Paradigms: Adjectives
*93. OE adjectives, like nouns, have inflexions to indicate Gender, Number and Case. Because of Agreement, the form of the adjective depends on the form of the noun which it modifies.
*94. There are two major adjectival paradigms, strong and weak. Determining which paradigm to use depends on the relationship between the adjective and other words.
*95. Two paradigms for a model adjective, gōd/gōda GOOD, follow here. It may be noted that many of the endings of the strong and weak adjectives are identical with those of the strong and weak nouns; however, a few (eg. -um) do indicate different functions from those which might be expected in noun paradigms.
**96. Weak paradigm
gōda GOOD
Number | Sg | Pl | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Gender | Masc | Fem | Neut | All Genders |
Case | ||||
Nom | gōda | gōde | gōde | gōdan |
Acc | gōdan | gōdan | gōde | gōdan |
Gen | gōdan | gōdan | gōdan | gōdra/gōdena |
Dat | gōdan | gōdan | gōdan | gōdum |
**97. Strong paradigm
gōd GOOD
Number | Sg | Pl | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Gender | Masc | Fem | Neut | Masc | Fem | Neut |
Case | ||||||
Nom | gōd | gōd | gōd | gōde | gōde | gōd |
Acc | gōdne | gōde | gōd | gōde | gōde | gōd |
Gen | gōdes | gōdre | gōdes | gōdra | gōdra | gōdra |
Dat | gōdum | gōdre | gōdum | gōdum | gōdum | gōdum |
Most adjectives behave like gōd. The main group of exceptions consist of adjectives like cwic ALIVE, which differ from gōd in the Strong Nom Sg and Pl, thus:
Sg:
Masc cwic, Fem cwicu, Neut cwic
Pl:
Masc cwice, Fem cwice/-a, Neut cwicu