Old Auregan

Old Auregan Auregisc, Wexisc
Progress: 91%
Type
Mixed
Alignment
Nominative-Accusative
Head direction
Initial	Mixed		Final
Primary word order
Subject-verb-object
Tonal
Yes
Declensions
Yes
Conjugations
Yes
Genders
3
Nouns decline according to...
Case		Number
Definiteness		Gender
Verbs conjugate according to...
Voice		Mood
Person		Number
Tense		Aspect

General informations

Oxman is a Germanic language spoken in the Duché du Héron (= Shire of Le Héron), a shire that corresponds to the eastern region of Seine-Marirtime in France. This language has evolved from Old Oxman which evolved from Old Auregan which is the first recorded form of Auregan language. Auregan language area corresponds to the "Vexin Normand" (a region situated just south to "Duché du héron"). A Oxman speaking colony also exists near the city of Coventry, Warwickshire, Midlands, England. Oxman is a West-Germanic language that is strongly linked to Dutch, Modern English, Low German and Modern German.

Here is a table which sums up the main characteristics of this language:

	Gender	Cases	Numbers	Tenses	Persons	Moods	Voices	Aspects
Verb	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Nouns	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Adjectives	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Numbers	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Participles	No	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Adverb	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Pronouns	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Adpositions	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Article	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Particle	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No

Phonology

Alphabet

Oxman alphabet uses letters from Latin alphabet and contains 25 characters:

Letters	Pronunciation	Further information
a	[a]	short 'a'
b	[b]	like in English
c	[tʃ]	like the English 'ch' in 'church'
d	[d]	like in English
e	[ɛ] / [e:]	in plural cluster -es it is not pronounced
f	[f]	like in English
g	[g]	it is always pronunced as in the English word "get"
h	[h]	like in English
i	[ɪ]	short 'i'
j	[j]	like English 'y'
k	[k]	like in English
l	[l]	like in English
m	[m]	like in English
n	[n]	like in English
o	[ɔ] / [oʊ:]	like in English
p	[p]	like in English
q	[k]	often followed by 'u', in latin words beginning with 'qu'
r	[r]	trilled just as in Dutch or in Italian
s	[s]	can be either voiced or voiceless
t	[t]	like in English
u	[œ]	short 'u' in 'but'
v	[v]	like in English
w	[ʋ]	between 'v' and 'w', just as in Dutch
y	[j]	between French letter 'j' in 'jouer' and English 'y' in 'year', as a vowel like a French 'u' or as English 'y' in 'why' when at the end of a word followed by a 'e' (cf. Oxman 'wye?' meaning 'why?' pronounced as in English);
æ	[ɑ:]	long 'a'
œ	[u]	as 'oo' in 'boot'

Consonantic phonemes

Old Auregan language had the following consonantic phonemes:

	Bilabial	Labio-dental	Dental	Alveolar	Post-alveolar	Palatal	Labio-Velar	Velar	Glottal
Nasal	m			n				(ŋ)
Plosive	p b			t d				k g	ʔ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ʃ			x	h
Affricate				ts dz	tʃ dʒ
Approximant				ɹ		j	ʍ w
Lateral				l

Vocalic phonemes

Oxman shows the following vowels:

Phonemes	Short		Long
	Front	Back	Front	Back
Closed	ɪ	ʊ	i:	u:
Mid-closed			e:	o:
Mid-open	ɛ	ɔ
Open	a			ɑ:

Diphthongs and digraphs

Old Auregan had also twenty diphthongs, that is clusters of two vowels pronounced with a single emission of air. These diphthongs are:

Diphthongs	Pronunciation
īo	[i:eɪ]
īa	[i:a]
ēa	[e:aɪ]

Stress

The position of stress in this language is quite regular, because it falls on the root and thus there are few rules to observe:

• In substantives (and in adjectives and adverbs) the stress generally falls on the first syllable, but if they are compound nouns / adjectives, formed by prefix + noun / adjective, the stress falls on the root syllable of the noun / adjective. In compounds which are formed by noun / adjective + noun / adjective, the various words are read as if they were written separately;

• In verbs the stress falls always on the root, even if they are compounds, ex.: emæke, "to make up", is read as [ə'ma:kə].

Grammar

Morphology

Verbs

Verbs in Old Auregan are divided into strong or weak verbs. Strong verbs indicate tense by a change in the quality of a vowel, while weak verbs indicate tense by the addition of an ending.

Strong verbs

Strong verbs use the Germanic form of conjugation known as ablaut. In this form of conjugation, the stem of the word changes to indicate the tense. Verbs like this persist in modern Oxman; for example singe, song, esungen is a strong verb, as are swimbe, swomb, eswumben and ciese, coas, ecosen. The root portion of the word changes rather than its ending. In Old Auregan, there were seven major classes of strong verb; each class has its own pattern of stem changes. Learning these is often a challenge for students of the language, though English speakers may see connections between the old verb classes and their modern forms.

