wikipedia
This is an alternative page of Wikipǣdia:Tutorial on Old English, this version is written using ƿynn.

Hū man sceolde ƿrītanFor information on typing, see Help:Innung#TypingGif þē is nīed, brūc þā stafas: ǣ æ ā ē ī ō ū ȳ þ ð ƿ oþþe Ǣ Æ Ā Ē Ī Ō Ū Ȳ Þ Ð Ƿ in þīnum geƿritum.

When writing, use the early West Saxon spellings:
Use ie instead of y (thus sierƿung instead of syrƿung, his instead of hys, etc.)
Use an instead of on (thus and instead of ond, mann instead of monn, etc.)

OE Style

As a general rule for the OE wiki, try to remember the following OE guidelines to give this wiki a consistent look and feel:Don'tsDo not use y for ie in words such as his, hire, sierwung, or for eo in words such as feorran, feorsian
Do not syncopate verb endings on verbs ending in consonant clusters or t/d.  It is well known that the Anglo-Saxons did this, but it will make reading articles so much easier if one finds "bīteþ" and "biddeþ" instead of "bitt" and "bītt."  And "hyngrest" not "hyngrst."  However, you can probably get away with "bītst."
Do not use on instead of an.  It is easier to see and understand "mann," "and," and "band" than "monn," "ond," and "bond."
Do not link to external sites within an article if you can help it.  Save that for the end of the article.
Do not link to images outside the article.  Having little thumbnails that one may click on is nicer, and makes the article better to look at.Do'sUse the same spelling throughout your article.  It is well known that the Anglo-Saxons didn't do this, but it will make reading articles so much easier with consistent spelling.
Use the special words and characters under the edit box if you need them.
Use the following for definite articles: se, sēo, þæt; þæs, þǣre; þǣm, þǣre; þȳ/þon, þǣre; þone, þā, þæt; and plural: þā; þāra/þǣra; þǣm; þā - don't use thaet, þat, sio, sīo, þām, þāre, etc.  Consistency!
Use the distinctive accusative forms of pronouns (mec, þec, ūsic, uncit, ēowic, incit, hine, hīe, hit).  This will make the articles that much easier to read.
Use the þ for the same sound as in "theta" and ð for the same sound as in "that."  It is well known that the Anglo-Saxons didn't do this, but it will make pronouncing what is read in the articles so much easier.
Use internal links within this wiki.  We are not an advertising service for other websites.
Use image thumbnails within an article rather than simply linking to the image page.  This makes for prettier articles, and is already common practice in other wikis.

Or: be consistent, make it easy for your readers to understand.  And remember, this is an encyclopedia, so Neutral Point of View applies!

Punctuation

Punctuate sentences as you normally would, i.e. a period for sentences, question mark for questions, and exclamation mark for imperatives/commands.
For subordinate clauses, separate them from the main clause by a comma, e.g. "Ic cann secgan, þæt hē is mīn brōðor." Or, "Þes is sē mōnaþ, þe ƿē 'Hāligmōnaþ' hātton."  This makes it a bit clearer to understand.
In series, place commas after each word, including one before 'and' (mōdor, fæder, and sweostor).

Runes

Please visit the How to write with Runes article if you wish to write using the runic alphabet. If you wish to do so, please have a version of the page written using the Latin alphabet first, then transliterated into runes.

And as for Grammar

Information about Syllables Relevant to Old English

Syllables break when:

There are two consonants between two vowel clusters, e.g. hab-ban, en-gel.
There is one consonant between two vowel clusters (the consonant going to the latter syllable), e.g. ē-þel, fre-mast. 

It is important to know what the stem of a word is: It is the most basic factor of a word (compound or not) minus declension/conjugation suffixes, therefore the Modern English word fireman has two stems: fire and man, the same rules apply to Old English; but in compound words, the declension/conjugation of a noun/adjective/verb is purely dependent on the last word in the compound (so the noun "sealtȳþ - salt-wave" may look like it takes the endings of a long-stemmed disyllable; but it is, in fact, a compound word of "sealt - salt" and "ȳþ - wave" (ȳþ being the final member of the compound), therefore it takes the conjugation of a long-stemmed monosyllable: ȳþ).

At many times in Old English, it is important to be able to distinguish four different types of syllables. 

Short-stemmed monosyllables: end with short vowel and one consonant, e.g. scip, in, glæd.

Long-stemmed monosyllables: end with either a long vowel and one consonant or a short vowel and two consonants, e.g. hand, cniht, fōt, tōþ.

