The Development of Weak verbs

OE The number of weak verbs in OE by far exceeded that of strong verbs and was obviously

"growing. All the verbs, excluding strong verbs and minor groups were weak. Weak verbs

formed past tense and second participle by suffixes -d,-t. There were 3 classes of weak verbs.

ME The development of weak verbs in ME shows that they displayed a strong tendency to-

wards regularity and system. The infinitive endings -an\ian were weakened to -en. In ME

Class 3 did not exist. OE verbs of this class either joined the other classes of weak verbs or

became irregular. Class 2 verbs had -e-before the -d of the past suffix. Class 1 verbs did not

have.