The classes had the following distinguishing features to their infinitive stems:

1. ī + one consonant.
2. īo or ū + one consonant.
3. e + two consonants.
4. e + 1 consonant (usually l or r, plus the verb brecan 'to break').
5. e + 1 consonant (usually a stop or a fricative).
6. a + 1 consonant.
7. Other than the above.

Stem changes in strong verbs
Class	Root weight	Infinitive	First preterite	Second preterite	Past participle
I	heavy	ī	ēa	i	i
II	heavy	īo or ū	ōa	u	o
III	heavy	see table below
IV	light	e(+r/l)	a	ā (originally ǣ)	o
V	light	e(+other)	a	ā (originally ǣ)	e
VI	light	a	ō	ō	a
VII	heavy	ō, ēa, ōa, æ, ǣ, ō	e, ǣ or īo		same as infinitive

The first preterite stem is used in the preterite, for the first- and third-person singular. The second preterite stem is used for second-person singular, and all persons in the plural (as well as the preterite subjunctive). Strong verbs also exhibit i-mutation of the stem in the second- and third-person singular in the present tense.

The second sound change to affect it was the influence of palatal sounds <g>, <k>, and <sc>. These turned preceding <e> and <a> to < i > and <æ>, respectively.

The third sound change turned <e> to <i>, <æ> to <a>, and <o> to <u> before nasals.

Altogether, this split the third class into five sub-classes:

1. e + two consonants (apart from clusters beginning with l).
2. e + r or h + another consonant.
3. e + l + another consonant.
4. g, c, or sc + i + two consonants.
5. i + nasal + another consonant.

Stem changes in Class III
Sub-class	Infinitive	First preterite	Second preterite	Past participle
a	e	a	u	o
b	e	a	u	o
c	e	e	u	o
d	i	e	u	o
e	i	a	u	u

Regular strong verbs were all conjugated roughly the same, with the main differences being in the stem vowel. Thus stelan 'to steal' represents the strong verb conjugation paradigm.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'steal'
Infinitives		stelan
		te stelenne
Present indicative
	ic	stelo
	þû	stilst
	hî/hit/sîo	stilþ
	wî/gî/hêa	stelað
Past indicative	ic	stal
	þû	stāli
	hî/hit/sîo	stal
	wî/gî/hêa	stālon
Present subjunctive	ic/þû/hî/hit/sîo	stele
	wî/gî/hêa	stelen
Past subjunctive	ic/þû/hî/hit/sîo	stāle
	wî/gî/hêa	stālin
Imperative	Singular	stel
	Plural	stelað
Present participle		stelendi
Past participle		gestolon

Weak verbs

Weak verbs are formed by adding alveolar (t or d) endings to the stem for the past and past-participle tenses. Some examples are love, loved or look, looked.

Originally, the weak ending was used to form the preterite of informal, noun-derived verbs such as often emerge in conversation and which have no established system of stem-change. By nature, these verbs were almost always transitive, and even today, most weak verbs are transitive verbs formed in the same way.

The linguistic trends of borrowing foreign verbs and verbalizing nouns have greatly increased the number of weak verbs over the last 1,200 years. Some verbs that were originally strong (for example helpe, holp, eholpen is now more and more replaced by helpe, helpte, ehelpt) have become weak by analogy; most foreign verbs are adopted as weak verbs; and when verbs are made from nouns (for example "to scroll" or "to water") the resulting verb is weak. Additionally, conjugation of weak verbs is easier to teach, since there are fewer classes of variation. In combination, these factors have drastically increased the number of weak verbs, so that in modern Oxman weak verbs are the most numerous and productive form.

There are three major classes of weak verbs in Old Auregan. The first class displays i-mutation in the root, and the second class none. There is also a third class explained below.

Class-one verbs with short roots exhibit gemination of the final stem consonant in certain forms. With verbs in <r>, this appears as <ri>. Geminated <ƀ> appears as <bb>, and that of <ġ> appears as <dġ>. Class-one verbs may receive an epenthetic vowel before endings beginning in a consonant.

Where class-one verbs have gemination, class-two verbs have <i>, which is a separate syllable pronounced [i]. All class-two verbs have an epenthetic vowel, which appears as <a> or <o>.

