Grammatical Sketch of Germanic

Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Verbs, & Concepts

Some Key Features Of Germanic

Fixing accent on the root or first syllable of the word

Grimm's Law

"Weak" verbs, "Strong" vs. "Weak" adjectives

Ablaut

Simplified subjunctive, V2 word order

Basic Noun Concepts

Germanic nouns inflect based upon gender, number and case.

Gender = Masculine, Feminine & Neuter

Number = Singular & Plural

Case = Nominative, Genitive, Accusative, & Dative (which for most part includes the PIE Instrumental, Locative and partially the Ablative)

Case

Case primarily shows the syntactic value of nouns/noun phrases in a sentence

Nominative = Subject

Genitive = Possessive

Accusative = Direct Object

Dative = Indirect Object

Prepositions often dictate use of a given case

Case

Most case marking lost in English (although who/whom, she/her, he/him, they/their etc. show remnants)

English & Dutch use word order to show these relationships:

“The man bites the dog” vs. “The dog bites the man” // “De man bijt de hond.” vs. “De hond bijt de man.”

Case

Modern German still uses case marking, which allows considerably more freedom in word order:

However, any of these permutations of word order also perfectly fine, because everything is case marked:

“Der Mann beißt den Hund.” = “Den Hund beißt der Mann.”The (nom) man bites the (acc) dog.

“Ich gab der alten Frau einen neuen Kühlschrank.”I gave the (dat) old (dat) Lady a (acc) new (acc) fridge

Der alten Frau gab ich einen neuen Kühlschrank.Einen neuen Kühlschrank gab ich der alten Frau.Ich gab einen neuen Kühlschrank der alten Frau.

Case

Case in Germanic, however, was marked not by articles, but rather by a suffix attached to the noun itself. This goes back to the way nouns worked in PIE.

This system breaks down rapidly after PGmc.

Root Theme Case

PIE *wir -o- -s

PGmc *wir -a- -z

WGmc *wer -a(?)

OHG wer

Noun Declension

Inherited from PIE

Key point is that after PGmc, system breaks down, but many residual bits and pieces remain.

Note that in Gmc, many of the case distinctions become more and more opaque over time.

Germanic Noun Declension

Germanic nouns are classified by their stem (a-stem, o-stem, etc.) and gender.

Germanic Noun Declension

Germanic nouns are classified by their stem (a-stem, o-stem, etc.) and gender.

Pronouns

Pronouns in Germanic are case marked.

Four types of pronouns:

Reflexive: = i.e. I hurt _myself_

Personal: “I, you, he, she, it, they, etc.”

Demonstrative: “the”

Relative: “that, who”

Refl.

Nom -

Acc sik

Gen seina

Dat sis

Gothic Personal Pronouns

Sing. 1SG

2SG

Nom ik †u

Acc mik †uk

Gen meina

†eina

Dat mis †us

“I” “you”

Dual 1DU

2DU

Nom wit *jut

Acc ugkis igqis

Gen *ugkara igqara

Dat ugkis igqis

“we 2” “you 2”

Plural 1PL

2PL

Nom weis jus

Acc uns(is) izwis

Gen unsara izwara

Dat uns(is) izwis

“we” “you”

Gothic Personal Pronouns

3 SG M F N

Nom is si ita

Acc ina ija ita

Gen is izôs is

Dat imma izai imma

“he” “she” “it”

3 PL M F N

Nom eis *ijôs ija

Acc ins ijôs ija

Gen izê izô izê

Dat im im im

“they” “they” “they”

Gothic Demonstrative/Relative Pronouns

Dem. SG

M F N

Nom sa sô †ata

Acc †ana †ô †ata

Gen †is †izôs †is

Dat†amm

a†izai

†amma

Dem. PL

M F N

Nom †ai †ôs †ô

Acc †ans †ôs †ô

Gen †izê †izô †izê

Dat †aim †aim †aim

Adjectives

Adjectives usually must agree in gender, case & number with the nouns they modify.

Adjectives follow either a “strong” or “weak” declension. Modern German preserves this distinction:

“Strong” = no definite article -- ein guter Mann

“Weak” = definite article -- der gute Mann

Verbs

Germanic distinguishes between “Strong” and “Weak” verbs

“Strong” means that the verbal tenses are marked by an alternating vowel pattern (i.e. English sing-sang-sung). This system of vowel alternation is known by it’s German name: Ablaut

“Weak” means that the past tenses are formed by adding an alveolar stop - hence they’re called dental preterites (i.e. English talk - talked)

PIE > PGmc Verbs

bairan = “to carry”

PIE > PGmc Verbs

“to be”

PIE > PGmc Verbs

Gothic Strong Verbs

Class Pattern Inf. Pret. Sg. Pret. Pl. Perf.

I -iC- steigan staig stigum stigans “ascend”

II -uC- kiusan kaus kusum kusans “choose”

III -r/l/m/n C- wair†an war† waur†um waur†ans “become”

IV -r/l/m/n- stilan stal st§lum stulans “steal”

V -C- giban gaf g§bum gibans “give”

VI -a- faran f•r f•rum farans “travel”

VII redup. l§tan lail•t lail•tum l§tans “let”

Germanic 7-Class Strong Verb System:

Weak Verbs

Four classes of weak verbs in Germanic:

-jan verbs: usually causitives or built either from nouns, adjectives or the pret. form of verbs

-•n verbs: usually demonstratives: salbe “salve” > salb•n “to salve, anoint”

-§n verbs: usually durative: won§n, leb§n

-n•n verbs: usually inchoative (indicating starting something: Gothic fullnan “to fill up”)

Gothic Weak Verbs

Inf. Pret. SG Pret. Pl. Perf.

i nasjan nasida nasid§dum nasi†s “save”

ii salb•n salb•da salb•d§dum salb•†s “anoint”

iii haban habáida habáid§dum habái†s “have”

iv fullnan fulln•da fulln•d§dum ----“become

full”