A Middle High German Primer / Third Edition

3. Contracted Verbs.

§ 99.

(1) lān = lāȥen, to let, leave.

(2) hān = haben, to have.

The contracted form hān, &c., is mostly used as an auxiliary.

CHAPTER VII

SYNTAX

Cases.

§ 100. Accusative. The accusative has much the same function as in NHG. It is sometimes used, however, where the dat. or a preposition would be required in NHG.:—ër vuor waȥȥer unde wëge, he went by water and land. The acc. is used after wol, well, when used as an interjection, as wol mich. A double accusative is required not only after lēren, to teach, but also after hëln, verhëln, to conceal, verdagen, verswīgen, to keep secret.

§ 101. Dative. ruofen, to call, and schirmen, to protect, take the dative. The dative is often used adverbially: allenthalben, on all sides, wīlen(t), formerly, &c.

§ 102. Genitive. The genitives hande, slahte, leie = manner are used adverbially: maneger hande, slahte, or leie, in many ways, manifoldly.

The gen. is used in combination with the comparative of adjectives, as dicker eines dūmes, thicker by the breadth of a thumb. Indefinite and interrogative pronouns, used substantively, take the genitive: iemen armer liute, any poor people; niht schœneres, nothing more beautiful; dës enmac niht sīn, that cannot be; waȥ mannes ër wære, what kind of man he was. In the same manner the rel. swaȥ may take the genitive: swaȥ man vant dër armen, whatever poor people one found.

The genitive may be used predicatively:—sīt sī dës goteshūses sint, since they belong to the house of God; diu sorge ist mīn eines niht, I am not the only one who has sorrow.

Impersonal verbs often take the genitive: mich genüeget dës, that is enough for me; mich gezimt dës, that pleases me.

The genitives dës and wës may be used adverbially in the sense of therefore, wherefore; and likewise many nouns: tages, by day; dës sëlben tages, the same day; nahtes, by night.

Interjections usually take the genitive: owē mir mīnes leides! alas! for my grief. vil, much, many; mē(re), more; wēnic, lützel, little; minner, minre, less; and genuoc, enough, used as indeclinable substantives, are followed by the genitive. Cardinal numerals, used substantively, are also followed by the genitive: zweinzec starker man, twenty strong men.

Adjectives.

§ 103. The weak and strong forms are used in the same manner as in Mod. HG. dirre, this, is followed by the weak or strong form; aller, all, usually by the strong. The strong or weak form can be used after pronouns, as ich armer or ich arme, I poor ... In the vocative the weak form without the article is used, as guoten liute, (ye) good people. When the same adjective refers to nouns of different gender, it is put in the neuter plural.

ein and the possessive pronouns are followed by the strong form in the Nom. and Acc. singular; by the strong or weak form in the pl. and Gen. and Dative singular.

The possessive pronouns are declined strong.

The uninflected form of the adjective is used side by side with the inflected in the Nom. singular, all genders, and Acc. singular neuter, when the adjective comes before the noun: ein guot man, a good man. When the adjective stands after the noun the uninflected form may be used without reference to number, gender, or case, ein, dehein, and the possessive pronouns have the uninflected form in the Nom. for all genders, and Acc. neuter. The uninflected form of al, all, can be used before all forms of the definite article: in al dër wërlte, in all the world. See § 55.

Pronouns.

§ 104. im, ir, pl. in, are used to express the dative of the reflexive pronoun. dër is sometimes used pleonastically, as dër brunne, dër was küele, the spring was cool. man used as an indefinite pronoun can take the definite article along with it.

Verbs.

§ 105. Number. The verb can be used in the singular after a compound subject, as Volkēr und Hagene sō sēre wüeten began, ... began to rage so furiously.

§ 106. Tenses. The fut. simple is expressed by sol, muoȥ, wil and the infin., or simply by the pres., as in OE.: ich sol gān, I shall go; bin ich gnislīch, sō genise ich, if I am curable, I shall recover. For the fut. pf. the pf. is used: daȥ ist schiere getān, that will soon have been done. The pf. is expressed either by the simple pret. or the p.p. and the verbs hān, sīn; in subordinate sentences the pret. often has the meaning of the pluperfect: dō du von ir schiede, zehant sie starp, she died immediately after thou hadst taken leave of her.

The preterite acquires a pluperfect, and the present a future perfect meaning when the prefix ge is added to them: swenne iuwer sun gewahset, when your son (shall have) has grown up; dō ich in gesach, when I had seen him. The present participle with sīn is sometimes used as in English, see ‘Arme Heinrich,’ l. 24.

§ 107. Voice. The present and preterite passive are expressed by wërden and the p.p., and the corresponding perfect tenses by sīn and the p.p.

§ 108. Negation. Negation in sentences is expressed by ne (en, n) before the verb, and niht after it: ër enist guot, he is not good. niht is frequently omitted, especially after the preterite presents, the verbs wellen, lān, sentences containing negative pronouns or adverbs, and in subordinate sentences.

en without niht is used with the subjunctive in subordinate sentences in the sense of unless, if not, except that, when that, that not, &c.: dën līp wil ich verliesen, si enwërde mīn wīp, I will die if she will not become my wife; ich wæne nieman in dër wërlte lëbe, ërn habe ein leit, I believe no one lives in the world who has not his trouble.

en is further also used in the sense of Latin ‘quin’: ich mac daȥ niht bevarn, mirn wërde mīn ritterschaft benomen, I cannot prevent my knighthood being taken away from me.