Lesson 8
Strong Nouns: wa-stems
These are a small class, not very strongly distinguished from the normal a-stems except by a tendency for the w to form a diphthong ending in u with a preceding vowel; when this occurs, the endings are:
Masculine:
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Neuter:
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Nom.
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-us
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-wos
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-u
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-wa
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Acc.
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-u
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-wans
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-u
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-wa
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Gen.
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-wis
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-we
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-wis
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-we
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Dat.
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-wa
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-wam
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-wa
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-wam
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Examples: sa thius: the servant" (cf. Old English theow; the Gothic feminine is thiwi)
Nom.
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sa thius
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thai thiwos
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Acc.
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thana thiu
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thans thiwans
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Gen.
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this thiwis
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thize thiwe
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Dat.
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thamma thiwa
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thaim thiwam
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thata triu: the wood (cf. "tree")
Nom.
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thata triu
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tho triwa
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Acc.
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thata triu
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tho triwa
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Gen.
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this triwis
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thize triwe
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Dat.
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thamma triwa
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thaim triwam
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thata kniu: "the knee" is declined in the same way as triu. Other nouns in these classes end in -w and are declined just like the normal a-stems:
- thata fraiw: the seed
- thata gaidw: the want, the lack
- thata hlaiw: the grave
- thata lew: the occasion
- sa snaiws: the snow
- thata waurstw: the work
There are also -wo stems, but they are not declined any differently from the normal o-stems; some are:
- so fijathwa: the hatred
- so frijathwa: the love
- so triggwa: the covenant
- so bandwa: the sign, the token
- so nidwa: the rust
wa-stem adjectives were probably declined in the same manner as strong a-stem adjectives; the change of w to u probably occurred, but isn't attested in the existing Gothic texts.
- *faus, fau, fawa: little, few (only plural forms known)
- lasiws, lasiw, lasiwa: weak, feeble
- *qius, qiu, qiwa: alive, living (only plural forms known) (cf. "quick")
- triggws, triggw, triggwa: true, faithful
- *usskaus, usskau, usskawa: vigilant (only plural forms known)
Strong i-stem Nouns
There were masculine and feminine i-stem nouns, but no neuters. The masculines declined identically to the strong a-stems except in the nominative, accusative, and dative plural; the feminine i-stem is identical to the masculine i-stem except in the genitive and dative singular.
Masculine i-stem endings:
Nom.
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-s
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-eis
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Acc.
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zero
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-ins
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Gen.
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-is
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-e
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Dat.
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-a
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-im
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Note that i substitutes for a in the accusative and dative plurals (-ans v. -ins; -am v. -im).
Example: sa saggws: the song
Nom.
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sa saggws
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thai saggweis
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Acc.
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thana saggw
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thans saggwins
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Gen.
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this saggwis
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thize saggwe
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Dat.
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thamma saggwa
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thaim saggwim
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Other masculine i-stems:
- sa arms: the arm
- sa balgs: the wineskin (cf. "bellows")
- sa barms: the bosom, the lap
- sa baur: the child, the son
- sa gards: the house
- sa gasts: the guest
- sa hups: the hip
- sa mats: the meat
- sa saggws: the song
- sa saiws: the sea
- sa slahs: the stroke, the stripe (e.g. of stick or whip) (cf. slahan "to strike")
- sa staths: the place (plural thai stadeis; cf. "stead")
- sa striks: the stroke, the line (e.g. of pen)
- sa thlauhs: the flight (cf. thliuhan "to flee")
Feminine i-stem Endings
Nom.
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-s
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-eis
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Acc.
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zero
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-ins
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Gen.
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-ais
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-e
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Dat.
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-ai
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-im
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Example: so magaths: the maid
Nom.
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so magaths
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thos magatheis
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Acc.
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tho magath
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thos magathins
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Gen.
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thizos magathais
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thizo magathe
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Dat.
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thizai magathai
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thaim magathim
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Some other i-stem feminines:
- so arbaiths (pl. thos arbaideis): the labor (cf. German "Arbeit")
- so dails: the portion (cf. "dole" and "deal", German "Teil")
- so deths: the deed (pl. thos dedeis)
- so fadreins: the family (cf. "father")
- so gabaurths: the birth (cf. bairan "to bear")
- so gakusts: the test (cf. kiusan "to test")
- so gaqumths: the assembly (cf. qiman "to come")
- so gaskafts: the creation (that which is "shaped")
- so magaths: the maid
- so mahts: the power, the might (cf. magan "to be able")
- so nauths: the need
- so qens: the woman (cf. "queen")
- so rohsns: the hall
- so sauhts: the sickness (cf. siukan "to be sick")
- so siuns: the sight (cf. saihwan "to see")
- so slauhts: the slaughter (cf. slahan "to strike", afslahan "to kill")
- so sokns: the search (cf. "seek", "sought")
- so taikns: the token
- so thaurfts: the need (cf. thaurban "to need", tharba "beggar")
- so urrists: the resurrection ("rising up", us "out, up" + ris-; cf. "rise")
- so waurts: the root (cf. -wort in plant names, e.g. bloodwort, St. John's-wort)
so haims: the village (cf. "home") has an unusual declension: the plural is like the a-stems, but the singular like the i-stems.
Nom.
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so haims
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thos haimos
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Acc.
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tho haim
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thos haimos
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Gen.
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thizos haimais
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thizo haimo
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Dat.
