English in its Earliest Shape.
25
| THE WEAK VERB. | |||
| (Infinitive, lufian.) | |||
| INDICATIVE. | |||
| Present. | Perfect. | ||
| Sing. | Plur. | Sing. | Plur. |
| lufige | lufiað | lufode | lufodon |
| lufast | lufiað | lufodest | lufodon |
| lufað | lufiað | lufode | lufodon |
| SUBJUNCTIVE. | |||
| Present. | Perfect. | ||
| Sing. | lufige | lufode | |
| Plur. | lufion | lufodon | |
| IMPERATIVE. | |||||
| Sing. | lufa | ||||
| Plur. | lufiað | ||||
| Gerund. | Present Participle. | Past Participle. |
| To lufigenne | lufigende | gelufod |
There are two marked tendencies in English, shared by some of the other Teutonic dialects, which should be observed.
The first is, a liking to cast out the letter n, if it comes before th, s, or f. We have seen how the Sanscrit antara is heard in our mouths as other; much in the same way tonth, finf, gons, became tôð, fîf, gôs, lengthening the vowel before n.
The second of our peculiarities is, a habit of putting d or t after n, l, r, or s, usually to round off the end of a
