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In the Germanic languages, 'strong verbs' are those which mark their past tenses by means of ablaut. In English, these are verbs like ''sing, sang, sung''. The term "strong verb" is a translation of German "starkes Verb", which was coined by the linguist Jakob Grimm and contrasts with the so-called "weak verb" ("schwaches Verb").
This article discusses the history of the forms of these verbs in the West Germanic languages, i.e. English, German and Dutch, and the historical forms Old English, Old High German and Old Dutch. For other aspects of these verbs, see the overview article Germanic verb.

Contents

Conjugation

Verb classes

General developments

Class 1

Class 2

Class 3

Class 4

Class 5

Class 6

Class 7 (West Germanic)

Sources

Conjugation

As an example of the conjugation of a strong verb, we may take the Old English class 2 verb , "to command" (cf. English "bid").
This has the following forms:

Infinitive	Present	Preterite	Past participle
bēodan	ic bēode þu bīetst he bīett we bēodaþ ge bēodaþ hie bēodaþ	ic bēad þu bude he bēad we budon ge budon hie budon	boden

While the inflections are more or less regular, the vowel changes in the stem are not predictable without an understanding of the Indo-European ''ablaut'' system, and students have to learn the principal parts by heart: ''bēodan, bīett, bēad, budon, boden''. The five principal parts are:
# The infinitive: ''bēodan''. The same vowel is used through most of the present tense.
# The present tense 3rd singular: ''bīett''. The same vowel is used in the 2nd singular.
# The preterite 1st singular (from the PIE perfect): ''bēad'', which is identical to the 3rd singular.
# The preterite plural: ''budon''. The same vowel is used in the 2nd singular.
# The past participle (from the PIE verbal noun): ''boden''. This vowel is only used in the participle.
Strictly speaking, in this verb ''ablaut'' only causes a threefold distinction: parts 1 and 2 are from the e-grade, part 3 from the o-grade, and parts 4 and 5 from the zero grade. The other two distinctions are caused by different kinds of regressive metaphony: part 2, when it is distinct at all, is always derived from part 1 by Umlaut. In some verbs, part 5 is a discrete ablaut grade, but in this class 2 verb it is derived from part 4 by an a-mutation.

Verb classes

Six different ''ablaut'' sequences (German: ''Ablautreihe'') exist in the Germanic languages. We refer to these as the six classes of the strong verb.
In PIE there were already several ablaut sequences possible in the conjugation of the verb. The Germanic verb is based on the following four patterns. (For orientation, the numbers of the ''Germanic'' principal parts and verb classes are included in this table, but the vowels are those of PIE.)

	Present(Parts 1&2)	Perfect singular(Part 3)	Perfect plural(Part 4)	Verbal noun(Part 5)
Standard Pattern	e	o	zero	zero	(Classes 1-3)
Substitution of zero grade	e	o	ē	zero	(Class 4)
	e	o	ē	e	(Class 5)
Predominant a-vowel	a	ō	ō	a	(class 6)

The standard pattern of PIE is best represented in Germanic by class 3. Classes 1 & 2 have also developed out of this pattern, but here the ablaut vowel was followed by a semivowel (''i/j'' and ''u/v'' respectively) which later combined with it to form a diphthong. The PIE variations from which Germanic classes 4 & 5 developed contain consonant structures which were partly or wholly incompatible with the zero grade, and thus the e-grade and lengthened e-grade were substituted in one or both of the zero grade positions. Thus classes 1-5 are all easily explicable as having developed logically from a single basic pattern.
Class 6 is more problematic. It is a controversial question whether the earlier phases of PIE had an a-vowel at all. At any rate, most occurrences of an /a/ in late PIE are associated with an earlier laryngeal h₂. Opinions still vary about how exactly this worked, but it is conceivable, for example, that the present stem could have experienced the shift h₂e→a. If this is so, then class 6 may also be a variation on the standard pattern.
In addition to the six classes, Germanic originally had reduplicating verbs, which in the West and North Germanic languages have lost their reduplication and simplified into a relatively coherent group which may be thought of as a seventh class. In Gothic, on the other hand, there are six classes, each of which has a reduplicating sub-class.
The Anglo-Saxon scholar Henry Sweet gave names to the seven classes (the "drive conjugation", the "choose conjugation" etc), but normally they are simply referred to by numbers.

