Verb Conjugation
1 min read · 262 words
Present Tense (Regular Verbs)
Regular verbs conjugate off the bare stem (infinitive minus -en), with distinct endings for each singular person and a single collapsed ending across all plural persons.
Pattern (from werken, "to work"):
Person | Ending | Example |
|---|---|---|
ik (I) | (bare stem) | ik werk |
ju (you) | -t | ju werkt |
han (he/she/it) | -e | han werke |
vi (we) | -en | vi werken |
jo (you all, formal) | -en | jo werken |
sei (they) | -en | sei werken |
Rule summary: singular has three fully distinct endings (∅ / -t / -e); plural collapses to one shared form (-en), identical to the bare infinitive.
Noun → Verb Derivation
Many verbs are derived directly from a noun stem + -en:
werk (work, n.) → werken (to work)
sprök (speech, n.) → spröken (to speak)
Irregular Verb — Sein ("to be")
Person | Form |
|---|---|
ik | bin |
ju | erst |
han | es (or est , fuller/formal variant) |
jo | send |
vi | send |
sei | send |
Note: unlike regular verbs, sein collapses all three plural persons and jo (formal you) onto the identical form send — no distinct -en ending here, it's its own suppletive paradigm (bin/erst/es-est/send), not derived from any single stem the way regular verbs are.
Pro-Drop
Pronouns can be dropped when the verb ending alone disambiguates person, especially in emphatic or casual speech:
Werkt nið! — "[You] don't work!"
Negation & Word Order Interaction
niþ/nið sits after the finite verb by default: Ik werk nið ("I don't work")
Fronts before the verb for emphasis: Nið ik werk! ("I do NOT work!")
Volksprök is V2 (verb-second): the finite verb occupies the second syntactic slot of a main clause. Modal-type verbs (like vollen) push any accompanying infinitive to the clause's end — Ik voll jein katen esten! ("I want to eat your cat!") — mirroring German's modal+infinitive-at-the-end structure.