Gótico 101
Gótico 101
1. For the diphthongs interpretation (the Gothic pronunciation before the shift
to monophthongs), advocated by linguists like Streitberg and Joseph Wright,
here is an instruction on how to pronounce them, thanks to Johann for
providing it:
ái = a-ee, /ai̯/
áu = a-oo (like in wow), /au̯/
aí = e (short), /ɛː/
aú = o (short), /ɔː/
Followed by r, h, and hw (in the case of ai). Also when a vowel immediately
follows one of these digraphs, it is pronounced as a monophthong but is long.
There are certain words where ai may be followed by a consonant, yet is not
pronounced as a diphthong. A few examples would be aíþþáu, possibly waíla, and
always the reduplicated part of class VII verbs (eg: haitan (háitan), pret. 1st pers.
sing. haíháit. For the strange exceptions, one just has to learn the word with its
marker.
So, to sum it up with examples in an exercise below (I will use markers just for
clarity).
Exercise
try to pronounce these words with diphthongs:
waian staua
Exercise
pronounce the previous words as elongated monophthongs:
waian staua
There is a lot of disagreement on a standard, but for both forms you need to use
and learn the digraphs á and í which we will add to the vocabulary and texts. You
need to choose which one has your preference when you do these lessons.
Diphthongs are accepted to be the oldest stage of Gothic while monophthongs are
a later stage of the language.
Sources:
Grammar of the Gothic Language, Wright, p. 10
3
Vocabulary:
Translate:
1. “Hello!”
2. He is Alaric.
3. “King!”, he said. (king is addressing a king here)
Sources:
John 19:3
Matthew 11:10
I am im
You are is
(singular)
He/she/it is ist
We are sijum
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You might wonder why personal pronouns are not included in this table. The
reason is that Gothic was a pro-drop language, just like Spanish it often didn't use
words like "I" or "you" because the verb form already makes clear what form is
ment. The situations in which personal pronouns were used are:
Translate:
1. I am
2. They are
3. We are
4. You are (singular)
Vocabulary:
was - was
manna - man wulfs- wolf
Alareiks- Alaric qimiþ - comes
sah - he (we will look at and explain jah- and
this form in the grammar of text 3) usqisteiþ (class I) - he kills
was - was hva- what
þiudans- king nuh- now
hausida - he heard taujái - should do (we will discuss
þatei- that this form much later)
Repetition exercise:
1. Why is there no personal pronoun used in “Hausida þatei wulfs qimiþ.” ?
2. How would you translate “I am Alaric.” (without emphasis)?
3. What is the present tense of “was” in Gothic?
4. How do you translate “they are” in Gothic?
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Grammar
The vowels i, a and u can be either long or short. Look at the following guidelines:
Sources:
The present tense in Gothic depends on the class of a verb. Many verbs of which
the infinitive (like “to write”, “to do”) end with -jan, like usqistjan, are first
class weak verbs.
7
In this verb, the 3rd personal singular in the present tense is used for “he/she/it
kills”, in the case of usqistjan it is “usqisteiþ”. As you can see, the final -jan is
removed and replaced by -eiþ. It is a weak -i verb.
All the 3rd present tenses of the first class end with -þ.
Usqistjan is a weak -i verb, which means that it ends with -eiþ.
The reason why a verb is a weak -j verb and gets -ji is that:
1) It has a short vowel (a or i) followed by one consonant or none (aljan) -> a
+ l
2) It has a long vowel or diphthong (ai or au), not followed by any consonant.
Exercise:
Try to determine if these verbs are weak -ei or -ji verbs based on the patterns,
explain your choice, you can use and look back at the short rules above.
Examples:
- gamaurgjan : -ei,
au is followed by 2 consonants
- aljan: -ji,
a is a short vowel followed by 1 consonant
1. afaírzjan
2. uslagjan
3. afhrainjan
4. taujan
5. miþgaqiujan
6. huljan
7. afwandjan
8. atsatjan
9. anakumbjan
10.agljan
11.frawaurkjan
12.ganagljan
13.sōkjan
Sources:
Luke 16:20 ("was namin haitans")
Luke 19:2 ("sah was")
John 11:20 ("hausida…qimiþ")
Mark 12:9 ("Hva nu taujái..")
