made

The middle syllable of the 2^nd and 3^rd forms was lost, making the verb irregular.

Still another source of irregular verbs may be found in some loan words borrowed into the language in ME and NE. Although most borrowed verbs made their forms in accordance with the weak verbs of the 2^nd class, some of them were irregular, e.g. Scandinavian strong verb borrowings which preserved their original vowel interchange and thus are nowadays irregular, as:

give gave given

take took taken

get got gotten.

Another irregular loan word is the French borrowing to catch (caught, caught) which is irregular, building up its forms on analogy with the verb to teach (taught, taught).

Thus, among NE regular verbs either native words – almost all OE weak verbs of the 2^nd class and some OE strong verbs having lost their irregularity and forming their forms on analogy with the weak verbs of the 2^nd class, such as to help, to bake, etc., or borrowings – almost all loan verbs may be encountered.