General developments

Before looking at the seven classes individually it is helpful to consider first the general developments which affected all of them. The following phonological changes are relevant for the discussion of the ''ablaut'' system:
'From PIE to Germanic'

★ General sound shifts: ''o > a ; ei > ī ; oi > ai ; ou > au.''

★ Elimination of the zero grade before liquids by insertion of ''u''.

★ The development of grammatischer Wechsel (variations in the consonant following the ''ablaut'' vowel) caused by Verner's law.
'Within Germanic'

★ ''Umlaut'' - the fronting of the ''ablaut'' vowel caused by ''i'', ''ī'' or ''j'' in the following syllable. This affects the 2nd and 3rd persons singular of the present tense in classes 2, 3b, 4, 5 and 6.

★ ''Wandel'' - the same effect as ''Umlaut'', but caused by a nasal or other front consonant in post-vocalic position. This affects the whole of the present stem (including the infinitive) of some verbs in class 3a, and of a few verbs in class 2.

★ a-mutation (sometimes wrongly called a-umlaut) - the movement of the ''ablaut'' vowel towards the back of the mouth caused by an ''a'' in the following syllable. This affects the participle, which had the suffix ''-an''. An intervening nasal + consonant blocked this.
'From Germanic to Old English'

★ General sound shifts: ''ai > ā ; eu > ēo ; au > ēa''

★ Breaking before certain consonants: ''a > ea ; e > eo''

★ "West Saxon Palatalisation": ''i > ie'' after ''g''
'From Old English to Modern English'

★ Tudor vowel shift: ''ī > ai'' (spelled <i> as in ''shine'')
'From Germanic to Old High German'

★ General sound shifts: ''ai > ei ; au > ou''

★ Sound shift ''e > i'' before ''u''

★ Old High German monophthongization: ''ei > ē'' before Germanic ''r'', '' h'' and ''w''; ''ou > ō'' before Germanic dentals (''þ'', ''đ'', ''t'', ''n'', ''l'', ''s'', ''z'', ''r'') and ''h''
'From Old High German to Modern German'

★ General sound shifts: ''io > ī'' (spelled ) ''; ou > au''

★ MHG diphthongisation: ''ī > ai'' (spelled )

★ vowel lengthening in early modern times: ''i > ī'' (spelled ) before a single consonant.
'Other changes' in the general shape of the verbs:

★ Between PIE and Germanic the verbal noun was adapted as a past participle for the new Germanic synthetic tenses. The emphatic prefix ''ge-'' came to be used (but neither exclusively nor invariably) as a marker of the participle. In English this prefix disappeared again in the Middle Ages.

★ The development of weak verbs in Germanic meant that the strong verb system ceased to be productive. All new verbs were weak. Gradually, strong verbs became weak, so that the total number of strong verbs in the languages was constantly decreasing. In English this process has gone further than in German or Dutch. The reverse phenomenon, whereby a weak verb becomes strong by analogy, is exceptional. Some verbs, which might be termed "semi-strong", have formed a weak preterite but retained the strong participle, or (rarely) vice versa. These are commonest in Dutch:
::''vouwen vouwde gevouwen'' ("to fold")
::''vragen vroeg gevraagd'' ("to ask")

★ Idiosyncrasies of the phonological changes led to a growing number of subgroups. Also, once the ablaut system ceased to be productive, there was a decline in the speakers' awareness of the regularity of the system. This leads to anomalous forms. Thus the six big classes lost their cohesion. Again, this process is furthest advanced in English. The reverse process whereby anomalies are eliminated and subgroups reunited by the force of analogy is called "levelling", and can be seen at various points in the history of the verb classes.

★ In the later Middle Ages, all three languages eliminated the distinction between the vowels of the singular and plural preterite forms. The new uniform preterite could be based on the vowel of the old preterite singular, or on the old plural, or sometimes on the participle. In English, the distinction remains in the verb "to be": ''I was, we were''. In Dutch, it remains in the verbs of classes 4 & 5, but only in vowel length: ''ik brak'' (I broke - short ''a''), ''wij braken'' (we broke - long ''ā''). In German and Dutch it also remains in the present tense of the preterite presents.

Class 1

Class 1, Sweet's "drive conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was followed by an ''i''. This combination is effectively a diphthong in PIE, or in the zero-grade, a simple ''i''. Regular vowel shifts in Germanic change ''ei''>''ī'' and ''oi''>''ai''. Metaphony does not affect class 1.

