Likewise in Old English, the infinitive is only used in specific circumstances but when it is used, it maybe used for any person. You only say 'be' in specific circumstances, such as when it follows a helping verb like 'should': 'he should be'. Just as in Modern English, where 'be' is the infinitive form of 'be', you cannot just say 'he be', you must say 'he is'. The infinitive form of the verb, is not specific to any person (so to speak, it is 'infinite' - 'not finitely limited to any particular person') however, it is only used in specific situations. This form ending in -s in Modern English, is limited, or finite to third person singular (he, she, it, particular people, places, things, etc).

What is the infinitive form? Recall how in Modern English, we add -s to a verb when we are talking about he, she, or it: 'he love s', 'she sing s', 'it bring s'. Plural (which is the same for all people) (ЖїД“/ДЎД“/hД«e gДЃГѕ - we/you all/they go).Д¬ompare to Modern English, which is simpler and only has two forms:.Third person singular (hД“/hД“o/hit gЗЈГѕ - he/she/it goes).Second person singular (ГѕЕ« gЗЈst - you alone go).You can see that there are four different ways the word 'gДЃn' is changed for different people and numbers in Old English: Look at this example of how an Old English changed depending on the person and number it is used with, compared with how it is done to a lesser extent in Modern English: An example of how verbs change to agree for number and person in Modern English is when we add '-s' to third person singular verb, as in 'He sings well' but we don't add '-s' for anything else, including third person plural, for example 'They sing well'. This is sometimes the case even in Modern English, but more so for Old English. It means to excel/over-perform.Verbs have to agree with the subject of the sentence in number (singular when the subject of the verb is just one, and plural when the subject of the verb is more than one), and person (I, you, he/she/it). What are your favourite irregulars? Which ones do you find hardest to remember? * Punch above their weight вЂ“ an idiom taken from boxing. In Britain we prefer вЂsneakedвЂ™ but вЂsnuckвЂ™ is also logical because it follows the pattern of вЂstrikeвЂ™/вЂ™struckвЂ™. One of the most recent irregulars is вЂsneakвЂ™/вЂ™snuckвЂ™, which you find in American English. Even when an old verb takes a new meaning it uses a regular pattern вЂ“ the army officer вЂrungвЂ™ his general but his men вЂringedвЂ™ the city.ДЇor a new irregular verb to survive it must offer some familiar pattern in how it works. All new verbs in English are regular, including all new noun conversions: вЂI accessedвЂ™, вЂyou emailedвЂ™. The future is less promising for new irregular verbs. They may not realise that вЂwentвЂ™ originally came from вЂwendвЂ™ but nobody over the age of six seriously tries to replace it with вЂgoedвЂ™. Even before they learn to read most children can use 80 irregulars. Despite this, there is no danger of irregular verbs disappearing. How long can вЂdreamtвЂ™ survive alongside вЂdreamedвЂ™?ДЄs English becomes ever more international, the simpler verb forms become more dominant. Other irregulars like вЂdreamвЂ™ and вЂlearnвЂ™ are gradually becoming regular. Nor are they likely to come across вЂabideвЂ™/вЂ™abodeвЂ™. Most modern children donвЂ™t know the word вЂcleaveвЂ™ or that its past is вЂcloveвЂ™. The number of commonly used irregular verbs is declining. In fact many of the grammatical mistakes commonly made by native speakers вЂ“ вЂwe wasвЂ™, вЂthey doneвЂ™ etc. Some never learn that nobody ever вЂwritвЂ™ anything (as opposed to вЂwroteвЂ™). It takes children years to learn to use вЂspokeвЂ™ and not вЂspeakedвЂ™. Irregular verbs are notoriously difficult for language learners вЂ“ native speakers struggle with them, too. The вЂњrules became opaque to children and eventually died the irregular past tense forms are their fossils.вЂќ He says that irregular verbs are вЂњfossils of an Indo-European pre-historic language.вЂќ This had a regular rule in which one vowel replaced another. The psychologist, Steven Pinker, has an interesting theory. So how have these tricky customers evolved? And why are they so central to English? They punch above their weight *, however, making up 70% of the verbs in everyday use. There are around 180 irregular verbs in English вЂ“ a small fraction of the many thousands of regular ones. Do you notice what they have in common? They are all irregular. Here are the ten most heavily used verbs in the English language: be, have, do, say, make, go, take, come, see, get. Kieran McGovern considers why some verbs in English are so difficult for language learners to grasp and how they have changed (and continue to change) over time.

Old english irregular verbs