In the following table, three verbs are conjugated. Swebban 'to put to sleep' is a class-one verb exhibiting gemination and an epenthetic vowel. Hêalean 'to heal' is a class-one verb exhibiting neither gemination nor an epenthetic vowel. Sîðeon 'to travel' is a class-two verb.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'put to sleep'	'heal'	'travel'
Infinitives		swebbean	hêalean	sîþeon
		te swebbeanne	te hêaleanne	te sîþeonne
Present indicative
	ic	swebbeo	hêaleo	sîþeo
	þû	sweƀest	hêalest	sîþest
	hî/hit/îo	sweƀeð	hêaleþ	sîþeð
	wî/gî/hêa	swebbeað	hêaleað	sîþeoð
Past indicative	ic	sweƀoda	hêalda	sîþoda
	þû	sweƀodest	hêaldest	sîþodest
	hî/hit/sîo	sweƀoda	hêalda	sîþoda
	wî/gî/hêa	sweƀodon	hêaldon	sîþodon
Present subjunctive	ic/þû/hî/hit/sîo	swebbe	hêale	sîþe
	wî/gî/hêa	swebben	hêalen	sîþen
Past subjunctive	ic/þû/hî/hit/sîo	sweƀodi	hêaldi	sîþodi
	wî/gî/hêa	sweƀodin	hêaldin	sîþodin
Imperative	Singular	sweƀe	hêale	sîþe
	Plural	swebbeað	hêaleað	sîþeað
Present participle		sweƀendi	hêalendi	sîþende
Past participle		gesweƀed	gehêaled	gesîþeod

During the Old Auregan period, the third class was significantly reduced; only four verbs belonged to this group: hebbean 'have', libbean 'live', sedgean 'say', and hudġean 'think'. Each of these verbs is distinctly irregular, though they share some commonalities.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'have'	'live'	'say'	'think'
Infinitive		hebbean	libbean	sedgean	hudġean
Present indicative
	ic	hebbeo	libbeo	sedġeo	hudġeo
	þû	haƀest	liƀest	sagest	hogest
	hî/hit/sîo	haƀeþ	liƀeþ	sageþ	hogeþ
	wî/gî/hêa	habbeað	libbeað	sedgeað	hudgeað
Past indicative	(all persons)	hafda	lifda	sagda	hogda
Present subjunctive	(all persons)	hebbe	libbe	sedge	hudge
Past subjunctive	(all persons)	hafdi	lifdi	sagdi	hogdi
Imperative	Singular	haƀe	liƀe	sage	hoge
	Plural	hebbeað	libbeað	sedgeað	hudgeað
Present participle		hebbendi	libbendi	sedgendi	hudgendi
Past participle		gehafd	gelifd	gesagd	gehogd

Preterite-present verbs

The preterite-present verbs are a class of verbs which have a present tense in the form of a strong preterite and a past tense like the past of a weak verb. These verbs derive from the subjunctive or optative use of preterite forms to refer to present or future time. For example, witan, "to know" comes from a verb which originally meant "to have seen" (cf. OA wīsa "manner, mode, appearance"; Latin videre "to see" from the same root). The present singular is formed from the original singular preterite stem and the present plural from the original plural preterite stem. As a result of this history, the first-person singular and third-person singular are the same in the present.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'know how to'	'be able to, can'	'be obliged to'	'know'	'own'	'avail'	'dare'	'remember'	'need'	'be allowed to'	'grant, allow'	'use, enjoy'
Modern Descendant		'kunne'	'muye'	'sculle'	'wite'	'eye'	'*duye'	'durre'	'*mune'	'thurve'	'mœte’	'*unne'	'enuye'
Infinitives		kunnan	mugan	sculan	witan	ēagan	dugan	durran	munan	þurƀan	mōtan	unnan	ġinugan
Present Indicative
	icḳ	kan	mag	scal	wēat	ēah	dōag	dar	man	þarf	mōt	an	ġinah
	þū	kanst	maht	scalt	wēast	ēahst	dōahst	darst	manst	þarft	mōst	anst	ġinaht
	hī/hit/sīo	kan	mag	scal	wēat	ēah	deah	dar	man	þarf	mōt	an	ġinah
	wī/ġī/hēa	kunnon	mugon	sculon	witon	ēagon	dugon	durron	munon	þurƀon	mōton	unnon	ġinugon
Past Indicative
	icḳ	kūða	mæhta	scolda	wista	ēahta	dohta	dorsta	munda	þorfta	mōsta	ūða	ġinohta
	þū	kūðest	mæhtest	scoldest	wistest	ēahtest	dohtest	dorstest	mundest	þorftest	mōstest	ūðest	ġinohtest
	hī/hit/sīo	kūða	mæhta	scolda	wista	ēahta	dohta	dorsta	munda	þorfta	mōsta	ūða	ġinohta
	wī/ġī/hēa	kūðon	mæhton	scoldon	wiston	ēahton	dohton	dorston	mundon	þorfton	mōston	ūðon	ġinohton
Present Subjunctive
	icḳ/þū/hī/hit/sīo	kunni	mugi	sculi	witi	ēagi	dugi	durri	muni	þurƀi	mōti	unni	ġinugi
	wī/ġī/hēa	kunnin	mugin	sculin	witin	ēagin	dugin	durrin	munin	þurƀin	mōtin	unnin	ġinugin
Past Subjunctive
	icḳ/þū/hī/hit/sīo	kūði	mæhti	scoldi	wisti	ēahti	dohti	dorsti	mundi	þorfti	mōsti	ūði	ġinohti
	wī/ġī/hēa	kūðin	mæhtin	scoldin	wistin	ēahtin	dohtin	dorstin	mundin	þorftin	mōstin	ūðin	ġinohtin