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Ablaut grade	e	e	o	zero	zero
PIE	ei	ei	oi	i	i
Germanic	ī	ī	ai	i	i
Old English	ī	ī	ā	i	i
Old High German	ī	ī	ei/ē	i	i

In 'Old English', Germanic ''ai'' becomes ''ā''.

★ '' rītt rād ridon riden'' ("to ride")

★ '' wrītt wrāt writon writen'' ("to write")

★ '' scīnt scān scinon scinen'' ("to shine")
'Modern English' has experienced a diphthongisation of ''ī'' (though it is still spelled with an i) and a shift ''ā''>''ō''. The modern preterite is taken from the old preterite singular, and in the case of "shine", the past participle has also assimilated to the preterite singular.

★ ''ride rode ridden''

★ ''write wrote written''

★ ''shine shone shone''
Class 1 verbs in modern English are ''bite, drive, ride, rise, shine, shite, slide, smite, stride, write''. The French loan-word ''strive'' is class 1 by analogy with ''drive'' etc.

For the principal parts of all English strong verbs see: List of English irregular verbs.
In 'Old High German', Germanic ''ai'' becomes ''ei'', and then by OHG monophthogisation it becomes ē before a velar consonant. Thus Old High German has two subclasses, depending on the vowel in the preterite singular:

★ 1a ''rītan rītu reit ritum giritan'' ("to ride")

★ 1b ''līhan līhu lēh ligum giligan'' ("to loan" - note grammatischer Wechsel.)
Like English, 'Modern German' diphthongises the ''ī'' (spelling it ''ei''). The modern language takes its preterite from the old preterite plural, so the distinction between the two subclasses disappears. However a new subdivision arises because the ''i'' of the past tense forms is lengthened to ''ie'' before a single consonant. As it happens, ''reiten'' and ''leihen'' serve as examples of this too, but many OHG 1a verbs are in the modern long vowel group.

★ (short vowel) ''reiten ritt geritten'' ("to ride")

★ (long vowel) ''leihen lieh geliehen'' ("to loan")
Class 1 verbs in modern German are:

★ with short vowels: ''beißen, bleichen, gleichen, gleiten, greifen, leiden, pfeifen, reißen, reiten, scheißen, schleichen, schleifen, schmeißen, schneiden, schreiten, spleißen, streichen, streiten, weichen'' (also the originally weak verb ''kneifen'' by analogy)

★ with vowel lengthening: ''bleiben, gedeihen, leihen, meiden, reiben, scheiden, scheinen, schreiben, schreien, schweigen speien, steigen, treiben, verzeihen, weisen'' (also the originally weak verb ''preisen'' by analogy).
In 'Dutch', class 1 has remained very regular, and follows the pattern:

★ ''grijpen greep gegrepen''
Class 1 verbs in Dutch are ''bezwijken, bijten, blijken, blijven, drijven, glijden, grijpen, hijsen, kijken, knijpen, krijgen, lijden, lijken, prijzen, rijden, rijzen, schijnen, schrijden, schrijven, slijpen, slijten, smijten, spijten, splijten, stijgen, strijden, strijken, verdwijnen, vermijden, wijken, wijzen, wrijven, zwijgen''.

Class 2

Class 2, Sweet's "choose conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE ''Ablaut''-vowel was followed by a ''u''. In PIE it is therefore very similar to class 1. A regular vowel shift in Germanic changes ''ou''>''au''. In two separate metaphony processes, the present singular is umlauted because of an ''i'' in the inflection and the ''u'' in the past participle is assimilated to the ''a'' in the inflection.

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Ablaut grade	e	e	o	zero	zero
PIE	eu	eu	ou	u	u
Germanic	eu	eu	au	u	o
Old English	ēo	īe	ēa	u	o
Old High German	io	iu	ou / ō	u	o

There was also a sub-class with present stem in ''ū'', an anomalous form which seems to originate in PIE.
In 'Old English', Germanic ''eu'' becomes ''ēo''.