Gothic Grammar, Joseph Wright,
p. 150
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Vocabulary:
þan- then
ina - him (accusative)
hvar- where ni- not, don’t
ist- is wáit- I know (can also mean: He
atta - (the) father knows)
þeins- your (2nd qiþis- you say (2nd sing.)
singular) hvaþro- from where
qaþ- said is þu - you are (2nd sing.)
iþ- but (always first word of a bihloh- he laughed
sentence)
is - he
sa atta - (the) father (mentioned
before)
frah- he asked (can also mean: I
asked)
Grammar
Hv- words like hvar and hva are normally used at the beginning of a phrase and
directly followed by a verb, let us show this with word-by-word translations:
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Hvaþro is þu?
From where are you
(hv- word) (2nd singular) ?
(verb)
Hva qiþis?
What (hv-word) you say (2nd sg.)
(verb)?
The use of sa
Apart from meaning he, as you saw before, it can also mean this, that or the.
In Gothic however, the use of sa as the functions a bit differently from English and
many modern languages.
In Gothic when you introduce a new thing which is not known yet with the, you
don't use any demonstrative pronoun.
Here Alaric asks where the father is, but this is the first question he asks, the
father isn't mentioned yet, therefore no definite article sa is used.
This phrase is used later on, but Alaric already asked him about the father
before. In Gothic, as you can see here, a definite article can be used in
combination with a possessive like your. Therefore sa is used here. Literally:
"The father of you (which I mentioned before)" .
You can however translate this in English as "Where is your father" despite
the use of the in Gothic.
Here are guidelines for when to use sa and other demonstrative pronouns:
Exercise:
You might wonder why sah is used instead of s a. The reason for this is that Alaric
is seen as close to the speaker and emphasized.
How are sa and sah different? In the use of sa, the thing is normally referred to,
but with sah something which is mentioned or known before is emphasized with
this or he:
Examples from the Bible where the -(u)h is attached in Gothic are:
John 12:49
saei sandida mik atta, s ah mis anabusn atgaf . . . .
John 18:15
þaruh laistida Iesu Seimon Paitrus jah anþar siponeis. sah þan siponeis was kunþs
þamma gudjin
And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple: that disciple was
known unto the high priest
Luke 8:41
qam wair þizei namo Iaeirus, sah fauramaþleis swnagogais was
there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue
In all these cases it is translating something which was mentioned before for
emphasis to clarify something about them.
Exercise
Indicate if you would use sah or attach -(u)h here, don't translate but only
answer with yes or no:
Try to translate the text phrase by phrase with help of the vocabulary of the
text:
Try to translate with help of the grammar of this lesson and vocabulary of the
previous lessons:
Sources:
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, p. 82
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, p. 64, 65
15
Ist andbahts.
Jah gaggiþ du þamma þiudana, untē baúrgs ist þiudanis.
“þu is þiudans?”
Iþ Alareiks qaþ du imma: “hva qiþis?”
Vocabulary:
andbahts = minister
gaggiþ = he goes
du = to + dative
þamma þiudana = too this king
untē = because
baúrgs (short) = city
þiudanis (m. A) = of the king
þu = you (singular)
imma = him (dative)
Grammar
In the previous lessons you saw different forms used for the word þiudans, which
means “king”.
That which performs the action of the main verb, or which is the verb “to be”, is
the nominative. As “to be” is used for the king here, it is in the nominative.
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The genitive is used in combination with specific words or to show possession,
as the king is the one who possesses the city, the genitive þiudanis is used
there.
The dative is used towards something or someone, but also in combination
with adverbs like “du”. In this case “du þamma þiudana”, þiudana is in the
dative because of the adverb “du” being used in front of it.
The accusative is used for the direct object of a phrase, this is the thing or person
on which an action is performed. In this case “þiudan” while addressing the king
is the vocative, which looks the same as the accusative.
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You can make the different forms by removing the final -s and replacing it with
the appropriate form.
case king
nominative þiudans
genitive þiudanis
dative þiudana
Case pronoun
Nominative is
Dative imma
Accusative ina
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Is is the nominative form, as can be seen, he is attached to the verb “said”. In other
words, is is used for he in combination with the main verb of the phrase.
Imma is the dative form of the third person. This Gothic form resembles the
English form a bit, except that in Gothic ‘-ma’ is added to the last part and there is
no initial h-.
The dative form imma is used in combination with certain verbs, when addressing
someone or performing an action directly to someone, like giving something to
someone or something or with the verb ‘to thank’, which is awiliudon in Gothic.
