Nouns Guide
In Old English, nouns belong to groups (also called declensions, if we're being fancy).
Nouns in each group use the same case endings. There is more than one system for naming and organizing these groups. On this site we use a system that uses the root-letter from Proto-Germanic to name each group. Note that the nouns in Old English usually don't contain that letter; it's just an arbitrary system for naming the declensions. You can call them Groups 1, 2, 3, etc., if that's easier for you.
NB: This guide is for people who already know a bit about the language. If you're a complete beginner, we recommend Introduction to Old English.
“Heavy” versus “light” stems
Some paradigms reference “heavy” and “light”. “Heavy” syllables contain a long vowel (līf) or long diphthong (lēoþ), or end in more than one consonant (feorh). All other syllables are “light.” For cases that normally end in short -i or -u, nouns that end in a heavy syllable or in two light syllables in a row will lose that ending (see types 1b, 3, 4a, and 4b for examples).
Some general rules
- Dative plural always ends in -um, and -um is always the dative plural ending.
- Genitive plural always ends in -a, but -a is not always genitive plural.
- -as is always nominative/accusative plural.
- -es is always genitive singular.
- For about 90% of nouns, nominative and accusative singular are the same, and nominative and accusative plural are the same.
- -e will be dative singular about 90% of the time.
In the tables below, endings are shown in bold.
1. a-stems and almost a-stems
They can either be masculine or neuter. The nominative and accusative are always the same for a-stems. You can think of the a-stems as the default group. It is the most common by far (about 60% of all nouns) and other groups will often resemble it.
1a. Masculine
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | cyning | cyningas |
| Genitive | cyninges | cyninga |
| Dative | cyninge | cyningum |
1b. Neuter
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | līf | līf |
| Genitive | līfes | līfa |
| Dative | līfe | līfum |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | sċip | sċipu |
| Genitive | sċipes | sċipa |
| Dative | sċipe | sċipum |
1c. nd-stems
Nouns ending in -end are derived from present participles, and because of this have some endings that resemble the strong adjective endings. In the nominative/accusative plural, they can sometimes end in nothing, -e, or -as, and in the genitive plural end in -ra.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | ymbstandend | ymbstandend, ymbstandende, ymbstandendas |
| Genitive | ymbstandendes | ymbstandendra |
| Dative | ymbstandende | ymbstandendum |
1d. z-stems
z-stems decline like light neuter a-stem nouns, but they add an R to their stems in the plural. There are exactly four of them: ċild, ǣġ, lamb, and ċealf.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | lamb | lambru |
| Genitive | lambes | lambra |
| Dative | lambe | lambrum |
2. Root / athematic / umlaut nouns
These nouns undergo a change in their vowel, technically called i-umlaut. They are the source of Modern English nouns like man-men, goose-geese, mouse-mice.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | gōs | gēs |
| Genitive | gōse | gōsa |
| Dative | gēs | gōsum |
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative/ | hnutu | hnyte |
| Genitive | hnute | hnuta |
| Dative | hnyte | hnutum |
3. r-stems
There are five r-stem nouns: fæder, mōdor, brōþor, sweostor, and dohtor. They are partly indeclinable, partly a-stems, and athematic.
| fæder | mōdor | brōþor | sweostor | dohtor | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative/ | fæder | fæderas | mōdor | mōdru, -a | brōþor | brōþor, -ru, -ra | sweostor | sweostor, -ru, -ra | dohtor | dohtor, -ru, -ra |
| Genitive | fæder | fædera | mōdor | mōdra | brōþor | brōþra | sweostor | sweostra | dohtor | dohtra |
| Dative | fæder | fæderum | mēder | mōdrum | brēþer | brōþrum | sweostor | sweostrum | dehter | dohtrum |
4. o-, u-, and i-stems
4a. o-stems
The majority of feminine nouns are o-stems. Like a-stem neuter nouns, they come in two flavors, heavy and light. Light nouns will end in -u in the nominative singular, heavy nouns end in nothing.
| Heavy | Light | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative/ | rād | rāda | ġiefu | ġiefa |
| Genitive | rāde | rāda | ġiefe | ġiefa |
| Dative | rāde | rādum | ġiefe | ġiefum |
4b. u-stems
u-stems look like o-stems, except they end in -a in the genitive and dative singular.
| Heavy | Light | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Singular | Plural | Singular | Plural | |
| Nominative/ | hand | handa | sunu | suna |
| Genitive | handa | handa | suna | suna |
| Dative | handa | handum | suna | sunum |
4c. i-stems
i-stems had largely disappeared in Old English. The masculine and neuter nouns became a-stems, and the feminine nouns became o-stems. However, some o-stem nouns will sometimes use the i-stem accusative endings.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | tīd | tīda |
| Accusative | tīd or tīde (i-stem ending) | tīda or tīde (i-stem ending) |
| Genitive | tīde | tīda |
| Dative | tīde | tīdum |
5. n-stems / weak nouns
n-stems have an N in most of their forms. They are often called weak nouns because they resemble weak adjectives.
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | mōna | mōnan |
| Accusative | mōnan | mōnan |
| Genitive | mōnan | mōnena |
| Dative | mōnan | mōnum |