★ '' scīett scēat scuton scoten'' ("to shoot")

★ '' bīett bēad budon boden'' ("to command")

★ '' flīehþ flēag flugon flogen'' ("to fly")

★ '' cīest cēas curon coren'' ("to choose" - note grammatischer Wechsel)
An Old English example with the present stem in ''ū'':

★ '' scŷfþ scēaf scufon scofen'' ("to shove")
In 'Modern English', this is a small group characterised by the ''o'' vowel of the participle being assimilated to the preterite:

★ ''shoot shot shot''

★ ''fly flew flown''
Class 2 verbs in Modern English: ''choose, cleave, dive (AE), fly, freeze, shoot''.
In 'Old High German', the usual pattern is:

★ ''biogan biugu boug bugum gibogan'' ("to bend")
An Old High German example with present stem in ū:

★ ''sūfan siufu souf sufum gisofan'' ("to drink")
An example with ''wandel'' affecting the whole of the present stem.

★ ''briuwan briuwu brou brūwum gibrūwan'' ("to brew")
A small group sometimes called class 2b has Old High German monophthongisation in the preterite singular:

★ ''biotan biutu bōt butum gibotan'' ("to offer")
Regular shifts on the way to 'Modern German' change ''io''>''ie'' and ''ou''>''o''. The modern preterite is based on the OHG preterite singular:

★ ''biegen bog gebogen'' ("to bend")

★ ''schieben schob geschoben'' ("to shove")

★ ''saugen sog gesogen'' ("to suck")
Class 2 verbs in Modern German are: ''biegen, bieten, fliegen, fliehen, fließen, frieren, genießen, gießen, klieben, kriechen, riechen, schieben, schießen, schließen, sprießen, stieben, verlieren, ziehen''; with ū-present: ''saufen, saugen''.
Two anomalous class 2 verbs in modern German are ''lügen'' ("to tell a lie") and ''trügen'' ("to deceive"). This no doubt arises from a desire to disambiguate Middle High German ''liegen'' from ''ligen'' (class 5), which would have sounded the same in Early Modern German. ''Trügen'' would have followed in its wake, because the two words form a common rhyming collocation.
In 'Dutch', class 2 follows the patterns

★ ''bedriegen bedroog bedrogen'' ("to deceive")

★ ''sluiten sloot gesloten'' ("to shut")
The present stem in ''ui'' represents the old ū-present, but interestingly this subgroup has grown, as a number of class 2 verbs which originally did not have ū-presents have taken the ''ui'' by analogy. Class 2 verbs in modern Dutch are: ''bieden, genieten, gieten, kiezen, liegen, schieten, verliezen, vliegen, vriezen''; with ū-present: ''buigen, druipen, duiken, fluiten, kruipen, ruiken, schuilen, schuiven, snuiven, spuiten, stuiven, zuigen, zuipen''.

Class 3

Class 3, Sweet's "bind conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was followed by a nasal (''n'') or a liquid (''r/l'') ''and'' another consonant. Also possible is ''h'' plus another consonant. So the combinations are:

★ With nasals (class 3a): CV'n'C, CV'nn', CV'm'C, CV'mm'

★ With liquids (class 3b): CV'l'C, CV'll', CV'r'C, CV'h'C
In the zero-grade forms, the nasal or liquid became a syllabic sonorant in PIE, transcribed as a circle below the letter. [Provisional transcription here _ol etc.] In Germanic, these syllabic nasals and liquids were not used, so a ''u'' vowel was added in compensation: _ol>''ul''. Umlaut causes a shift ''e''>''i'' in the present singular, but in the case of the nasals, this shift takes place throughout the present stem: this is referred to as wandel - the same effect as ''umlaut'', but triggered by the nasal consonant. The preterite singular shows the standard Germanic vowel shift ''o''>''a''. In the participle, ''ul'' becomes ''ol'' through metaphony, but only with the liquid, as the metaphony is blocked by the nasal.

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Ablaut grade	e	e	o	zero	zero
PIE	en / el	en / el	on / ol	on / ol	on / ol
Germanic	in / el	in / il	an / al	un / ul	un / ol
Old English	in / el	in / il	an / eal	un / ul	un / ol
Old High German	in / el	in / il	an / al	un / ul	un / ol

In 'Old English', class 3a is little changed from Germanic.

★ '' drinceþ dranc druncon druncen''

★ '' bindeþ band bundon bunden''
Class 3b experiences a diphthongisation called "Brechung" in preterite singular (''a''>''ea''); before ''r'' and ''h'' this also affects the present stem (''e''>''eo'').