[Forms above with asterisk (*) rare, archaic or dialectal.]

Anomalous verbs

Additionally there is a further group of four verbs which are anomalous, the verbs "want" (modern "will"), "do", "go" and "be". These four have their own conjugation schemes which differ significantly from all the other classes of verb. This is not especially unusual: "want", "do", "go", and "be" are the most commonly used verbs in the language, and are very important to the meaning of the sentences in which they are used. Idiosyncratic patterns of inflection are much more common with important items of vocabulary than with rarely-used ones.

Dōn 'to do' and gān 'to go' are conjugated alike; willan 'to want' is similar outside of the present tense.

Conjugation	Pronoun	'do'	'go'	'will'
Infinitive	–	dōn	gān	willan
Present Indicative
	ic	dō(m)	gā	will
	þū	dēst	gǣst	wilt
	hē/hit/hēo	dēþ	gǣþ	will
	wē/gē/hīe	dōð	gāð	willað
Past Indicative
	ic/hē/hit/hēo	deda	igda	wolde
	þū	dedest	igdest	woldest
	wē/gē/hīe	dedon	igdon	woldon
Present Subjunctive	(all persons)	dō	gā	will
Past Subjunctive	(all persons)	deda	igda	wolda
Present Participle		dōndi	–	willendi
Past Participle		gidōn	gigān / gigangon	–

The verb 'to be' is actually composed of three different stems:

Conjugation	Pronoun	sīn	bīon	wesan
Infinitive	–	sīn	*bīon	wesan
Present Indicative
	icḳ	em	bīom	*weso
	þū	art	bist	*wesest
	hī/hit/sīo	is	*biþ	*west
	wī/ġī/hēa	āron, sind(on)	*bīoð	wesað
Past Indicative
	icḳ	–	–	was
	þū	–	–	wāri
	hī/hit/sīo	–	–	was
	wī/ġī/hēa	–	–	wāron
Present Subjunctive
	icḳ/þū/hī/hit/sīo	sīe	*bīe	wese
	wī/ġī/hēa	sīen	*bīen	wesen
Past Subjunctive
	icḳ/þū/hī/hit/sīo	–	–	wāri
	wī/ġī/hēa	–	–	wārin
Imperative
	(singular)	–	*bīo	wes
	(plural)	–	*bīoð	wesað
Present Participle		–	*bīondi	wesendi
Past Participle		–	*ġibīon	ġiweson

The present forms of wesan are almost never used. Therefore, wesan is used as the past, imperative, and present participle versions of sindon, and does not have a separate meaning. The bēon forms are usually used in reference to future actions. Only the present forms of bēon contrast with the present forms of sindon/wesan in that bēon tends to be used to refer to eternal or permanent truths, while sindon/wesan is used more commonly to refer to temporary or subjective facts. This semantic distinction was lost as Old English developed into modern English, so that the modern verb 'to be' is a single verb which takes its present indicative forms from sindon, its past indicative forms from wesan, its present subjunctive forms from bēon, its past subjunctive forms from wesan, and its imperative and participle forms from bēon. In late OE and ME, the form earon/earun, from the Old Norse erun, replaced bēoþ and sind (See also List of English words of Old Norse origin).

Nouns

Old English is an inflected language, and as such its nouns, pronouns, adjectives and determiners must be declined in order to serve a grammatical function. A set of declined forms of the same word pattern is called a declension. As in several other ancient Germanic languages, there are five major cases: nominative, accusative, dative, genitive and instrumental.