Short-stemmed disyllables: end with a short vowel, then one consonant, then another short vowel, then one consonant, e.g. metod, ƿerod, hacod.

Long-stemmed disyllables: end with the same pattern as above (e.g. vowel, consonant cluster, vowel, consonant cluster) but must have at least one long vowel or one cluster of two consonants, e.g. engel, habban, ƿindig, ēþel.

Verbs
The verb is conjugated as follows: ic (stem)-e, þu (stem)-est, hē (stem)-eþ/aþ, ƿē/gē/hīe (stem)-aþ
Strong Verbs: ic -e, þu -(e)st, hē -(e)þ, ƿē/gē/hīe -aþ

--The () means the e of the ending can be syncopated if the ending is still understandable.  Bisen: stendeþ hē, ne stent hē, ac nimþ hē, ne nimeþ hē.  Understendest þu?

Weak Verbs

Type 1a
Verbs with stems ending in a double consonant or in -rian, unless otherwise marked.
Infinitive Forms: nerian, fremman, settan, gremman, etc.
Note how the infinitive ending is always -an.

And doubled consonant verbs (with fremman as an example):

And one last type, settan/lecgan type 1a verbs:

Notes: Weak Verb 1a
The first person is the infinitive, without -an (the stem), plus -e.  (nerian -> neri+an -> neri+e)
The second/third person is formed from the bare stem plus -est/-eþ (nerian -> ner+ian -> nerest, nereþ)
The plural is the infinitive without -an (the stem), plus -aþ.  (nerian -> neri+an -> neri+aþ)
The imperative is formed from the þu (minus -st) and ge (same) forms. (nerest ->nere-st -> nere)
The subjunctive is formed from the stem + -e, -en. (nerian -> neri+e, neri+en)  Thus, it is just like the first person indicative and the first person indicative plus -n.
The present participle is formed from the stem plus -ende (nerian -> neri+ende)
The past participle is formed from the past tense and ge-, minus the -e (nerede -> ge+nered-e -> genered)

Verbs ending in -rian and with doubled consonants drop the -i- or doubled consonant in the same positions: 2nd/3rd person singular, imperative singular, and throughout the past tense.
Verbs like settan (ātreddan, cnyttan, hreddan, hƿettan, lettan, spryttan, lecgan) typically have the above declension.  Lecgan has (legde, geleged).  You may find past forms as "setede."

Type 1b
Verbs with stems ending in more than one consonant (not a doubled consonant) or with a long vowel and one consonant.
Infinitive Forms: dēman, hyngran, drencan, gierƿan, etc.
Note how the infinitive ending is always -an.

And multiple consonant verbs (ending in -c, -sc, -p, -f, with drencan as an example):

And multiple consonant verbs (using hyngran as an example):

And one last type, gierƿan verbs (ending in -ƿan):

Notes: Weak Verb 1b
See notes on Weak Verb 1a for formation of the different forms of the verb.
The most 'regular' 1b verbs are those like dēman (long vowel, 1 consonant) and hyngran (short vowel, multiple consonants), in that they don't have much variation in formation like drencan and gierƿan verbs.
Verbs having a long vowel and one consonant, like dēman, don't generally have the full -est, -eþ endings.  Thus, the imperative is simply the þu form without -st (dēm!, not dēme!).
Verbs like dēman include verbs ending in -rn, -ng, -rg, -lg, ƿiernan (ƿiernde, geƿierned), lengan (lengde, gelenged), byrgan (byrgde, gebyrged), and fylgan (fylgde, gefylged).  It also includes contracted verbs like hēan (hēade, gehēad), rȳn, tȳn, þēon, þȳn.
Verbs like drencan include those ending in -nc, -sc, -p, -sp, -t, -rp.  They add -te in the past tense (ācƿencte, ādƿæscte, etc.).
Verbs like hyngran, with a short vowel and multiple consonants, are more 'regular' than other 1b verbs.  Their past tense is always -ede, and the past participle is always ge-(stem)-ed (bīecnede, þrysmede, symblede, ræfnede).
Verbs like gierƿan, ending in -ƿan, drop the -ƿ- in the same places as the -i- in 1a verbs (smierƿan -> smierest, nierƿan -> niereþ).  Verbs like getrīeƿan, lǣƿan, forslǣƿan, hlēoƿan (with a long vowel/diphthong) kept the -ƿ- in all forms, however.

Weak Verb 2

These are all other verbs, and are about half of all weak verbs.

