Germanic Strong Conjugation Classes

One feature of the Germanic languages is a special form of ablaut which marks the past tense by a vowel change. The group of words this applies are called strong, in contrast to the remaining verbs which follow weak conjugation by dental suffix and the rarer preterite-present conjugation.

Class 1 ⇌ drive / drove / driven
Class 2 ⇌ choose / chose / chosen
Class 3 ⇌ bind / bound / bound
Class 4 ⇌ bear / bore / borne
Class 5 ⇌ give / gave / given
Class 6 ⇌ shake / shook / shaken
Class 7 ⇌ fall / fell / fallen

In all modern Germanic languages, strong ablaut has ceased to be linguistically productive and become lexicalised. As such, the above “classes” which in the Proto-Germanic period were mostly intact and regular, but a combination of this decline in productivity and compounding sound changes broke this regularity and created a number of sub-groups.

Examples

The following examples are of the form infinitive / present indicative 3p. sg. / past indicative 3p. sg. / past indicative 4p pl. / past subjunctive 3p sg. / past participle. The vowel part of the past subjunctive is the same in Proto-Germanic as the vowel part of the past plural. This applies to descendants with a number of caveats:

In English, the past singular/plural distinction has disappeared in all verbs except to be.
In German, the past-subjunctive has undergone Umlaut due to the i that used to be in the following syllable. For example, würde came from wurdi.

Proto-Germanic

Omitted here is Class 7, as I need to do some more reading to fully understand this class.

*rīdaną / *rīdidi / *raid / *ridun / *ridį̄ / *ridanaz (to ride) → Class 1
*freusaną / *friusidi / *fraus / *fruzun / *fruzį̄ / *fruzanaz (to freeze) → Class 2a
*lūkaną / *lūkidi / *lauk / *lukun / *lukį̄ / *lukanaz (to close, cf. “lock”) → Class 2b
*bindaną / *bindidi / *band / *bundun / *bundį̄ / *bundanaz (to bind) → Class 3a
*werþaną / *wirþidi / *warþ / *wurdun / *wurdį̄ / *wurdanaz (to become, cf. “worth” and German werden) → Class 3b
*beraną / *biridi / *bar / *bērun / *bērį̄ / *buranaz (to bear) → Class 4
*kwemaną / *kwimidi / *kwam / *kwēmun / *kwēmį̄ / *kwemanaz (to come) → Class 4
*gebaną / *gibidi / *gab / *gēbun / *gēbį̄ / *gebanaz (to give, cf. “yive” and “give”) → Class 5
*skakaną / *skakidi / *skōk / skōkun / *skōkį̄ / *skakanaz (to shake/swing/escape) → Class 6

Old High German

rītan / rītit / reit / ritun / riti / giritan (to ride) → Class 1
friosan / friusit / frōs / frurun / fruri / gifroran (to freeze) → Class 2a
bintan / bintit / bant / buntun / bunti / gibuntan (to bind) → Class 3a
wërdan / wirdit / ward / wurdun / wurdi / giwordan (to become) → Class 3b
helfan / hilfit / half / hulfun / hulfi / giholfan (to help) → Class 3b
kweman / kwimit / kwam / kwāmun / kwāmi / gikwoman (to come) → Class 4
lesan / lisit / las / lārun / lāri / gilesan (to read) → Class 5
tragan / tragit / truog / truogun / truogi / gitragan (to carry) → Class 6

Middle High German

This section is currently incomplete.

binden / bindet / band / bunden / bünde / gebunden (to bind) → Class 3a
wërden / wirdet / ward / wurden / würde / geworden (to become) → Class 3b
hëlfen / hilfet / half / hulfen / hülfi / geholfan (to help) → Class 3b
tragen / treget / truoc / trogen / trüge^[guess] / getragen (to carry) → Class 6

Standard German

In the Middle High German period, Umlaut progressed in the subjunctive mood.

reiten / reitet / ritt / ritten / ritte / geritten (to ride) → Class 1
frieren / friert / fror / froren / frören / gefroren (to freeze) → Class 2a
binden / bindet / band / banden / bände / gebunden (to bind) → Class 3a
werden / wird / wurde or ward / wurden / würde / geworden or worden (to become) → **Class 3b
helfen / hilft / half / halfen / hülfe / geholfen (to help) → Class 3b
kommen / kommt / kam / kamen / käme / gekommen (to come) → Class 4
lesen / liest / las / lasen / läsen / gelesen (to read) → Class 5
tragen / trägt / trug / trugen / trüge / getragen (to carry) → Class 6

tidy | sembr

jaj•a•person's notes

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