Editing Germanic weak verb (section)

==Modern languages==
In the modern languages, the various classes have mostly been leveled into a single productive class.  Icelandic, Norwegian and Frisian have retained two productive classes of weak verbs. (In Frisian, in addition to the class with '''-de''', there is a class of '''je-''' verbs, where the dental suffix has dropped, i.e., '''-je''' < '''-iad'''.) [[Swiss German]] also has two types of weak verbs, descended from Class I and Classes II and III, respectively, of Old High German weak verbs and marked with '''-t''' and '''-et''', respectively, in the [[past participle]].<ref>{{cite book |first=Rudolf Ernst |last=Keller |year=1961 |title=German dialects: phonology and morphology, with selected texts |publisher=Manchester University Press}}</ref>

In the history of English, the following changes happened:

#Most Class III verbs were moved into Class II prior to the historical period of Old English.
#The remaining four Class III verbs moved into Class I or Class II late in Old English.
#Throughout the Middle English period, Class I verbs gradually moved into Class II.

In modern English, only one productive weak paradigm remains, derived from Class II.  A number of Class I verbs still persist, for example:

*From Old English subclass (i): '''bring (brought)'''
*From Old English subclass (ii) or analogously: '''buy (bought)'''; '''catch (caught)'''; '''seek (sought)'''; '''sell (sold)'''; '''teach (taught)'''; '''tell (told)'''; '''think (thought)'''; '''work (wrought)''' [''obsolescent'']
*From Old English subclass (iii) or analogously: '''bend (bent)'''; '''bet (bet)'''; '''breed (bred)'''; '''build (built)'''; '''cast (cast)'''; '''cost (cost)'''; '''creep (crept)'''; '''cut (cut)'''; '''deal (dealt)'''; '''dream (dreamt)'''; '''feed (fed)'''; '''flee (fled)'''; '''hear (heard)'''; '''hit (hit)'''; '''hurt (hurt)'''; '''keep (kept)'''; '''kneel (knelt)'''; '''knit (knit)'''; '''lay (laid)'''; '''lead (led)'''; '''leap (leapt)'''; '''leave (left)'''; '''lend (lent)'''; '''light (lit)'''; '''lose (lost)'''; '''mean (meant)'''; '''meet (met)'''; '''put (put)'''; '''read (read)'''; '''rend (rent)''' [''obsolescent'']; '''send (sent)'''; '''set (set)'''; '''shed (shed)'''; '''shoot (shot)'''; '''shut (shut)'''; '''sleep (slept)'''; '''speed (sped)'''; '''spend (spent)'''; '''spill (spilt)'''; '''split (split)'''; '''spread (spread)'''; '''sweep (swept)'''; '''thrust (thrust)'''; '''wed (wed)'''; '''weep (wept)'''; as well as a few others
*From Old English Class III verbs: '''have (had)'''; '''say (said)'''

As the previous list shows, although there is only one productive class of weak verbs, there are plenty of "irregular" weak verbs that do not follow the paradigm of this class.  Furthermore, the regular paradigm in English is not unitary, but in fact is divided into subclasses in both the written and spoken language, although in different ways:
*In the written language, before the past-tense suffix '''-ed''', short-stem verbs double the final consonant (e.g., '''dip [dipped]'''), while a '''-y''' following a consonant becomes '''-i-''' (e.g., '''carry [carried]''').
*In the spoken language, the past-tense suffix '''-ed''' is variously pronounced {{IPA|/t/, /d/}}, or {{IPA|/ɪd, əd/}} depending on the preceding consonant.

Both of these characteristics occur in a similar fashion in most or all the modern Germanic languages.  In modern German, for example, descendants of the original subclass (ii) of Class I are still irregular (e.g., {{lang|de|'''denken [dachte]'''}} "to think", {{lang|de|'''brennen [brannte]'''}} "to burn"), and subclasses of the productive verb paradigm are formed by verbs ending in '''-eln''' or '''-ern''' and in '''-ten''' or '''-den''', among others.

===Modern paradigms===
One of the regular weak verb conjugations is as follows.