Verbs like tƿēogan to doubt are slightly irregular, since they were originally class 3 verbs, but decline alike, so it's not too difficult to learn them.  There are only tƿēogan, fēogan to hate, frēogan to love, make free, smēagan to ponder, consider, and þrēagan to reprove, rebuke.  Sometimes these verbs show up as tƿēon, fēon, frēon, smēan, and þrēan.

Notes: Weak Verb 2
See notes on Weak Verb 1a for formation of the different forms of the verb.
These verbs all end in -ian.
These verbs are the most 'regular' verbs in that all verbs of this class decline the same aside from a small group of exceptional verbs.
The second and third person singular have the endings -ast and -aþ, without the -i-.
The imperative is still the second person, minus -st.
The verbs that act like tƿēogan are remnants of class 3 verbs that became class 2 verbs before the written history of Old English.

Pronouns
In dæftunge: nemniendlic, āgniendlic, forgifendlic, ƿregendlic

Notice how the Interrogative pronouns look like the pronouns hē and hit (hƿǣm and him, hƿone and hine, hƿæt and hit, hƿæs and his).  If you compare to the Definite Article, you'll see the same similarities, mostly a difference of þ-/hƿ- (þone and hƿone, þǣm and hƿǣm, þȳ and hƿȳ, þæt and hƿæt, þæs and hƿæs).

Declension
The genitive pronoun functions as an adjective.  As such, it declines to agree with the case, gender, and number of the noun which it describes.  The pronouns mīn, þīn, sīn, ūser, ēoƿer, uncer, incer decline, whereas his, hire, and hira do not.  The following table illustrates the declensions of these pronouns, which is exactly like the adjective blind.

Nouns

The following tables show the most common noun declensions for the three genders (~68% masculine, ~73% feminine, ~91% neuter).

Masculine Nouns

Strong Masculine

This declension has about 63.8% of all masculine nouns.  Since this declension was so common, it became the basis for the modern English plural -(e)s ending.  One-syllable nouns, like stān, gang, and ǣl all decline alike.  Nouns ending in a double consonant, like bucc, hnæpp, and cropp, also decline like stān.  The first irregularity comes with nouns like dæg, which have the letter 'æ' followed by one consonant.  The 'æ' becomes 'a' in the plural.

Nouns like dæg include: pæþ, stæf, hƿæl, etc.  One noun, mǣg, has both māgas and mǣgas for plural.

Nouns like mearh are also a litle different from stān.  They drop the -h before endings, and lengthen the vowel.

Nouns like mearh include: ealh, eolh, fearh, healh, sealh, seolh, ƿealh, etc.  The word scōh simply adds endings, since it already has a long vowel:

Weak Masculine

Note that all weak masculine nouns have the letter a as an ending in the nominative singular (making weak masculine nouns very easy to detect), which is a suffix which is often the equivalent in meaning to the Modern English suffix -er.

Note that some masculine nouns ending in a long ā are weak (e.g. rā "roebuck), but not all.
 

Neuter Nouns

Neuter nouns are much the same as masculine nous in declension, and, if you have already learnt the masculine noun declensions, these should be no problem. 

Strong Neuter

Here's where your knowledge of long-stemmed and short-stemmed syllables comes in handy.

Short-stemmed monosyllables and long-stemmed disyllables take these endings:

And long-stemmed monosyllabes/short-stemmed disyllables take these endings:

Note that the only difference between the two declensions is that u is in the neuter plural for short-stemmed monosyllables and long-stemmed disyllables; but in long-stemmed disyllables and short-stemmed mono-syllables, the u is not there.

All of the rules for the masculine strong sub-declensions occur (e.g. æ in singular and a in plural; h after a vowel is lost before declension suffixes, and the vowel is lengthened; and h after a consonant is lost, and the first stem-vowel is lengthened) in the neuter strong declension, too.

Weak Neuter

Weak neuter nouns are almost exactly the same as weak masculine nouns in declension, but singular nominative and accusative has -e instead of -a and -an.

There is only one other noun belonging to this declension: ēage - eye.

Case Usage
General Notes
A noun's case tells what it is doing in a sentence.  And when there is an appositive phrase, it matches the noun to which it refers. E.g., "I gave it to John, the new president - Ic geaf hit Iohanne, þǣm nīƿan foresittende."  John and "the new president" are both in the dative case.

Nominative
Subject of a sentence, or the object of copula verbs (bēon, ƿesan, ƿeorðan).  This is the dictionary form of a noun.

Genitive
Case of possession, and the object of some prepositions and adjectives.  This tells whose thing a specific thing is.  E.g., "cyninges þorp" - "king's village."