• The nominative case indicated the subject of the sentence, for example se cyning means 'the king'. It was also used for direct address. Adjectives in the predicate (qualifying a noun on the other side of 'to be') were also in the nominative.
• The accusative case indicated the direct object of the sentence, for example Æþelbald lufode þone cyning means "Æþelbald loved the king", where Æþelbald is the subject and the king is the object. Already the accusative had begun to merge with the nominative; it was never distinguished in the plural, or in a neuter noun.
• The genitive case indicated possession, for example the þæs cyninges scip is "the ship of the king" or "the king's ship". It also indicated partitive nouns.
• The dative case indicated the indirect object of the sentence, for example hringas þæm cyninge means "rings for the king" or "rings to the king". There were also several verbs that took direct objects in the dative.
• The instrumental case indicated an instrument used to achieve something, for example, lifde sweorde, "he lived by the sword", where sweorde is the instrumental form of sweord. During the Old English period, the instrumental was falling out of use, having largely merged with the dative. Only pronouns and strong adjectives retained separate forms for the instrumental.

The small body of evidence we have for Runic texts suggests that there may also have a been a separate locative case in early or Northumbrian forms of the language (e.g., Template:Script on rodi "on the Cross").

In addition to inflection for case, nouns take different endings depending on whether the noun was in the singular (for example, hring 'one ring') or plural (for example, hringas 'many rings'). Also, some nouns pluralize by way of Umlaut, and some undergo no pluralizing change in certain cases.

Nouns are also categorized by grammatical gender – masculine, feminine, or neuter. In general, masculine and neuter words share their endings. Feminine words have their own subset of endings. The plural of some declension types distinguishes between genders, e.g., a-stem masculine nominative plural stanas "stones" vs. neuter nominative plural scipu "ships" and word "words"; or i-stem masculine nominative plural sige(as) "victories" vs. neuter nominative plural sifu "sieves" and hilt "hilts".

Furthermore, Old English nouns are divided as either strong or weak. Weak nouns have their own endings. In general, weak nouns are easier than strong nouns, since they had begun to lose their declensional system. However, there is a great deal of overlap between the various classes of noun: they are not totally distinct from one another.

Old English language grammars often follow the common NOM-ACC-GEN-DAT-INST order used for the Germanic languages.

Strong nouns

Here are the strong declensional endings and examples for each gender:

The Strong Noun Declension
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	–	-os	–	-u/–	-u/–	-e
Accusative	–	-os	–	-u/–	-e	-e
Genitive	-es	-ō	-es	-ō	-e	-ō
Dative	-e	-um	-e	-um	-e	-um

For the '-u/–' forms above, the '-u' is used with a root consisting of a single short syllable or ending in a long syllable followed by a short syllable, while roots ending in a long syllable or two short syllables are not inflected. (A long syllable contains a long vowel or is followed by two consonants. Note also that there are some exceptions; for example, feminine nouns ending in -þu such as strengþu 'strength'.)

Example of the Strong Noun Declension for each Gender
Case	Masculine engel 'angel'		Neuter scip 'ship'		Feminine sorg 'sorrow'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	engol	englos	scip	scipu	sorġa	sorġa
Accusative	engol	englos	scip	scipu	sorġa	sorġa
Genitive	engles	englō	scipes	scipō	sorġō	sorġanō
Dative	engle	englum	scipe	scipum	sorġe	sorġum

Note the syncope of the second e in engel when an ending follows. This syncope of the vowel in the second syllable occurs with two-syllable strong nouns, which have a long vowel in the first syllable and a second syllable consisting of a short vowel and single consonant (for example, engel, wuldor 'glory', and hēafod 'head'). However, this syncope is not always present, so forms such as engelas may be seen.

Weak nouns

Here are the weak declensional endings and examples for each gender:

The Weak Noun Declension
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-e	-on	-a	-on	-a	-a
Accusative	-on	-on	-a	-on	-a	-a
Genitive	-on	-anō	-on	-anō	-ō	-anō
Dative	-on	-um	-on	-um	-e	-um

Example of the Weak Noun Declension for each Gender
Case	Masculine name 'name'		Neuter oage 'eye'		Feminine tunga 'tongue'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	name	namon	ōaġa	ōaġon	tunga	tunga
Accusative	namon	namon	ōaġa	ōaġon	tunga	tunga
Genitive	namon	namanō	ōaġon	ōaġanō	tungō	tunganō
Dative	namon	namum	ōaġon	ōaġum	tunge	tungum

Irregular strong nouns

In addition, masculine and neuter nouns whose main vowel is short 'æ' and end with a single consonant change the vowel to 'a' in the plural (a result of the phonological phenomenon known as Anglo-Frisian brightening):

Dæg 'day' m.
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	dæg	dagas
Accusative	dæg	dagas
Genitive	dæges	daga
Dative	dæge	dagum

Some masculine and neuter nouns end in -e in their base form. These drop the -e and add normal endings. Note that neuter nouns in -e always have -u in the plural, even with a long vowel:

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -e
Case	Masculine ende 'end'		Neuter stȳle 'steel'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ende	endas	stȳle	stȳlu
Accusative	ende	endas	stȳle	stȳlu
Genitive	endes	enda	stȳles	stȳla
Dative	ende	endum	stȳle	stȳlum