★ '' hilpþ healp hulpon holpen'' ("to help")

★ '' dilfþ dealf dulfon dolfen'' ("to dig")

★ '' swilt swealt swulton swolten'' ("to die")

★ '' cierfþ cearf curfon corfen'' ("to cut")

★ '' fieht feaht fuhton fohten'' ("to fight")
West Saxon palatal diphthongization causes ''i''>''ie'' after ''g'':

★ '' gieldeþ geald guldon golden'' ("to pay")
Three verbs have an anomalous ''æ'' in preterite singular: ''berstan'' ("to burst"), ''bregdan'' ("to pull"), ''frignan'' ("to ask").

★ '' birst bærst burston borsten''
In 'Modern English', this class is fairly large. This class is still relatively regular: the preterite is mostly formed from the OE preterite singular, occasionally from the preterite plural.

★ ''drink drank drunk(en)''

★ ''sing sang sung''
However, there are some anomalies. The class 3 verbs in modern English are:

★ With nasal or r: ''begin, bind, burst, cling, drink, find, run, shrink, sing, sink, sling, slink, spin, spring, sting, stink, swing, swim, win, wind, wring''

★ With ll: ''swell''

★ With original "Germanic ''h''": ''fight''
English ''fling'' does not go back to Old English, and may be a loan-word from Norse. It seems to have adopted class 3 forms by analogy with ''cling'' etc. Similarly ''ring, string''.
In 'Old High German', class 3 has its vowels unchanged from Germanic:

★ ''bindan bindu band bundum gibundan''

★ ''helfan hilfu half hulfum giholfan''
'Modern German' takes the preterite from the OHG preterite singular.

★ ''binden band gebunden''

★ ''helfen (hilf) half geholfen''
However, the ''o'' of the 3b participle has been passed by analogy to some 3a verbs, and also to the preterite of some verbs of both groups:

★ ''beginnen begann begonnen''

★ ''bergen barg geborgen'' ("to rescue")

★ ''quellen quoll gequollen'' ("to well up")
Class 3 verbs in modern German

★ 3a regular (i-a-u): ''binden, dringen, finden, gelingen, klingen, ringen, schlingen, schwinden, schwingen, singen, sinken, springen, stinken, trinken, zwingen''

★ 3a with substitution of o in participle (i-a-o): ''beginnen, gewinnen, rinnen, schwimmen''

★ 3a with substitution of o in preterite and participle (i-o-o): ''glimmen, klimmen''

★ 3b regular (e-a-o): ''befehlen, bergen; bersten, gelten, helfen, schelten, sterben, verderben, werden, werfen''

★ 3b with substitution of o in preterite (e-o-o): ''dreschen, fechten, flechten, quellen, schmelzen, schwellen''
In 'Dutch', class 3a and the bulk of 3b have taken the vowel of the participle for the preterite. However, a small group of 3b verbs have developed a preterite in ''ie'', perhaps by analogy with class 7. This gives the patterns:

★ ''binden bond gebonden''

★ ''bergen borg geborgen'' ("to store")

★ ''helpen hielp geholpen''
A small number of verbs of other classes have taken the forms of class 3b by analogy. Class 3 verbs in modern Dutch are:

★ 3a: ''beginnen, binden, blinken, dringen, drinken, dwingen, glimmen, klimmen, klinken, schrikken, springen, stinken, verzinnen, vinden, winnen, wringen, zingen, zinken''.

★ original 3b: ''bergen, gelden, schelden, smelten, vechten, zwellen.''

★ 3b by analogy (original class in brackets): ''schenken, scheren (4), treffen(4), trekken (6), wegen, zenden (3a), zwemmen (3a).''

★ 3b with preterite in ''ie'': ''bederven, helpen, sterven, werpen, zwerven''.

Class 4

Class 4, Sweet's "Bear conjugation", represents all verbs in which the ''ablaut'' vowel was followed by a single nasal or liquid. The zero-grade in the participle becomes a ''u'' in Germanic, but then changes to ''o'' by a-mutation; as a ''single'' nasal is not enough to block this mutation, subgroups do not form in the Germanic class 4 as they do in class 3.

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Ablaut grade	e	e	o	ē	zero
PIE	e	e	o	ē	Ø
Germanic	e	e	a	ē	o
Old English	e	i	æ		o
Old High German	e	i	a	ā	o

In 'Old English', the general pattern is:

★ '' bierþ bær boren'' ("to bear")

★ '' bricþ bræc brocen'' ("to break")
With West Saxon palatal diphthongization (after c, g):

★ '' scear scēaron scoren'' ("to shear")
The verb ''come'' is anomalous in all the West Germanic languages because it originally began with ''qu-'', and the subsequent loss of the ''w'' sound coloured the vowel of the present stem.