====West Germanic====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; font-size: 90%"
|-
!
! [[English language|English]]
! colspan=2 | [[West Frisian language|West Frisian]]
! [[Dutch language|Dutch]]
! [[Low German]]
! [[German language|German]]
|-
! [[Infinitive]]
| work
| {{lang|fy|wurkje}}
| {{lang|fy|leare}} 
| {{lang|nl|werken}}
| {{lang|nds|warken}}
| {{lang|de|werken}}
|-
! [[Present tense|Present]]
| I work <br /> thou workest <br /> he works <br /> we work <br /> you work <br /> they work
| {{lang|fy|ik wurkje <br /> do wurkest <br /> hy wurket <br /> wy wurkje <br /> jim wurkje <br /> hja wurkje}}
| {{lang|fy|ik lear <br /> do learst <br /> hy leart <br /> wy leare <br /> jim leare <br /> hja leare}}
| {{lang|nl|ik werk <br /> jij werkt; werk jij? <br /> hij werkt <br /> wij werken <br /> jullie werken <br /> zij werken}}
| {{lang|nds|ik wark <br /> du warks(t) <br /> he warkt <br /> wi warkt <br /> ji warkt <br /> se warkt}}
| {{lang|de|ich werke <br /> du werkst <br /> er werkt <br /> wir werken <br /> ihr werkt <br /> sie werken}}
|-
! [[Preterite]]
| I worked <br /> thou workedst <br /> he worked <br /> we worked <br /> you worked <br /> they worked
|{{lang|fy|ik wurke <br /> do wurkest <br /> hy wurke <br /> wy wurken <br /> jim wurken <br /> hja wurken}}
|{{lang|fy|ik learde <br /> do leardest <br /> hy learde <br /> wy learden <br /> jim learden <br /> hij learden}}
|{{lang|nl|ik werkte <br /> jij werkte <br /> hij werkte <br /> wij werkten <br /> jullie werkten <br /> zij werkten}}
| {{lang|nds|ik wark <br /> du warks(t) <br /> he warkt <br /> wi warken <br /> ji warken <br /> se warken}}
| {{lang|de|ich werkte <br /> du werktest <br /> er werkte <br /> wir werkten <br /> ihr werktet <br /> sie werkten}}
|-
! [[Past participle]]
| worked
| {{lang|fy|wurke}}
|{{lang|fy|leard}}
| {{lang|nl|gewerkt}}
| {{lang|nds|(ge)warkt}}
| {{lang|de|gewerkt}}
|}

====North Germanic====
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; font-size: 90%"
|-
!
! [[Danish language|Danish]]
! [[Bokmål|Norwegian Bokmål]]
! [[Swedish language|Swedish]]
! [[Nynorsk|Norwegian Nynorsk]]
! [[Icelandic language|Icelandic]]
! [[Faroese language|Faroese]]
|-
! [[Infinitive]]
| colspan="2" | {{lang|da|virke}}
| {{lang|sv|verka}}
| {{lang|nn|verka/verke}}
| {{lang|is|verka}}
| {{lang|fo|virka}} <sup>1</sup>
|-
! [[Present tense|present]]
| colspan="2" | {{lang|da|jeg virker <br /> du virker <br /> han virker <br /> vi virker <br /> I virker <br /> de virker}}
| colspan="2" | {{lang|sv|jag verkar <br /> du verkar <br /> han verkar <br /> vi verkar <br /> ni verkar <br /> de verkar}}
| {{lang|is|ég verka <br /> þú verkar <br /> hann verkar <br /> við verkum <br /> þið verkið <br /> þeir verka}}
| {{lang|fo|{{not a typo|eg}} virki <br /> tú virkar <br /> hann virkar <br /> vit virka <br /> tit virka <br /> teir virka}}
|-
! [[Preterite]]
| {{lang|da|jeg virkede <br /> du virkede <br /> han virkede <br /> vi virkede <br /> I virkede <br /> de virkede}}
| {{lang|nb|jeg virket/virka <br /> du virket/virka <br /> han virket/virka <br /> vi virket/virka <br /> dere virket/virka <br /> de virket/virka}}
| {{lang|sv|jag verkade <br /> du verkade <br /> han verkade <br /> vi verkade <br /> ni verkade <br /> de verkade}}
| {{lang|nn|{{not a typo|eg}} verka <br /> du verka <br /> han verka <br /> vi/me verka <br /> de verka <br /> dei verka}}
| {{lang|is|ég verkaði <br /> þú verkaðir <br /> hann verkaði <br /> við verkuðum <br /> þið verkuðuð <br /> þeir verkuðu}}
| {{lang|fo|{{not a typo|eg}} virkaði <br /> tú virkaði <br /> hann virkaði <br /> vit virkaðu <br /> tit virkaðu <br /> teir virkaðu}}
|-
! [[Past participle]]
| {{lang|da|virket}}
| {{lang|nb|virket/virka}}
| {{lang|sv|verkat}}
| {{lang|nn|verka}}
| {{lang|is|verkað}}
| {{lang|fo|virkaður}}
|}

:1. prepare, manufacture