In this case it looks more different from the English ‘him’ and instead of a final
-mma, a final -na is added.
The accusative form ina of the third person is another form which is sometimes
used with certain verbs or when indicating movement towards something or
someone, for example when sending a letter.
When to use the dative or the accusative in combination with a verb must be
memorized, you will need to learn this for each verb but in these lessons it will
be added to the words in the vocabulary if a dative, genitive or accusative has
to be used.
Just like modern Germanic languages, Gothic has verbs in which the vowel
changes in different forms. In English you have: "see, saw, seen" for example.
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These exist in Gothic as well and are called strong verbs. We will first introduce
the so called 5th class which you saw in this text:
These forms are from the verb qiþan, meaning "to say".
As you can see, qaþ i s the paste tense (preterite) meaning "he said" , so the 3rd
person singular.
Look at the following table to see how the vowel in the paste tense of qiþan
changes, you don't need to memorize this table, but it's important that you look at
how the form changes:
As you can see in the singular the i changes to a, and in the plural to ē.
Exercise:
Here are some other 5th class verbs, fill in the right forms, use the table above
to look up the right forms:
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Example:
we sat - s..t..m =
sētum (just like qēþum)
1. He gave - g..f
2. I found - big..t
3. You enjoyed - biw..s..þ
4. He asked - fr..h (you saw this in text 3)
5. They ate - ..t..n
6. We were - w..s..m
Now you also know how the past tense of the verb "to be" (wisan) is formed:
Form
I was was
you were (2nd wast
singular)
He was was
We were wēsum
You were (2nd wēsuþ
plural)
They were wēsun
Remember that verbs with i and a like wisan (5th class) and qiman (4th class)
are formed like this in the past.
That's right, this also works for 4th class strong verbs with i and a, of which
there are many, just remember the i and a!
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Text 5 - Believers
Ni galaubjand du im.
Jah jūs ni galaubeiþ!
Vocabulary:
Grammar
English Gothic
I believe galaubja
he believes galaubeiþ
we believe galaubjam
Do you remember that in the 3rd person singular and plural (he believes/you
?
believe) the verb always ends with -þ
To form the first person singular (I …) you always need to remove the final -n of
the infinitive.
Examples:
To form the first person plural (we …) you always have to replace the final -n
with -m:
Examples:
To form the third person plural (they) you always have to replace the final -n
with -nd:
Examples:
The difference between 1st class weak I and 1st class weak J verbs, is that where as
in weak I verbs you write ei with “you” and “he/she/it”:
you believe (2nd sing.) = galaubeis
he believes (3rd sing. ) = galaubeiþ
That it is written as ji in J verbs:
you eat (2nd sing.) = matjis
he eats (3rd sing.) = matjiþ
Translation exercises (you can also look at the rules below as a help):
Rules to form verb forms with the infinitive, in which the red arrow shows how
the final -n changes:
Vocabulary
ist = is
hlaifs (m. A) = bread
ains = one (nom. sg. masc.)
her = here
gif = give (imperative 2nd singular)
unsis = to us (dative)
þana = that (accusative sg. masc. sing.)
hlaif = bread (nom. sg. masc.)
magula = boy
sunsaiw = suddenly
ufhrōpida = cried out
ufhrōpjan (1st class weak I) = to cry out
ufhrōpjands = crying out (present participle)
þis barnis = of this child
barn (n. A) = child
matjam = we eat (final -m)
matjan (1st class weak J) = to eat
þau = or
drigkam = we drink (final -m)
drigkan = to drink
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Grammar
Personal pronouns
In the previous lessons we have seen several personal pronouns in Gothic. Let's
look at the nominative forms of the personal pronouns:
English Gothic
I ik
you (2nd singular) þu
he is / sa
she si / sō
it ita
we weis
you (2nd plural) jūs
they eis / ija / ijos
Apart from these there are two forms which we call the dual, these are forms used
when speaking about or addressing 2 persons. These forms are:
English Gothic
we two wit
you two jūt
Exercise:
In this text you saw the word "ufhrōpida" (he cried out) . As you can see, the form
"he … -ed" or any "he + past tense" with -jan verbs is formed by "ufhrōpida".
In other words, the final -jan of the infinitive is replaced with -id + ending.