★ '' cymþ cōm cōmon cumen'' ("to come")
Also anomalous:

★ '' nōm nōmon numen'' ("to take")
In 'Modern English', class 4 verbs have mostly kept the ''–n'' in the participle:

★ ''break broke broken''
Class 4 verbs in English are ''bear, break, steal, tear''; and without the ''-n'': ''come''.
Although the verb ''to be'' is suppletive and highly irregular, its preterite follows the pattern of a class 4 strong verb, with grammatischer Wechsel, and in English and Dutch this verb has retained the singular/plural distinction of both ablaut grade and consonant in the modern languages. Old English: '', English: ''was/were''. For full paradigms and historical explanations see Indo-European copula.
In 'Old High German', the pattern is:

★ ''neman nimu nam nāmum ginoman'' ("to take")
In 'Modern German' the preterite is based on the preterite singular. As the only difference between the historical classes 3b and 4 was the preterite plural, these two classes are now identical.

★ ''nehmen nahm genommen'' ("to take")
''Kommen'' still has the anomalous ''o'' in the present stem.

★ ''kommen kam gekommen'' ("to come")
Class 4 verbs in modern German: ''brechen, gebären, nehmen, schrecken, sprechen, stechen, stehlen, treffen''; anomalous: ''kommen''.
The preterite of ''sein'' ("to be") is Old High German: ''was/wârum'', but levelled in modern German: ''war/waren''.
In 'Dutch', class 4 and 5 verbs still show the distinction in vowel between the preterite singular and plural: ''ik nam'' ("I took") has the plural ''wij namen'' (not ''
★ nammen''), that is, the 'short' vowel [ɑ] of the singular is replaced by the 'long' [a] in the plural. (Note the relationship of consonant doubling to vowel length, which is explained at Dutch orthography). The pattern is therefore:

★ ''breken brak (braken) gebroken'' ("to break")
In the case of ''komen'', the ''w'' is retained in the preterite.

★ ''komen kwam (kwamen) gekomen'' ("to come")
Class 4 verbs in Dutch are: ''bevelen, breken, nemen, spreken, steken, stelen''; and anomalous: ''komen''.
The preterite of ''wezen/zijn'' ("to be") still shows both (quantitative) ablaut and grammatischer Wechsel between the singular and plural: ''was/waren''.

Class 5

Class 5, Sweet's "give conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was followed by a single consonant other than a nasal or a liquid. This class is originally similar to class 4 except in the participle. There is also a small subgroup called "j-presents" which show ''umlaut'' throughout the whole of the present stem.

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Ablaut grade	e	e	o	ē	e
PIE	e	e	o	ē	e
Germanic	e	i	a	ē	e
Old English	e	i	æ		e
Old High German	e	i	a	ā	e

In 'Old English' the preterite is in '', as in class 4.

★ '' spricþ spræc sprecen'' ("to speak")

★ '' cwiþþ cwæþ cweden'' ("to say")
With West Saxon palatal diphthongization (after c, g)

★ '' geaf gēafon giefen'' ("to give")
With j-presents

★ '' bæd beden''
Contracted, anomalous:

★ '' sihþ seah sāwon sewen''
In 'Modern English' this group has lost all group cohesion.

★ ''give gave given''

★ ''speak spoke spoken''

★ ''lie lay lain''

★ ''meet met met''
Class 5 verbs in Modern English:
''bid, eat, forget, get, give, lie'' (= lie down), ''meet, speak, see, sit, weave''.
In 'Old High German' this group is relatively uniform. The model is ''geban'', or for the j-presents, ''bitten''.

★ ''geban gibu gab gābum gigeban'' ("to give")

★ ''bitten bat bātum gibetan'' ("to ask")
In 'Modern German' this group is little changed from Old High German:

★ ''geben (gib) gab gegeben''

★ ''bitten bat gebeten''
The verb ''essen'' ("to eat") had a past participle ''giezzan'' in OHG; in MHG this became ''geezzen'' which was contracted to ''gezzen'' and then re-prefixed to ''gegezzen'':

★ ''essen (iss) aß gegessen''
Class 5 verbs in modern German: ''essen, geben, genesen, geschehen, lesen, messen, sehen, treten, vergessen''; with j-presents, ''bitten, liegen, sitzen''.
In 'Dutch', class 5 is much as in German, except that the preterite retains the vowel length distinction which we also observed in class 4 above.