Dative
Case of giving, telling to/for whom something is done, the benificiary of some action.  E.g., Ic geaf him þæt - I gave him that.  It is also the case of many prepositions.

Instrumental
Case telling "by what means" something is done.  It is inflected in nouns like the dative, but with an adjective describing the noun, the difference is made clearer (or with an article - þȳ or þon).  E.g., þȳ hamore slōg hē þone cyning - with the hammer he hit the king.

Accusative
Direct Object of a sentence, and the object of some prepositions (ƿiþ, etc.).  It is uninflected in masculine/neuter nouns, but has an -e ending with most feminine nouns.

It is also used to show duration of length or time, e.g. "I ran a mile," "I waited an hour," "I'll be running the whole length of the school," etc.

Adjectives

These are those words that come before a noun, describing what kind of noun it is.  There are two ways to decline an adjective, either strong or weak.  A Strong adjective is that which stands alone, preceded by no article or possessive.  A Weak adjective is that which is preceded by se/sēo/þæt, mīn/þīn, etc.

NOTE: eall, genōg, manig, and ōðer are always declined strong.  You may find "Se ōðer mann" instead of *"Se ōðera mann."

One-Syllable Adjectives

Variations in Declension
Adjectives like glæd, have æ followed by one consonant, and change the æ to a with endings beginning in a vowel (-es, -u, etc.).  Also declined like glæd are all adjectives ending in -lic and -sum.
Adjectives like blind, have a short vowel followed by two consonants (sƿift, scearp), or a long vowel followed by one consonant (ƿāc, frōd).  Also declined like blind are all adjectives ending in -cund, -feald, -fæst, and -lēas.  The possessives mīn, þīn, sīn, ūser, uncer, ēoƿer, incer are declined like blind also.
Adjectives like hēah, ending in -h, drop the -h before any ending beginning in a vowel, and drop that vowel.  Thus, where glæd has gladu, glades, hēah will have hēa, hēas.

Two-Syllable Adjectives

Variations in Declension

Adjectives like manig, with a short stem (one short vowel and one consonant, plus an ending with one short vowel and one consonant, -ig, -od, -en, -or, -ol, -oþ, -er), simply add the endings to the adjective, but never add the -u ending.
Adjectives like hālig, with a long stem (one short vowel and two consonants, or a long vowel with one consonant, plus an ending with one short vowel and one consonant, -ig, -od, -en, -or, -ol, -oþ, -er), will syncopate the second stem vowel (hālges, ēacne, hǣðna) in endings beginning with vowels.  These adjectives will always add the -u ending (but won't syncopate in that case).
Adjectives ending in -e, such as ƿilde, will always have the u-ending in the feminine singular and neuter plural.  They simply drop the -e, and add endings as necessary.

U-Ending and Weak Adjectives

Weak Declension with definite article and possessive pronoun:

Variations in Declension
Adjectives ending in -u change it to -o- before -re, -ra, -ne.  The -u changes to -ƿ- before endings beginning with a vowel.
Adjectives occur in the weak declension after se, sēo, þæt, þes, þēos, þis, mīn, þīn, sīn, etc.
Adjectives like glæd will have -a- throughout the weak declension.

Numbers

We did not have Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 0) in Old English.  Rather, they used Roman numerals (i, v, x, c, d, m...).  For the purposes of this website, it is requested that all pages use Arabic numerals for ease of reading.

Cardinal Numbers

The cardinal numbers are: 

 ān; forma
 tƿēgen, tƿā, tū; ōðer
 þrīe, þrēo; þridda
 fēoƿer; fēorða
 fīf; fīfta
 six; sixta
 seofon; seofoða
 eahta; eahtoða
 nigon; nigoða
 tīene; tēoða
 endleofan; endleofta
 tƿelf; tƿelfta
 þrēotīene; þrēotēoða
 fēoƿertīene; fēoƿertēoða
 fīftīene; fīftēoða
 sixtīene; sixtēoða
 seofontīene; seofontēoða
 eahtatīene; eahtatēoða
 nigontīene; nigontēoða
 tƿentig; tƿentigoða
 ān and tƿentig; ān and tƿentigoða
30. þrītig; þrītigoða
40. fēoƿertig; fēoƿertigoða
50. fīftig; fīftigoða
60. sixtig; sixtigoða
70. hundseofontig; hundseofontigoða
80. hundeahtatig; hundeahtatigoða
90. hundnigontig; hundnigontigoða
100. hund, hundred, hundtēontig; hundtēontigoða
110. hundendleofantig; hundendleofantigoða
120. hundtƿelftig; hundtƿelftigoða
200. tū hund
300. þrēo hund
1000. þūsend

Simply use the Arabic numbers when writing a number.  In regards to declension, only the numbers 1, 2, and 3 decline with the noun.  The others do not decline except when acting as a noun themselves (mid 4 manna, but mid fēoƿerum).