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thizai haimai
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thaim haimom
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The Passive
Unlike other Germanic languages, but like Latin or Greek, Gothic has a passive voice indicated by endings on the verb. Happily, it is quite simple, having only one tense (present) and only three distinct forms. The indicative endings are:
Singular:
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Plural:
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1st person
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-ada
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-anda
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2nd person
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-aza
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-anda
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3rd person
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-ada
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-anda
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No distinctive dual forms are known. Examples:
ik gibada "I am given"
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weis gibanda "we are given"
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thu gibaza "you are given"
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jus gibanda "you are given"
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ita gibada "it is given"
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ija gibanda "they are given"
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Reflexive Pronoun
We already had the reflexive possessive adjective, sein-. There is also a reflexive pronoun si- which like sein- has no nominative case. Its forms are just like those of ik, except that they begin with s-:
Acc.
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sik "himself, herself, itself, themselves"
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Gen.
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seina "his own, her own, its own, their own"
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Dat.
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sis "to himself, to herself, to itself, to themselves"
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When it has a plural reference, si- is often used with misso "each to other, reciprocally": Eis qethun sis misso "They spoke to each other" or "They spoke among themselves."
The non-nominative forms of the first and second person pronouns can also be used with reflexive meaning: Ik skof mik "I shaved myself".
Present Participles
The present participle is formed from the present stem plus the ending -and. It is declined just like the weak adjectives, except that the masculine nominative singular most often ends in -s rather than -a, and the feminine is declined like the weak feminine nouns ending in -ei rather than -o. Consequently, the masculine, neuter, and feminine present participles end in -s, -o, and -ei.
Examples: qithands, qithando, qithandei "speaking"
Masculine:
Nom.
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qithands
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qithandans
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Acc.
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qithandan
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qithandans
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Gen.
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qithandins
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qithandane
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Dat.
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qithandin
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qithandam
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Neuter:
Nom.
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qithando
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qithandona
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Acc.
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qithando
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qithandona
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Gen.
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qithandins
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qithandane
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Dat.
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qithandin
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qithandam
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Feminine:
Nom.
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qithandei
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qithandeins
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Acc.
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qithandein
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qithandeins
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Gen.
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qithandeins
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qithandeino
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Dat.
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qithandein
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qithandeim
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The present participle agrees with the noun it modifies in gender, number, and case. It is very commonly used to represent action going on at the same time as the main verb, past or present:
- Thu gaggis in akrans itands jah drigkands. "You go into (the) fields eating and drinking."
- Ik qam du razna theinamma haitands namo thein. "I came to your house, calling your name."
- Eis skulun standan in gatwon, qithandans du sis misso. "They shall stand in the street, speaking to each other."
When both the present participle and the word it modifies are in the dative case, they may have an "absolute" meaning; that is, they indicate the conditions under which some other event takes place:
- Thiudana afleithandin, unsibjai mannans waiwaldun in landa. "(The) king having departed, lawless men ruled in (the) land."—which is more naturally said: "When the king had departed, lawless men ruled in the land."
- Izai qithandein mis, thiubos stelun gulth fram garda meinamma. "While she was speaking to me, thieves stole gold from my house."
- Katta afleithandin, museis laikand. "When the cat's away, the mice will play." (laikan, lalaik, lalaikun, laikans "leap for joy"; neither *katts nor *mus is actually attested.)
Words:
- sa skatts (a-stem): the coin (cf. Old English sceatt)
- sa waurms (a-stem): the serpent (cf. "worm")
- so hrugga: the staff
- thata dragk: the drink
- du maurgina: tomorrow
- in maurgin: in the morning
- faurthis: first, beforehand, formerly than: when at that time; then
- tharei: at the place which, where
- bi: about (+ dative or accusative)
- thai Nibiluggos: the Nibelungs
- gateihan, gataih, gataihun, gataihans: proclaim, make known (ai in gataih is long or a diphthong; ai in gataihun, gataihans is the short e)
Sentences: Exercise Answers
- In thizai rohsnai Hrothagaizis soei Hairuts haitada, managai saggweis siggwanda jah managa dragka drigkanda.
- Du maurgina, silubr gibada allaim mannam jah qenim qimandam du garda is.
- Qim in gaqumth unsara; thu haitaza.
- Wit sehwu thiu ugkarana bairandan triu du thaim haimom.
- Triggwai thiwos, sijuth baureis this qiwis Guths.
- Gibith jus gastim meinaim thos dailos this matis thozei eis magun itan.
- Fawaim magathim gibada so mahts soei Guth thus gaf.
- Undar waurtins this bagmis, finthats gultheinata huzd thatei atta meins falh in airthai than so thiuda haimais seinaizos afslahana was.
- Sa ubila frauja sloh thiu seinana mith managaim slahim.
- Ik afwairpa thus fram gaqumthai unsarai; hrugga theina brikada.
Exercise Answers
- While they gathered fruit [use absolute: “❨with❩ them gathering fruit”], a little snow fell on the servants standing in the fields.
- Need of bread drove me from the bosom of my family.
- Since our men touched [use absolute] the women of the village, they were killed in a great slaughter.
- Songs are sung about the need of the Nibelungs, those men whose deeds of power are continually proclaimed through our lands.
- In the days of the resurrection, neither man nor maid will speak an evil word to each other.
- The king gave coins to those needing silver for bread and drink.
- The serpent bit the man stealing a cup from his treasure.
- The hall of the king Hrothagais is burned, where formerly Bijawulfs fought the demon Grandils.
- You are called to speak before the assembly of men of the village.
- She saw your girlfriend ❨frijondi❩ walking with him.
Note: I do not own this material, nor did I write it. As far as I can tell, it is under no copyright.
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