My firm belief is that if you read Chaucer aloud to yourself, you will not need to "know" middle English grammar but will find that you understand it quite naturally; however, if you are having difficulty, these notes may help.
Pronouns in Middle English retain inflection, that is, endings which indicate what their grammatical role is; if you've ever studied Russian, German, Latin or Ancient Greek, this concept will be familiar to you. If not, think of our modern English pronouns: we use "I" for the subject of a sentence ("I hit Arnold"), "me" for the object ("Arnold hit me"), "my" for the possessive, also known as the gentive ("my head hurt"). Middle English is not much different, but preserves a distinction we have lost between the singular and plural of the second person.
|
Singular |
Plural |
|
|
First Person |
||
|
Subject |
I, ich, ik (northern dialect) |
we |
|
Object |
me |
us |
|
Possessive |
my, myn |
oure |
|
Second Person |
||
|
Subject |
thow (artow? wiltow? thynkestow?) |
yow |
|
Object |
thee |
ye |
|
Possessive |
thyn |
youre |
|
Third Person |
||
|
Subject |
he, she, hit |
they |
|
Object |
hym/him, hire/here, hit |
hem |
|
Possessive |
his, hir/hire/here, his |
hire/here |
Nouns: Most nouns form the plural by adding -s or -es, like in modern English.
|
glotoun |
glotouns |
|
shour |
shoures |
|
fowel |
foweles |
A few form a plural in -en:
|
eye |
eyen |
|
child |
children |
|
suster |
sustren |
|
hose |
hosen |
Adjectives: Some have a "weak" form, which adds an -e wehn used with definite articles, demonstratives and pronouns:
|
the yonge sonne |
a yong Squier |
|
this goode man |
a good Wif |
All add -e in the plural: goode men, olde thynges
Most form the comparative and superlative as in modern English; sometimes the vowel is shortened: strong, strenger, strengest and long, lenger, lengest
Some are irregular (and remain so in modern English):
|
good |
bettre |
bet |
|
badde |
werse |
werste |
|
muchel |
moore |
mooste |
|
litel |
lasse/lesse |
leeste |
Adverbs are formed by adding -e, -liche, and -ly:
|
lyght (light), |
lyghte (lightly) |
|
hoot (hot) |
hoote (hotly) |
|
playn (plain) |
playnly (plainly) |
|
sorweful (sorrowful) |
sorwefulich (sorrowfully) |
Verbs: In the present tense, regular verbs add -e, -est, eth in the singular and -e(n) in the plural: I bidde thi go forth, thow biddest me, he biddeth yow, they bidden us, etc.
In the past tense, many "strong" verbs change stem vowel (as in modern Eng):
|
Present |
Past |
|
I see |
I saugh, saw, (many variants possible) |
|
I bere |
I bar |
|
I singe |
I sange, soong |
To be and to go are irregular, as in most languages:
Present |
Past |
||
|
I am |
we be(e)n, aren |
I was |
we were(n) |
|
thou art |
ye be(e)n, aren |
thou were(n) |
ye were(n) |
|
he/she/hit is |
they be(e)n, aren |
he/she/hit were(n) |
they were(n) |
Some irregular verbs to watch out for:
|
Present |
Past |
Meaning |
|
I yeve, thou yevest |
yaf/gaf |
give |
|
I do, thou doost |
dide |
do |
|
I go, thou goost |
wente |
go |
|
I wil, thou wilt,they wollen |
wolde |
will/want |
|
I have, thou hast, he hast, they haven, han |
hadde |
have |
|
I woot, thou woost, he woot, they witen |
wiste |
know, discover |
|
I can, thou canst, he can,they connen |
coude |
know how, know |
|
I may, thou mayst, he may, they mowen |
myghte |
to be able to |
|
I mot, thou most, he mot,they moten |
moste, muste |
must, to have to |
If this is not enough grammar for you, check out Harvard's Chaucer Page for more.