Nouns ending in -h lose this when an ending is added, and lengthen the vowel in compensation (this can result in compression of the ending as well):

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -h
Case	Masculine mearh 'horse'		Neuter feorh 'life'		Masculine scōh 'shoe'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mearh	mēaras	feorh	feorh	scōh	scōs
Accusative	mearh	mēaras	feorh	feorh	scōh	scōs
Genitive	mēares	mēara	fēores	fēora	scōs	scōna
Dative	mēare	mēarum	fēore	fēorum	scō	scōm

Nouns whose stem ends in -w change this to -u or drop it in the nominative singular. (Note that this '-u/–' distinction depends on syllable weight, as for strong nouns, above.)

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions ending in -w
Case	Neuter smeoru 'grease'		Feminine sinu 'sinew'		Feminine lǣs 'pasture'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	smeoru	smeoru	sinu	sinwa	lǣs	lǣswa}}
Accusative	smeoru	smeoru	sinwe	sinwa, -e	lǣswe	lǣswa, -e
Genitive	smeorwes	smeorwa	sinwe	sinwa	lǣswe	lǣswa
Dative	smeorwe	smeorwum	sinwe	sinwum	lǣswe	lǣswum

A few nouns follow the -u declension, with an entirely different set of endings. The following examples are both masculine, although feminines also exist, with the same endings (for example duru 'door' and hand 'hand'). Note that the '-u/–' distinction in the singular depends on syllable weight, as for strong nouns, above.

Example of the -u Declension
Case	Masculine sunu 'son'		Masculine feld 'field'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sunu	suna	feld	felda
Accusative	sunu	suna	feld	felda
Genitive	suna	suna	felda	felda
Dative	suna	sunum	felda	feldum

Mutating strong nouns

There are also some nouns of the consonant declension, which show i-umlaut in some forms.

Example of the Strong Noun Declensions with i-shift
Case	Masculine fōt 'foot'		Feminine hnutu 'nut'		Feminine bōc 'book'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fōt	fēt	hnutu	hnyte	bōc	bēc
Accusative	fōt	fēt	hnutu	hnyte	bōc	bēc
Genitive	fōtes	fōta	hnyte, hnute	hnuta	bēc, bōce	bōca
Dative	fēt, fōte	fōtum	hnyte, hnute	hnutum	bēc, bōc	bōcum

Other such nouns include (with singular and plural nominative forms given):

Masculine: tōþ, tēþ 'tooth'; mann, menn 'man'; frēond, frīend 'friend'; fēond, fīend 'enemy' (cf. 'fiend')

Feminine: studu, styde 'post' (cf. 'stud'); hnitu, hnite 'nit'; āc, ǣc 'oak'; gāt, gǣt 'goat'; brōc, brēc 'leg covering' (cf. 'breeches'); gōs, gēs 'goose'; burg, byrg 'city' (cf. 'borough', '-bury' and German cities in -burg); dung, dyng 'prison' (cf. 'dungeon' by way of French and Frankish); turf, tyrf 'turf'; grūt, grȳt 'meal' (cf. 'grout'); lūs, lȳs 'louse'; mūs, mȳs 'mouse'; neaht, niht 'night' Feminine with loss of -h in some forms: furh, fyrh 'furrow' or 'fir'; sulh, sylh 'plough'; þrūh, þrȳh 'trough'; wlōh, wlēh 'fringe'. Feminine with compression of endings: cū, cȳ 'cow' (cf. dialectal plural 'kine')

Neuter: In addition, scrūd 'clothing, garment' has the umlauted dative-singular form scrȳd.

Nouns of relationship

Nouns of Relationship
Case	Masculine fæder 'father'		Masculine brōðor 'brother'		Feminine mōdor 'mother'		Feminine sweostor 'sister'		Feminine dohtor 'daughter'
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fæder	fæd(e)ras	brōðor	(ge)brōðor	mōdor	mōdra/mōdru	sweostor	(ge)sweostor, -tru, -tra	dohtor	dohtor
Accusative	fæder	fæd(e)ras	brōðor	(ge)brōðor	mōdor	mōdra/mōdru	sweostor	(ge)sweostor, -tru, -tra	dohtor	dohtor
Genitive	fæder	fæd(e)ra	brōðor	(ge)brōðra	mōdor	mōdra	sweostor	(ge)sweostra	dohtor	dohtra
Dative	fæder	fæderum	brēðer	(ge)brōðrum	mēder	mōdrum	sweostor	(ge)sweostrum	dehter	dohtrum

Neuter nouns with -r- in the plural

Lamb 'lamb' n.
Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	lamb	lambru
Accusative	lamb	lambru
Genitive	lambes	lambra
Dative	lambe	lambrum

Other such nouns: ǣg, ǣgru 'egg' (ancestor of the archaic/dialectical form 'ey', plural 'eyren'; the form 'egg' is a borrowing from Old Norse); bread, breadru 'crumb'; cealf, cealfru 'calf'; cild 'child' has either the normal plural cild or cildru (cf. 'children', with -en from the weak nouns); hǣmed, hǣmedru 'cohabitation'; speld, speldru 'torch'.