There are a few forms:
As you can see, all the singular forms in the preterite (past tense) contain -id:
I ate = matida
you ate = matidēs
he ate = matida
These plural forms also end on u, like you saw earlier with verbs like qiþan:
(qēþum, qēþuþ, qēþun).
Try to exercise what you learned about the past and present form, use the
information above to translate. For the word order either start or end with the
verb.
Vocabulary:
galaubeins = belief
meina = my (2nd singular)
ganasjan (first class weak I) = to save
mik = me (accusative singular)
miþþanei = while, during
is = he
rōdjan = to talk
þata = that (here: these things)
þaruh = thereupon
qimands (strong verb 5) = coming (translate here as came)
bait = bit
beitan (strong verb 1) = to bite
hilp meina = help me
hilpan + genitive = to help
laistjan (first class weak I) + accusative = to follow
þana wulf = the wolf (accusative)
þanuh þan = then
þláuh = fled
laists = trail
þis wulfis = of the wolf
Translation exercise:
In this text you could see different forms of "sa". We have seen all singular forms
of this demonstrative pronouns or definite article. Let's see them in a table:
Form -
Nominative sa
Genitive þis
Dative þamma
Accusative þana
Hvar ist laists þis wulfis? = Where is the trail of the wolf? (Genitive)
Jah gaggiþ du þ amma þiudana, untē baúrgs ist þiudanis. = And he goes t o the
king, because the city is of the king. (Dative)
Laistidedun þ ana wulf, þanuh þan þláuh sa wulfs. = They followed t he wolf, then
the wolf fled. (Accusative)
In all these different forms you can see a different use.
The nominative sa is used for what relates to the main verb, in this case "is".
The genitive can be used for possession, like the trail of the wolf here. It is also
used in combination with some verbs.
The dative is used for something done towards someone or something. Like to the
king. Also used in combination with some verbs.
The accusative is used for that on which the main verb is doing something. The
men follow the wolf, so it's they followed (main verb) the wolf (what is followed).
Translation exercise
(translate the with a demonstrative pronoun in each case, for word order use
32
Báit is a 1st class strong verb which means: "he bit". The infinitive form "to bite" is
beitan in Gothic. You can probably still remember qiþan, a 5th class verb and it's
different forms. The verb beitan works in a similar way, let's look at a table again:
Form beitan
I bit báit
You bit (2nd singular) *báist
He bit báit
We bit bitum
You bit (2nd plural) bituþ
They bit bitun
In some of these verbs like sweiban (to stop) the final -b changes to -f, it's very
similar to what happened with hlaifs which you learned earlier.
33
Exercise:
Try to give the right forms with the help of the vocabulary underneath.
Remember from text 4 that the past of "we are" is wēsun and of "was" is was,
which is how the i and a forms are formed:
1. He departed
2. They cast out (past)
3. He went up
4. They came
5. He destroyed
6. She arose
7. It remained
Vocabulary
to depart - usleiþan (1st class)
to cast out - usdreiban (1st class)
to go up - ussteigan (1st class)
to come - qiman (4th class)
to destroy - brikan (4th class)
to arise - urreisan (1st class)
to remain - bileiban (keep the -b in mind!) (1st class)
This is an example of a 2nd class strong verb. The infinitive to flee l ooks like
þliuhan. Fortunately the forms of the past of the 2nd class are easier to remember:
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Before h, hv and r the u stays áu, like in the verb which we saw in this text :
Exercise:
Convert to the plural forms, keep in mind when to use áu and when to use u:
Vocabulary:
Translation exercise:
37
In this lesson you saw the plural forms of the demonstrative pronoun sa (this, that), let's
look at them in a table together with the word dags:
Form
As you can see the endings of both the noun (m. A) and the demonstrative pronoun are
somewhat similar:
When a m. A noun ends with -fs, the "f" changes to "b", when it is followed by a vowel
like a, ō or ī, look at hlaifs (bread):
1. To the king
2. Of the kings
3. The days (accusative)
4. The day (nominative)
5. Of the servant
6. To the breads
7. The breads
"Wiljau witan fram izwis" , qaþ du im sa þiudans: "wileidu garda waldan þau
afleiþan?"
vocabulary:
Translate:
40
In this lesson you saw the verb "to want", this is an irregular verb which you will need to
learn by heart:
I want wiljau
we want wileima
You also saw an adjective: "great". As could be seen, it is declined, just like nouns:
wegs, m. A
stibna, f. O
. A nouns like wegs, both the A-stem adjective and noun in the nominative
In the case of m
singular are the same.
