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    Archaic Forms: Person Singular Plural I Have We Have It Hath They Have

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    juck
    The document discusses archaic verb forms in English, specifically: 1) Old English had more verb inflections than modern English, and some forms like "he maketh" and "thou hast" were used until Early Modern English. 2) The third person singular form added "-eth" or a shortened "-th" in some dialects, like "he maketh" and "he hath". 3) The second person singular form added "-est" or "-st" when used with the archaic pronoun "thou", like "thou makest" and "thou hast". 4) Examples of these archaic forms can still be found in older texts like the King

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    Archaic Forms: Person Singular Plural I Have We Have It Hath They Have

    Uploaded by

    juck
    45 views2 pages
    The document discusses archaic verb forms in English, specifically: 1) Old English had more verb inflections than modern English, and some forms like "he maketh" and "thou hast" were used until Early Modern English. 2) The third person singular form added "-eth" or a shortened "-th" in some dialects, like "he maketh" and "he hath". 3) The second person singular form added "-est" or "-st" when used with the archaic pronoun "thou", like "thou makest" and "thou hast". 4) Examples of these archaic forms can still be found in older texts like the King

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    The document discusses archaic verb forms in English, specifically: 1) Old English had more verb inflections than modern English, and some forms like "he maketh" and "thou hast" were used until Early Modern English. 2) The third person singular form added "-eth" or a shortened "-th" in some dialects, like "he maketh" and "he hath". 3) The second person singular form added "-est" or "-st" when used with the archaic pronoun "thou", like "thou makest" and "thou hast". 4) Examples of these archaic forms can still be found in older texts like the King

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    45 views2 pages

    Archaic Forms: Person Singular Plural I Have We Have It Hath They Have

    Uploaded by

    juck
    The document discusses archaic verb forms in English, specifically: 1) Old English had more verb inflections than modern English, and some forms like "he maketh" and "thou hast" were used until Early Modern English. 2) The third person singular form added "-eth" or a shortened "-th" in some dialects, like "he maketh" and "he hath". 3) The second person singular form added "-est" or "-st" when used with the archaic pronoun "thou", like "thou makest" and "thou hast". 4) Examples of these archaic forms can still be found in older texts like the King

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    Archaic forms

    Archaic conjugation of have


    Person Singular Plural
    First I have We have
    Second Thou hast Ye have
    Third It hath They have

    Formerly, particularly in the Old English period, the English language had a far greater degree of
    verb inflection than it does now (some other Germanic languages retain a greater variety of
    inflected forms than English does). Some of the forms used in Early Modern English have now
    fallen out of use, but are still encountered in old writers and texts (e.g. Shakespeare, the King
    James Bible) and in archaisms.

    One such form was the third person singular form with the suffix -eth [əθ], pronounced as a full
    syllable. This was used in some dialects rather than the modern -s, e.g. he maketh ("he makes"),
    he runneth ("he runs"), he goeth ("he goes"). In some verbs, a shortened form -th appears: he
    hath ("he has"), he doth ("he does"; pronounced as if written duth), he saith or he sayeth ("he
    says"). The forms hath and doth are found in some proverbs ("Hell hath no fury like a woman
    scorned", "The lady doth protest too much").

    Another set of forms are associated with the archaic second person singular pronoun thou, which
    often have the ending -est, pronounced as a full syllable, e.g. thou makest ("you make"), thou
    leadest ("you lead"). In some verbs, a shortened form -st appears: thou hast ("you have"), thou
    dost ("you do"; rhymes with must). In the case of the verb be, such forms included art (present
    tense), wast (past), wert (past subjunctive) and beest (present subjunctive; pronounced as two
    syllables). In all other verbs, the past tense is formed by the base past tense form of the word
    (e.g. had, did, listened) plus-'st, not pronounced as a full syllable, e.g. thou had'st ("you had"),
    thou did'st ("you did"), thou listened'st ("you listened"). Modal verbs except must also have -t or
    -st added to their form, e.g. thou canst ("you can"), thou wilt ("you will"), thou wouldst ("you
    would"), thou mightst ("you might"), except may, which is thou mayest ("you may").

    For example, several such forms (as well as other archaic forms such as yea for "yes", thy for
    "your", and mine enemies for "my enemies") appear in Psalm 23 from the King James Bible:

    The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.


    He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
    He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.
    Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou
    art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
    Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my
    head with oil; my cup runneth over.
    Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the
    house of the LORD for ever.
    For more information see Old English verbs, English subjunctive, and Indo-European copula (for
    the history of the verb be).

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