Adjectives

Adjectives in Old English are declined using the same categories as nouns: five cases (nominative, accusative, genitive, dative, and instrumental), three genders (masculine, feminine, neuter), and two numbers (singular, plural). In addition, they can be declined either strong or weak. The weak forms are used in the presence of a definite or possessive determiner, while the strong ones are used in other situations. The weak forms are identical to those for nouns, while the strong forms use a combination of noun and pronoun endings:

The Strong Adjective Declension
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	–	-e	–	-u/–	-u/–	-e, -a
Accusative	-ne	-e	–	-u/–	-e	-e, -a
Genitive	-es	-ra	-es	-ra	-re	-ra
Dative	-um	-um	-um	-um	-re	-um
Instrumental	-e	-um	-e	-um	-re	-um

For the '-u/–' forms above, the distinction is the same as for strong nouns.

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gōd 'good'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gōd	gōde	gōd	gōd	gōd	gōde, -a
Accusative	gōdne	gōde	gōd	gōd	gōde	gōde, -a
Genitive	gōdes	gōdra	gōdes	gōdra	gōdre	gōdra
Dative	gōdum	gōdum	gōdum	gōdum	gōdre	gōdum
Instrumental	gōde	gōdum	gōde	gōdum	gōdre	gōdum

Example of the Weak Adjective Declension: gōd 'good'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gōda	gōdan	gōde	gōdan	gōde	gōdan
Accusative	gōdan	gōdan	gōde	gōdan	gōdan	gōdan
Genitive	gōdan	gōdena	gōdan	gōdena	gōdan	gōdena
Dative	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum
Instrumental	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum	gōdan	gōdum

Note that the same variants described above for nouns also exist for adjectives. The following example shows both the æ/a variation and the -u forms in the feminine singular and neuter plural:

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

The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -h:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: hēah 'high'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	hēah	hēa	hēah	hēa	hēa	hēa
Accusative	hēane	hēa	hēah	hēa	hēa	hēa
Genitive	hēas	hēara	hēas	hēara	hēare	hēara
Dative	hēam	hēam	hēam	hēam	hēare	hēam
Instrumental	hēa	hēam	hēa	hēam	hēare	hēam

The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -w:

Example of the Strong Adjective Declension: gearu 'ready'
Case	Masculine		Neuter		Feminine
	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
Nominative	gearu	gearwe	gearu	gearu	gearu	gearwe
Accusative	gearone	gearwe	gearu	gearu	gearwe	gearwe
Genitive	gearwes	gearora	gearwes	gearora	gearore	gearora
Dative	gearwum	gearwum	gearwum	gearwum	gearore	gearwum
Instrumental	gearwe	gearwum	gearwe	gearwum	gearore	gearwum

Determiners

Old English had two main determiners: se, which could function as both 'the' or 'that', and þes for 'this'.

the/that
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	se	þæt	sēo	þā
Accusative	þone	þæt	þā	þā
Genitive	þæs	þæs	þǣre	þāra, þǣra
Dative	þǣm	þǣm	þǣre	þǣm, þām
Instrumental	þȳ, þon	þȳ, þon	–	–

Modern English 'that' descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form, and 'the' from the masculine nominative form, with 's' replaced analogously by the 'th' of the other forms. The feminine nominative form was probably the source of Modern English 'she.'

this
Case	Masculine	Neuter	Feminine	Plural
Nominative	þes	þis	þēos	þās
Accusative	þisne	þis	þās	þās
Genitive	þisses	þisses	þisse, þisre	þisra
Dative	þissum	þissum	þisse, þisre	þissum
Instrumental	þȳs	þȳs	–	–

Pronouns

Most pronouns are declined by number, case and gender; in the plural form most pronouns have only one form for all genders. Additionally, Old English pronouns preserve the dual form (which is specifically for talking about groups of two things, for example "we two" or "you two" or "they two"). These were uncommon even then, but remained in use throughout the period.

