PGmc weak verbs
The defining feature of weak verbs in PGmc is that they form using a dental suffix -d-. All of the weak verbs share the same endings in the finite past and past participle, the variation is in the conjugation of the present and whether the past forms contain a linking vowel.
Subclasses
- A. PGmc *bringaną-class with unsuffixed thematic present, past with no vowel before the suffix (usually thought of as irregular)
- B. PGmc *wurkijaną-class with presents in -i- ~ -ja-, past with no vowel before the suffix (subclass of weak I)
- C. PGmc *lagjaną-class with presents in -i- ~ -ja-, past with -i- before the suffix (main weak I)
- D. PGmc *karō̄ną-class with presents in -ō̄-, past with -ō- before the suffix (weak II)
- E. PGmc *sagjaną-class with presents in -ai- ~ -ja-, past with no vowel before the suffix (subclass of weak III)
- F. PGmc *armāną-class with presents in -ai- ~ -ā-, past possibly with -a- before the suffix (main weak III)
- G.PGmc *þurznaną-class with presents in -nō- ~ -na-, past probably with -no- before the suffix (weak IV)
Common features
Past participles were a/ō-stem adjectives (need to expand) usually formed with the suffix -da-. The finite past took the following endings1
| pret. | indic. | subj. |
|---|---|---|
| 1sg | -d-ǭ | -d-ij-ų |
| 2sg | -d-ēz | -d-īz |
| 3sg | -d-ē | -d-ī-∅ |
| 1du | -d-ū | d-ī-w |
| 2du | -d-u-diz | -d-ī-diz |
| 1pl | -d-u-m | -d-ī-m |
| 2pl | -d-u-d | -d-ī-d |
| 3pl | -d-u-n | -d-ī-n |
Footnotes
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2017, From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic, §4.3.3(ii), p. 280 ↩