Usage with nouns
Numbers 1, 2, 3 decline with the noun, just like any other adjective (in þrim dagum).
Numbers 4 - 12 simply precede the noun, just like modern English (fēoƿer þegnas, seofon mōnþas).
Decades (20, 30,...90) take a noun in the genitive, or in agreement (fīftig manna, on fēoƿertigum gēarum).

Declension of 1, 2, 3 in Old English

Note that the numeral 1 could decline strong or weak, and in the weak declension, could be plural.

Ordinal Numbers

For ordinal numbers, simply write the number and the declension afterwards: se 6a mann, þǣm 3an mann, etc.

The ordinal numbers, for the purposes of the wiki, are: 

forma, ōðer, þridda, fēorþa, fīfta, sixta, seofoða, eahtoða, nigoða, tēoða, endleofoða, tƿelfta, þrēotēoða (fēoƿer~, etc.), tƿentigoða (þrītigoða, etc.), hundtēontigoða (100th), hundendleofontigoða (110th), hundtƿelftigoða (120th).

Sentence Construction

Main Clauses

Typically, sentences have normal modern word order (called SVO, subject-verb-object).  The exception is with pronoun objects, which are typically placed before the verb.
Ic hine geseah - I saw him.
Hīe mē gēafon þæt hūs - they gave me the house.

Verb Agreement
Verbs agree with their subject in number and person.
Ic hine geseah (singular, 1st person)
 Ƿē tȳdon þā leorneras (plural, 1st person)

Subordinate Clauses
Subordinate clauses are introduced with þe, or sē (sēo, þæt) with/without þe.
Þonne is ān port on sūðeƿeardum þǣm lande, þone man hǣteþ Sciringes heal - Then is one port in the south of that country, which is called Skringssalr. (þone is a relative pronoun, referring to "se port", and taking the accusative case, which is the correct case in the clause).

The type of relative pronoun "sē þe," "sēo þe," and "þæt þe" are more common when the antecedent has no demonstrative/qualifier.
 þæt þu onfō his gelēafan and his bebodu healde, sē þe þē fram ƿilƿendlicum earfeðum generede - that thou may receive the trust of the one who has saved thee from earthly hardships, and obey his commands.Complex Sentences

Verbs with þæt-complements
The verbs forbeodan forbid, forberan refrain from, gesƿīcan stop, ƿiþcƿeðan deny, refuse, and several others, take a þæt-clause as objects.
...and forbead þæt hine man God hēte - and forbade anyone to call him God (literally, "and forbade that one called him God").
and forbead þæt man nā þǣr eft ne timbrode - and forbade anyone to build there afterward (literally, "and forbade that one never there after not built").
Also, verbs like tƿēonan doubt, tƿēo bēon to be in doubt...forþon nis nān tƿēo, þæt hē forgifnesse sellan nelle, þǣm þe hīe geearnian ƿillaþ - ...therefore there is no doubt that he will give forgiveness to those who want to earn it. (literally, "therefore is not no doubt that he will not give forgiveness, to them that want to earn it").

Questions
Questions are formed in 2 ways: with verb-subject word order, or with question words.

Method 1: Verb-subject order
Simply place the verb first, then the subject.  This is one of the ways we ask questions in modern English.
Example: hæfst þu ænigne geferan? (Hast thou any companion?)

Method 2: Question Words
Hƿæt, hƿā, hƿǣr, hƿilc, hū, hū fela, etc.
Hƿā eart þu? Who are you?''
Using hƿæðer-subject-verb is used to express doubt or incredulity, or even when expecting the answer 'no.'  The verb is most often in the subjunctive, but may be indicative with impersonal verbs.
Example: hƿæðer gē nū sēcen gold of trēoƿum? (Surely you aren't looking for gold in trees?, Are you looking for gold in trees?, literally, "whether ye may seek gold in trees?").
Example: hƿæðer Rōmāne hit ƿiten nū ænigum menn tō secgenne, hƿæt hiera folces forƿurde? (Do the Romans now know enough to say how many of their people perished?, Surely the Romans know enough now to say how many of their people perished?)

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