Adjectives
Old English Grammar 1
Chapter 6 · Adjectives
🎨 Adjectives
An Old English adjective agrees with its noun in gender, number and case, and it has two sets of endings, strong and weak, chosen by what comes before it. This chapter gives both tables, the rules for choosing, and the comparative and superlative. Usage rules and examples are from the Adjectives section of Wikipedia's Old English grammar article. The article's tables came out unclear, so the tables here are from English Wiktionary's entry for cwic "alive".
Strong or weak?
| Situation | Declension | Example (the article's) |
|---|---|---|
| After "the", "that", "this", or a possessive (my, your, his) | Weak | cwic þrōwend "a live scorpion" but sē cwica þrōwend "the live scorpion" |
| In direct address | Weak | Ēalā fæġere mæġden "Hey beautiful girl" |
| Ordinals and comparatives | Weak only (exception: ōðer "other, second" is always strong) | |
| "First" | forma and ǣrra always weak; ǣrest and fyrest either | |
| "Own" | āgen usually strong | Hēo forlēt ōðre dæġe on hire āgnum horse "She left the next day on her own horse" |
| Otherwise | Strong |
The strong declension (cwic "alive")
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative sg. | cwic | cwicu, cwico | cwic |
| Accusative sg. | cwicne | cwice | cwic |
| Genitive sg. | cwices | cwicre | cwices |
| Dative sg. | cwicum | cwicre | cwicum |
| Instrumental sg. | cwice | cwicre | cwice |
| Nominative / accusative pl. | cwice | cwica, cwice | cwicu, cwico |
| Genitive pl. | cwicra (all genders) | ||
| Dative / instrumental pl. | cwicum (all genders) | ||
Some endings resemble the noun endings of Chapters 2 and 3 (-es, -um, -u), and the accusative -ne and the feminine -re resemble the forms of "the" from Chapter 5 (þone, þǣre). Those resemblances are my observation from the tables, not a claim in the article.
The weak declension
| Case | Masculine | Feminine | Neuter |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nominative sg. | cwica | cwice | cwice |
| Accusative sg. | cwican | cwican | cwice |
| Genitive / dative / instrumental sg. | cwican (all genders) | ||
| Nominative / accusative pl. | cwican (all genders) | ||
| Genitive pl. | cwicra, cwicena | ||
| Dative / instrumental pl. | cwicum | ||
The weak declension is shorter and less varied: -an in most cells, the same pattern as the n-stem nouns of Chapter 2 (my observation; the n-stem nouns are called "weak" in the article too).
Agreement in practice
Because the adjective copies the noun's gender, number and case, it can help you decode the noun. In sē cwica þrōwend "the live scorpion", the article form sē (masculine nominative) and the weak ending -a (masculine nominative) both say the noun is masculine singular nominative. Words that agree give you several chances to find the case.
Comparing: -ra, -ost, -est
The article says Old English uses -ra for the comparative and -ost for the superlative, with -est for some words, and does not use "more" and "most" for this.
| Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| fæġer beautiful | fæġerra "more beautiful" | fæġerost "most beautiful" |
| beorht bright | beorhtra "brighter" | beorhtost "brightest" |
| cnihtlīċ boyish | cnihtlīcra | cnihtlīcost |
With i-umlaut
| Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| eald | ieldra | ieldest |
| ġeong | ġingra | ġinġest |
| strang | strengra | strenġest |
| lang | lengra | lenġest |
| sċort | sċyrtra | sċyrtest |
| hēah | hīera | hīehst |
Irregular (suppletive) comparison
| Adjective | Comparative | Superlative |
|---|---|---|
| gōd good | betera better | betst best |
| yfel bad | wiersa worse | wierrest worst |
| miċel much, big | māra more, bigger | mǣst most, biggest |
| lȳtel little | lǣssa less, smaller | lǣsest least, smallest |
"More" and "most" do appear with participles: swīðor ġelufod "more loved" and swīðost ġelufod "most loved" (the article lists mā/swīðor and mǣst/swīðost).
Spelling oddities in adjectives
The article lists several. A few that help with reading:
- -iġ and -līċ adjectives regain the -u ending: bisigu sweord (nominative plural neuter), broðorlīcu lufu (nominative singular feminine).
- Short æ + consonant becomes a before a vowel ending: glæd gives glade.
- Final h disappears: hēah gives hēane, hēam, hēa; þweorh gives þwēorre.
- Adjectives in -e drop the -e but keep -u: blīðne, blīðu ċildru "happy children".
📋 Quick Reference
| Topic | Remember |
|---|---|
| Agreement | Gender, number and case of the noun |
| Weak | After "the", "this", possessives; direct address; ordinals and comparatives; mostly -an |
| Strong | Everything else; -ne acc. masc., -re fem. gen./dat., -um dat. |
| Comparison | -ra, -ost / -est; umlaut group; irregular group |
✏️ Try It Yourself
Say the answer first, then click to check.
1. "A live scorpion" and "the live scorpion": which adjective declension is each?
Show answer
"A live scorpion" is cwic þrōwend, strong (no article); "the live scorpion" is sē cwica þrōwend, weak (after "the").
2. Which declension follows "my" or "his"?
Show answer
Weak: the article lists possessive determiners with "the" and "this".
3. Give the strong accusative masculine singular of cwic.
Show answer
cwicne (the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle quotation on Wiktionary uses it, translated "alive").
4. What is the strong genitive singular feminine of cwic, and what other word has the same ending in the same case?
Show answer
cwicre; the feminine genitive of "the" is þǣre (Chapter 5), which ends the same way.
5. What is the weak nominative plural of cwic?
Show answer
cwican, for all genders.
6. Which adjective is always strong, even though ordinals are weak?
Show answer
ōðer "other, second".
7. Make the comparative and superlative of beorht "bright".
Show answer
beorhtra and beorhtost.
8. What are the comparative and superlative of lang, and what has happened to the vowel?
Show answer
lengra and lenġest: i-umlaut changed a to e (the same umlaut as in mann / menn, Chapter 4).
9. What is "worse" and "worst" in Old English?
Show answer
wiersa and wierrest, from yfel "bad".
10. When does Old English use "more" and "most" words for comparison?
Show answer
With participles: swīðor ġelufod "more loved" and swīðost ġelufod "most loved". Otherwise it uses -ra and -ost.