★ ''geven gaf (gaven) gegeven''

★ ''bidden bad (baden) gebeden''

★ ''eten at (aten) gegeten''
''zien'' ("to see") has experienced a loss of the original /h/, with a resutling assimilation of the stem vowel to the vowel of the inflection, and shows Grammatischer Wechsel between this original /h/ and a /g/ in the preterite:

★ ''zien, zag (zagen), gezien''
Class 5 verbs in Dutch: ''eten, geven, genezen, lezen, meten, treden, vergeten''; anomalous: ''zien''; with j-presents: ''bidden, liggen, zitten''.

Class 6

Class 6, Sweet's "shake conjugation", represents all verbs in which the IE Ablaut-vowel was adjacent to a laryngeal h₂ and thus in later PIE had an ''a'' colouring. Possibly in some cases the ''a'' may be an example of the a-grade of ablaut, though this is controversial. Like class 5, this class too has j-presents.

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Ablaut grade	e	e	ō	ō	zero
PIE	a	a	ō	ō	a
Germanic	a	a	ō	ō	a
Old English	a	æ	ō	ō	a
Old High German	a	e	uo	uo	a

In 'Old English'

★ '' scæcþs scōc scōcon scacen'' ("to shake")

★ '' færþ fōr fōron faren'' ("to travel")

★ '' scæcþ sōc sōcon sacen'' ("to quarrel")
Contracted

★ '' sliehþ slōg slōgon slægen'' ("to strike")
With j-presents (and other anomalies)

★ '' hōf hōfon hafen''

★ '' scōp scōpon scapen''

★ '' swōr swōron sworen''
The verb "to stand" has an anomalous loss of its ''-n-'' in the preterite:

★ '' stent stōd stōdon standen''
In 'Modern English', ''shake'' and ''wake'' come closest to the original vowel sequence. The consonant anomaly in ''stand'' is still visible, and is extended to the participle.

★ ''shake shook shaken''

★ ''stand stood stood''
Class 6 verbs in modern English: ''draw, forsake, shake, slay, stand, swear, take, wake''.
In 'Old High German' the preterite is marked by the diphthong ''uo'':

★ ''graban grebit gruob gruobum gigraban'' ("to dig")
With j-present:

★ ''heffen huob huobum gihaban'' ("to heave")
In 'Modern German' the ''uo'' is monophthongised to a ''u''.

★ ''graben gräbt grub gegraben''
However, the j-presents have instead taken an ''o'' in the preterite and participle, perhaps by analogy with class 2.

★ ''heben hob gehoben''
Class 6 verbs in modern German: '' fahren, graben, laden, schaffen, schlagen, tragen, waschen''; also ''backen, fragen'', though these are usually weak nowadays; with j-present: ''heben, schwören''. The past tense and participle of ''stehen'' (''stand'', older ''stund'', ''gestanden''), which derive from a lost verb ''
★ standen'', also belong to this class.
In 'Dutch', the regular class 6 verbs are close to German:

★ ''graven groef gegraven''
However the three j-presents have taken the vowel ''ie'' in the preterite, and have chosen three separate paths in the participle:

★ ''scheppen schiep geschapen''

★ ''heffen hief geheven''

★ ''zweren zwoer gezworen'' ("to swear")
Class 6 verbs in Dutch are: ''dragen, varen, graven, slaan'', and with j-present: ''scheppen, heffen, zweren''; also "semi-strong" (i.e. with a weak participle) ''vragen, jagen''.

Class 7 (West Germanic)

Class 7, Sweet's "fall conjugation", is not based on an Indo-European ''ablaut'' sequence as such. Rather, it represents all verbs of classes 1 to 6 which were originally reduplicating. Reduplication can be seen operating in the East Germanic strong verb. Four examples from Gothic will illustrate this here. In each case we give just the infinitive and the preterite singular, and put the reduplication in bold print:

★ ''falþan 'fai'falþ'' ("to fold")

★ ''slēpan 'saí'slēp'' ("to sleep")

★ ''háitan 'haí'háit'' ("to be called" - German "heißen")

★ ''lētan 'laí'lōt'' ("to let")
There are no examples of reduplication in German or Dutch, but the Mercian and Northumbrian dialects of Old English do have two remnants:

★ ''hātan 'hē'ht ("to call")

★ ''rēdan 'reo'rd ("to advise" - German "raten")
The collapse of this system in the West Germanic languages was accompanied by a general levelling, with the result that these verbs show only a limited variation of vowels, and have enough homogeneity to make it useful to see them as a single class. The principal characteristics of class 7 in West Germanic are:

★ A variety of vowels are possible in the present stem, depending on the original reduplicating class.

