The, This, That
Old English Grammar 1
Chapter 5 · The, This, That
👉 The, This, That
Chapter 3 said the word for "the" carries case, which is why it matters so much: the noun ending is often ambiguous, but the form of "the" usually tells you the case, gender and number. This chapter gives the paradigms of sē "the, that" and þēs "this". Usage and examples come from Wikipedia's Old English grammar article. The paradigm tables come from English Wiktionary, because the article's own tables came out flattened and unreadable in what I could read.
No "a" in Old English
The article says "Old English has no indefinite article." A noun is usually used alone. Its example: Ūs is lēofre þæt wē hæbben healtne cyning þonne healt rīċe. "We would rather have a crippled king than a crippled kingdom."
The definite article sē
The article says sē "doubles as the word for 'that'" and "comes in eleven different forms depending on case, gender, and number". The Wiktionary table gives several alternative spellings in some cells:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural (all genders) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | sē, þē | sēo, þēo | þæt | þā |
| Accusative | þone | þā | þæt | þā |
| Genitive | þæs | þǣre | þæs | þāra |
| Dative | þām, þǣm | þǣre | þām, þǣm | þām, þǣm |
| Instrumental | þon, þȳ, þē | þǣre | þon, þȳ, þē | þām, þǣm |
- Nominative only has s-: sē and sēo start with s; every other form starts with þ. (Observation from the table; the alternative nominatives þē and þēo are also listed by Wiktionary.)
- The instrumental forms þon, þȳ, þē are the ones Chapter 3 said survived only in the masculine and neuter singular; the feminine and plural cells in the table simply repeat the dative.
- Neuter nominative and accusative are the same: þæt, the ancestor of Modern English "that".
When "the" is left out
The article says "the" was used "very much like in Modern English", but "somewhat more sparingly". It lists nouns that usually go without it, with its examples:
| Kind of noun | Examples |
|---|---|
| River names | On Temese flēat ān sċip "A boat was floating on the Thames" |
| Names of peoples | Seaxan "the Saxons"; also Dena æðeling "prince of the Danes" |
| Some place nouns | sǣ "the sea" · wudu "the woods" · eorðe "the ground" (compare "at sea") |
| Abstract concepts | sōþ "the truth" · ǣ "the law" |
| Divisions of time | Iċ ārās on lætne morgen and ēode niðer "I got up late in the morning and went downstairs" |
| Other | Dryhten "the Lord"; compass directions; set phrases such as ealle hwīle and forma sīþ |
The article adds that these words still take "the" when they refer to a specific instance, such as "the law they just passed".
The demonstrative þēs "this"
Wiktionary gives þēs as "this", used as both determiner and pronoun. The article says it is declined like a strong adjective (Chapter 6); the table below is the Wiktionary one:
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter | Plural |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative | þēs | þēos | þis | þās |
| Accusative | þisne | þās | þis | þās |
| Genitive | þisses | þisre, þisse | þisses | þissa |
| Dative | þissum | þisre, þisse | þissum | þissum |
| Instrumental | þȳs | þisre, þisse | þȳs | þissum |
ġeon "that over there"
The article describes ġeon as "the distal demonstrative", the source of Modern English "yon". It means "that over there", refers to things far away, and "is declined like a regular adjective". So Old English had three degrees of "pointing": sē "that" (and "the"), þēs "this", and ġeon "yon" (my summary of the article's descriptions).
📋 Quick Reference
| Word | Meaning | Nominative m. / f. / n. / pl. |
|---|---|---|
| sē | the, that | sē / sēo / þæt / þā |
| þēs | this | þēs / þēos / þis / þās |
| ġeon | that over there (yon) | declined like an adjective |
| indefinite "a" | none | use the bare noun |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. Say "a king" in Old English.
Show answer
cyning, the bare noun: there is no indefinite article.
2. What is the accusative singular masculine of "the"?
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þone. (As in þone dracan "the dragon", Chapter 3.)
3. Which form of "the" is used with a feminine noun in the dative singular?
Show answer
þǣre (also the feminine genitive singular).
4. Give the nominative and accusative neuter of "the". Which Modern English word does it become?
Show answer
þæt for both. It is the ancestor of "that" (the article says sē doubles as the word for "that").
5. In þone dracan and þæs hundes, what case is each and how do you know?
Show answer
þone is accusative masculine singular; þæs is genitive masculine or neuter singular. Chapter 3 gives them as the object ("the dragon") and the possessor ("the dog's").
6. Name three kinds of noun that usually go without "the".
Show answer
Any three of: river names, names of peoples, some place nouns (sea, woods, ground), abstract concepts (truth, law), divisions of time, and Dryhten "the Lord".
7. When do such nouns take "the" after all?
Show answer
When they refer to a specific instance, such as "the law they just passed".
8. What is the nominative plural of both "the" and "this", and are they the same for all genders?
Show answer
þā for "the" and þās for "this". Yes: the plural has one form for all three genders.
9. Which Modern English word comes from ġeon?
Show answer
"yon", as the article says.
10. Which cases of "the" are identical in the plural?
Show answer
Nominative and accusative (þā), and dative and instrumental (þām, þǣm), in the Wiktionary table.