Weak Verbs in -t
Weak Verbs in -t
Linguistics 220/222 /323
There are two irregular classes of weak verbs. One of them
takes the past tense marked in '-t'. Alternate forms are given in parentheses:
No attempt is made to determine which alternate form is the norm:
| present/default stem | past stem/ non-progressive participle |
| lend | lent |
| feel | felt |
| deal | dealt |
| dream | dreamt (dreamed) |
| teach | taught |
| kneel | knelt |
| send | sent |
| hit | hit |
| hurt | hurt |
| shit | shit (shat) |
| fit | fit |
| bend | bent |
| beat | beat |
| sit | sat |
| light | lit |
| spill | spilt (spilled) |
| fight | fought |
| bring | brought |
| buy | bought |
| burn | burnt (burned) |
| spell | spelt (spelled) |
| spend | spent |
| may | might |
| must | must |
| seek | sought |
| leap | leapt (leaped) |
| spit | spit (spat) |
| put | put |
| think | thought |
| let | let |
| meet | met |
| build | built |
| keep | kept |
| creep | crept |
| cut | cut |
| dwell | dwelt (dwelled) |
| leave | left |
| mean | meant |
The basic pattern here is /t/ is added to the verb stem, and a lax
vowel occurs in the verb stem. A stem final obstruent is deleted, and sometime
a nasal is deleted.
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