In Middle English and Early New English
| Pnncipal forms | OE | ME | NE |
| Class 1 | Class 1 | ||
| Inf. Past Part. 11 | deman demde demed | demen deemde demed | deem deemed deemed |
| Class 2 | |||
| Inf. Past Part. 11 | styrian slyrede styred | stiren stirede stired | stir stirred stirred |
| Class 2 | |||
| Inf. Past Part. II | locian locode locod | looken lookede looked | look looked looked |
MnE Classification of weak verbs into 1 and 2 classes is no longer applicable to MnE. In ME
it was still possible to draw a distinction between the two classes according as the past tense
had or had not an -e- before the-d of the past suffix; in MnE, when the unstressed -e- disap-
peared in all cases, this distinction can no longer be upheld. The ME class 1 verb demen -
demde - demed and the ME class 2 verb hopen - hopede - hoped have quite similar forms in
MnE: deem - deemed - deemed [dim - di:md - di:md]; hope -hoped - hoped [houp - houpt -
houpt].
The unstressed vowel has been preserved after -d- and -t- only: end - ended - ended,
want - wanted - wanted.
Some weak verbs became strong in the MnE period. For example the OE verb hydan -
hudde - hyded 'hide', ME hiden - hidde - hidd, became a class 1 strong verb.
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