The conjugation of the oe verbs dōn and willan

Tense	Present						Preterite
Mood	Indicative		Subjunctive		Imperative		Indicative	Subjunctive
Singular:
1p.	dō	wille	-“-	-“-			dyde wolde	-“-
2p.	dēst	willt	dō	wille	do	–	dydest woldest	dyde wolde
3p.	dēþ	willeþ	-“-	-“-			dyde wolde	-“-
Plural:	dōþ	willaþ	dōn	willen	dōþ	–	dydon woldon	dyden wolden
Participle I	dōnde willende;		ne+wille  nylle; ne+wolde  nolde
Participle II	(Ze) dōn

b) In OE there were combinations of the type “habban + participle II”, e.g: Hīe hxfdon hīer cyninZ Zecorenne. Still there was no perfect aspect, though some priority was meant. Nevertheless the individual meaning of the participle is quite distinct. The combinations should be considered free.

c) The category of voice is also a matter of dispute, for it is closely linked up with the problem of analytical verb-forms in OE. In OE there were combinations of “bēon/wesan; weorþan + participle II” e.g.: And þxr wxron ofslxZene niZon eorlas. Each member of the combination has its own ending of the plural which proves their independence (Compound nominal predicate), e.g.: hē wearþ ofslxZen where a change of state is meant. Such combinations gradually acquired the features of analytical forms which they became in ME.

Syntax and word stock

1. OE sentence and word order.

2. Etymology of OE vocabulary.

3. OE word-formation.

1. Oe sentence and word order

a) Members of the sentence in OE were the same as in NE: the predicate, the subject, the object, the adverbial modifier and the apposition. A parenthesis might be present. The word order in OE was of three types, i.e., the direct order: ‘Ōhthere sxde his hlaforde Ælfrede cyninZe’ - “Ohthere said to his lord king Alfred”; inversion, particularly when a sentence began with an adverbial modifier or a prepositional group: ‘lihte sē lēoma’ “Shone the light” the structure of which is ‘verb-predicate-subject’ (Cf. NE “Talent Mr. Micawber has, capital he has not”. Ch. Dickens) or ‘Fella spella him sxdon þā Beormas’ “Many stories him told the Beormas” the structure of which is ‘object-object-verb-predicate-subject’; and so-called synthetic order of words, when an object or an adverbial modifier is between the subject and the predicate, the latter being placed in the end of the sentence: ‘and hē hine to þxre abudissen Zelxdde’ ‘and he him to the prioress led’ or ‘… hē ealra Norþmonna Norþmest būde’ “He of all Northmen the most northern lived”. Of these three the direct order prevailed, though the other two were rather characteristic of OE.

b) Impersonal sentences in OE contained so-called impersonal verbs, e.g.: ‘Þa onZān hine hynZrian’; “Ему голодалось”; ‘mē lonZade’ “мне тосковалось”; ‘him þohte’ “ему думалось” (cf. methinks). Besides there were impersonal sentences with ‘hit’, e.g.: ‘hit licode Herode’ “Это понравилось Ироду”.

Compound sentences were connected by conjunctions ‘and’, ‘oþþe’ (or), ‘ac’ (but); complex sentences were connected by ‘þxt’, ‘þe’ (which, when, where), ‘þā’, ‘þonne’ (then), ‘hwanne’(when),‘siþþan’ (since), ‘xr’ (before), ‘Zif’’ (if), ‘þēah’ (though), ‘swā’ (so) etc.