First Person
Case	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	icḳ	wit	wī
Accusative	mī, micḳ	unk	ūs
Genitive	mīn	unkore	ūsor
Dative	mī	unk	ūs

Second Person
Case	Singular	Plural	Dual
Nominative	þū	ġit	ġī
Accusative	þī, þicḳ	inḳ	īow
Genitive	þīn	inḳore	īowor
Dative	þī	inḳ	īow

Third Person
Case	Singular			Plural
	Masc.	Neut.	Fem.
Nominative	hī	hit	sīo, hīo	hēa (older hīea) m., hīo f.
Accusative	hina	hit	sīa, hīa	hēa (older hīea) m., hīe f.
Genitive	his	his	hira	hire m., here f.
Dative	him	him	hire	him, hem

Many of the forms above bear strong resemblances to their contemporary English language equivalents: for instance in the genitive case ēower became "your", ūre became "our", mīn became "mine".

Prepositions

Prepositions often follow the word which they govern, in which case they are called postpositions. Also, so that the object of a preposition was marked in the dative case, a preposition may conceivably be located anywhere in the sentence, even appended to the verb. The infinitive is not declined.

The following is a list of prepositions in the Old Auregan. Many of them, particularly those marked "etc.", are found in other variant spellings. Prepositions may govern the accusative, genitive, dative or instrumental cases - the question of which is beyond the scope of this article.

Prepositions
Old Auregan	Definition	Notes
æftor	after; along, through, during; according to, by means of; about.	Ancestor of Oxman aftor, Related to Dutch achter = behind, after
ēar	before	Related to Old English ær, modern German eher and Dutch eer, ancestor of Oxman ear-
at	at, to	Ancestor of Oxman at- (only in compounds)
ond	against, before, on.	Ancestor of oxman ond-, related to Dutch ont-
ondlæng	along	Ancestor of modern along
bæftan	after, behind; without.	From bi- and *æft (found in æftor)
bī	by, near to, to, at, in, on, upon, about, with	Related to modern Oxman bie, Dutch bij, German bei, ancestor of modern by
bifōran	before.	Ancestor of Oxman befoar and beforn
biġiendan	beyond.	Ancestor of Oxman beyendon
bihindor	behind.	Ancestor of Oxman behindor
binnan	in, within	Ancestor of Oxman binnon, from bi- + innan
bineðan	beneath	Ancestor of Oxman benethon
bitwisc	between, among, amid, in the midst	Ancestors of Oxman betwisc
bīrihte	straight into	Ancestor of Oxman bieright (also aright from *anrihte)
būƀan	above.	Ancestor of Oxman bovon
būtan	out of, against; without, except.	Ancestor of bauton, from bi- + auton
ōak	with, in addition to, besides.	Related to modern Dutch ook
fan	by	Ancestor of Oxman fan, Related to Dutch van and German von, corresponds to a compound of af and an
fur	for, on account of, because of, with, by; according to; instead of.	Ancestor of Oxman fur
fōra	before	Ancestor of Oxman foar
fram	from; concerning, about, of	Ancestor of Oxman fram
ġimæng, ġimang, ġimong	among	Ancestor of Oxman emong
ġiend	through, throughout, over, as far as, among, in, after, beyond.	Ancestor of Oxman yends and yendor
in	in, into, to	Ancestor of modern in
innan	in, into, within, from within	Ancestor of Oxman innon
mid	with, against	Ancestor of modern mid
nāh	near	Ancestor of Oxman nagh- (only in compounds)
nefne	except	Ancestor of Oxman nevon (unless)
af	of, from, out of, off	Ancestor of modern af
oƀor	above, over; upon, on, more than	Ancestor of modern ovor
an	at, to, in	Ancestor of Oxman an and a-
anbūtan	concerning	Ancestor of Dialectal Oxman abauton
anġeġin	opposite, against; towards; in reply to.	Ancestor of Oxman ayeyon (towards)
sæmt, sæmd	together with, at.	Ancestor of Oxman samt (only used in samt mid or in compounds)
tō	to, at.	Ancestor of Oxman tœ
teġeġines	towards, against	Ancestor of Oxman teyons
tōmiddes	in the midst of, amidst	Ancestor of Oxman tœmids
tōward(es)	toward	Ancestor of modern tœwards
þurh	through	Ancestor of Oxman thurgh, Related to modern Dutch door, German durch, English through
undor	under	Ancestor of modern undor
undorneðan	underneath	Ancestor of modern undornethon
uppan	upon, on	Ancestor of dialectical Oxman uppon.
ūtan	without, outside of	Ancestor of auton, related to modern German außen, außer and Swedish utan
wiðor	towards, to; with, against; opposite to; by, near.	Ancestor of modern withor-. Related to modern German wider
umb(i)	about, by	Ancestor of Oxman umb (around, about); Related to German um and Latin ambi
umbūtan	about, around; concerning	Ancestor of archaic Oxman umbbauton (concerning, around)