• “Hwā” “who” was only used in the singular. It had masculine and neuter forms only.

•“Hwā” is the source of Modern English who, hwam“whom”, hwat “what”

•“hwæs” is the source of “whose”.

• “hwy” , “why”

• “Hwā” had a different writing form in case of noun inflections.

• Relative pronoun: used to give additional information.•e.g. it was john who did that

•Written in old E “se þe”

Interrogative and relative pronouns

Like modern E old E verbs were either weak or strong.

Weak verbs: the one ending with “d” or “t” to form preterits and past participles . E.g. ” play – played – played”

Strong verbs: these verbs change their stressed vowel for the same purpose. E.g. “ sing – sang –sung “

OE had several kinds of weak verbs and 7 groups of strong verbs distinguished by their pattern of vowel change.

OE had more strong verbs than Modern English.

Present system:

Indicative

Subjunctive

Imperative

Infinitive

Preterit system:

Indicative

Subjunctive

Past Participle

Indicative forms of verbs the present and preterit were used to make statements and ask questions. These were the most common.

Old E preterit used it for events in the past

The present tense for present and future events and habitual actions

The majority of old E verbs formed in preterits and past participles in the Germanic way by adding d or t after voiceless consonants.

There were three classes of weak verbs.

Class one Do - did - done

Class two End - ended - ended

Class three have – had – had

Other verbs formed their preterits by a vowel change gradation (Grimm’s ablaut). e.g. ride –rode – ridden.

OE had 7 classes of strong verbs based on the vowel alternation in their principle parts: Class I: had the vowels ī,ã,i,i e.g. writan “write”

Class II: had the vowels ēo, ēa, u,o e.g. cleofan“cleave”

Class III: had 2 consonants after the root vowel If the first consonant is nasal, the gradation was i, a,u,u

e.g. drincan “drink”

If the first one is l gradation was e, ea, u, o e.g. helpan“help”

If the first is r or h, the gradation was eo, ea, u,o e.g. ceorfan “carve”

Class IV: verbs typically had a single l or r after the root vowel and the gradation was e, æ,æ, e. e.g. beran “bear”.

Class V: had a single consonant (other than l or r) after the root vowel and the gradation e, æ, æ, e. the initial g is pronounced y. gifan “give”.

Class VI: had the gradation a, o, õ, a e.g. scacan“shake”

Class VII were less regular than other strong verbs. E.g. cnawan “know”.