★ The vowel of the present stem recurs in the participle.

★ There is no distinction between preterite singular and plural.

★ Only two vowels are possible in the preterite, and the class divides into two subclasses according to these.
In 'Old English' the pattern is as follows:

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Class 7a	x	x + umlaut	ēo	ēo	x
Class 7b	x	x + umlaut	ē	ē	x

Examples of class 7a:

★ '' fielþ fēoll fēollon feallen'' ("to fall")

★ '' hielt hēold hēoldon healden'' ("to hold")

★ '' cnēow cnēowon cnāwen'' ("to know")

★ '' grēwþ grēow grēowon grōwen ("to grow")

★ '' hlīap hlēop hlēopon hlēapen ("to run, leap")
Examples of class 7b:

★ '' hēt hēton hāten'' ("to call")

★ '' slēp slēpon '' ("to sleep")
Two verbs of class 7b have contracted present stems and grammatischer Wechsel:

★ '' fēhþ fēng fēngon fangen'' ("to seize")

★ '' hēhþ hēng hēngon hangen'' ("to hang")
In 'Modern English' this class has lost its homogeneity:

★ ''fall fell fallen''

★ ''let let let''

★ ''throw threw thrown''
Class 7 verbs in modern English: ''beat, blow, fall, grow, hang, hold, know, let, sleep, throw''.
In 'Old High German' we find the same two groups, though they do not correspond exactly to those of Old English:

	Part 1	Part 2	Part 3	Part 4	Part 5
Class 7a	x	x + umlaut	ia	ia	x
Class 7b	x	x + umlaut	io	io	x

Class 7a follows the pattern:

★ ''haltan hialt hialtum gihaltan'' ("to hold, halt")
Class 7b follows the pattern:

★ ''loufan liof liofum giloufan ("to run")
In 'Modern German' this class follows the uniform pattern x-ie-x:

★ ''halten (hält) hielt gehalten'' ("to hold, halt")

★ ''laufen (läuft) lief gelaufen'' ("to run")
However the two anomalous verbs have formed new present stems, eliminated ''grammatischer Wechsel'' and shortened the vowel in the preterite:

★ ''fangen (fängt) fing gefangen'' ("to catch")

★ ''hängen (hängt) hing gehangen'' ("to hang")
Class 7 verbs in modern German are: ''blasen, braten, fallen, halten, heißen, lassen, laufen, raten, rufen, schlafen, stoßen''; anomalous: ''fangen, hängen''.
The past tense and participle of German ''gehen'', ''ging'' ''gegangen'', derive from a lost verb ''
★ gangen'' which belongs to this class.
In 'Dutch' this class is very similar to German

★ ''lopen liep gelopen''

★ ''hangen hing gehangen''
The verb "to hold" displays the Dutch phenomenon that in the letter combination ''-old-'' the ''l'' disappears and the vowel diphthongises in compensation:

★ ''houden hield gehouden''
Class 7 verbs in Dutch are: ''blazen, laten, lopen, raden
★ , roepen, slapen, stoten
★ , vallen''; anomalous: ''hangen, vangen, houden''. (The verbs with
★ are nowadays mostly semi-strong: ''raden raadde geraden'' and ''stoten stootte gestoten'')

Sources

★ Alfred Bammesberger, ''Der Aufbau des germanischen Verbalsystems'', Heidelberg 1986.

★ Cornelius van Bree, ''Historische grammatica van het Nederlands'', Dordrecht 1987.

★ Frans van Coetsem, ''Ablaut and Reduplication in the Germanic Verb'' (=Indogermanische Bibliothek. vol 3), Heidelberg: Winter Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-8253-4267-0.

★ Jerzy Kuryłowicz and Manfred Mayrhofer, ''Indogermanische Grammatik'', Heidelberg 1968/9.

★ Martin Krygier, ''The Disintigration of the English Strong Verb System'', Frankfurt c.1994.

★ Richard Hogg, ''A Grammar of Old English'', Oxford 1992.

★ Wilhelm Braune, revised by Walther Mitzka, ''Althochdeutsche Grammatik'', Tübingen 1961.