4.5 Preterite-present verbs
Preterite-present verbs are the verbs, whose present tense forms, by their origin, constitute the forms of past (preterite) tense (namely, those of Proto-Germanic/ Indo-European perfect). The said present tense forms are morphologically similar to the past tense forms of strong verbs; while the past tense forms of the preterite-present verbs are built following the weak type, that is, by means of dental suffixes.
It is worth mentioning that in some cases (due to the absence of any stem-forming suffix), the collision of the root of a preterite-present verb and the above-mentioned dental suffix caused the phonetic assimilation of their phonemes; e.g. áȝan (to own, possess, have) and áhte (he owned, possessed, had). This assimilation is analogous to that, which took place in some Anglo-Saxon irregular verbs; e.g. bусȝаn, bусȝеаn (to buy) and bohte (he bought); þencan (to think) and þóhte (he thought); brenȝаn (to bring) and bróhte (he brought). (cf the same in Gothic). In general, we can state that preterite-present verbs are in some respect mixed-type morphologically: they are strong in present tense (having vowel gradation like strong verbs) and weak in the past tense (having dental suffix like weak verbs do).
Shown below is the list of the most frequently used Anglo-Saxon preterite-present verbs.
| infinitive |
áȝan
(to own, possess, have) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
áh, áȝ |
| present tense plural | áȝon |
| past tense singular | áhte |
| past tense plural | áhton |
| past participle | áȝen |
| infinitive |
cunnan
(to know; to be able, can) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
can, con, cann, conn |
| present tense plural | cunnon |
| past tense singular | cúðe |
| past tense plural | cúðon |
| past participle | cunnen participial adjective cúð |
| infinitive |
durran
(to dare, venture) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
dear, dearr |
| present tense plural | durron |
| past tense singular | dorste |
| past tense plural | dorston |
| past participle | - |
| infinitive |
maȝan
(to be able; to be strong) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
mæȝ |
| present tense plural | maȝon |
| past tense singular | meahte, mehte, mihte |
| past tense plural | meahton, mehton, mihton |
| past participle | - |
| infinitive |
mótan
(to be allowed to, may) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
mót |
| present tense plural | móton |
| past tense singular | móste |
| past tense plural | móston |
| past participle | - |
| infinitive |
sculan
(shall, ought; to be obliged) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
sceal, scal |
| present tense plural | sculon, sceolon |
| past tense singular | scolde, sceolde, scealde, scalde |
| past tense plural | scoldon, sceoldon, scealdon, scaldon |
| past participle | - |
The Anglo-Saxon pret-pres v sculan (as well as the irreg v willan) is characterized by the ending -t in 2 pers sing of the present tense: ðú scealt (you must/should; thou shalt). It is worth mentioning that these verbal forms have retained the ending -t of the 2 pers p tense sing of the Proto-Germanic strong verbs. cf Goth þu gaft (you gave), þu namt (you took), etc.
cf the same forms in case of other OE pret-pres verbs, e.g. cunnan – ðú canst, ðú const (you can, thou canst), where -st is a later formation [← -s + þú].
| infinitive |
unnan
(to like; to be pleased) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
an, ann |
| present tense plural | unnon |
| past tense singular | úðe, úþe |
| past tense plural | úðon, úþon |
| past participle | (ȝe)unnen |
| infinitive |
witan
(to know) |
| present tense singular 1st and 3rd person |
wát |
| present tense plural | witon |
| past tense singular | wisse, wiste |
| past tense plural | wisson, wiston |
| past participle | witen |
The Mod E verbs can, may, shall and others originate from pres sing forms. cf the Anglo-Saxon (OE) can(n), mæȝ, sceal; while the Mod E verbs ought and must historically originate from the past tense verbal forms and thus can be regarded as twice preterite-present ones (cf OE áhte, móste).