In the case of f. O nouns like stibna, both the A-stem adjective and noun in the
nominative singular are the same.
Normally adjectives follow after the noun, this is however not always the case, but
unless otherwise stated you should add the adjective after the noun.
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Translation exercises:
In this text you saw the word "wileidu", meaning "Do you want (plural)".
-u is used for direct yes or no questions to which the asker doesn't know the answer.
It is also used in ironic questions and emotional questions which express for example
surprise or disappointment.
You might wonder how -u is used, as it is attached to wileiþ in wileidu (wileiþ + -u).
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1. If a phrase begins with a ga- verb like galaubjan, u is used in between ga-
and the rest of the verb.
2. If a phrase is a negation (don't you ..?) -u attaches to ni and becomes niu in
the beginning of the phrase.
3. If a verb isn't a ga- verb, it will attach at the end of the verb which expresses
the question. A final -þ changes in -d like in wileidu and a final -s changes
in -z like in wileizu.
4. Sometimes it can also attach to a particle like us (from), becoming uzu,
Exercise to translate:
Sources:
Mark 15:9
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Miller, p. 559
43
Vocabulary:
hvaiwa = how
mag = can (3rd person sing.)
hva = (in this context: something)
giban = to give
giba (f. O) = gift
giutan = to pour
wein (n. A) = wine
balgs (m. I) = bottle, bag
balgins = bottles (accusative, plural)
awiliud (n. A) + dative = Thanks be unto / Thanks to
in + genitive = because of
qums (m. I) = coming
qumis = coming, genitive singular
is = of his
gibōs = gift (genitive singular).
Text sources:
John 6:52
Ephesians 2:8
Matthew 9:17
44
Corinthians II 9:15
Translate:
1. Giutand wein.
2. Mag sa imma hva giban.
3. Giuta in balgins.
4. Hvaiwa matjam?
5. Awiliud imma in is gibōs.
6. Awiliud þus in weinis! (w einis = genitive singular, þ us = you, singular
dative)
Repetition exercise:
In this text we have seen several kind of noun declensions. You already know the
masculine A-stem declension, but in this lesson we also saw the neuter A-stem
declension which looks very similar to the masculine form.
The difference between masculine and neuter A-stems is that the final -s from the
masculine nominative form lacks in the singular of neuter forms. Let's look at a
comparison, the colors blue and red show the difference between the demonstrative
pronouns (this, that):
Masculine Neuter
A-declension A-declension
nominative sa wulfs þata wein <- singular (final -s
lacks)
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In the plural form the nominative and accusative form of the neuter form is "þō",
apart from that the ending of the neuter form is -a in the nominative and
accusative, so let's look at the difference. The neuter forms which are different
from the masculine forms are given in blue.
Masculine Neuter
A-declension A-declension plural
plural
nominative þai wulfōs þo weina
genitive þizē wulfē þizē weinē
dative þaim wulfam þaim weinam
accusative þans wulfans þo weina
In masculine I-stem declensions the singular form is the same as the one of
masculine A-stem declensions, while the nominative plural is replaced by -eis
(you can see and hear back the i of the I-stem in this) and the a in the dative and
accusative plural is replaced by i:
Masculine Masculine
I-declension I-declension plural
singular
Nominativ sa balgs þai balgeis
e
Genitive þis balgis þizē balgē
Dative þamma balga þaim balgim
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Finally there is the f. Ō declension, this one looks quite different from the other
ones (you don't need to remember this table yet, but take a look at it):
As you can see, the demonstrative pronoun and the noun declensions of the
feminine form are having the same ending in many forms of the O-stem, except for
the nominative singular and dative plural.
When we look at the demonstrative pronouns again in more detail we will also
repeat the forms of the feminine O-stem words.
ai þiudanōs
the(se) kings - þ
- You can distinguish the different forms easily by their plural dative or
accusative which contains the stem vowel in the ending:
- Neuter A-stem words have a shorter ending in the plural than masculine
A-stems:
Masculine = þai þiudanōs
Neuter = þō weina
Exercise:
What is the stem of these plural words, try to recognize it based on the form:
Choose from "m. A", "n. A", "m. I", "f. O"
The different colors show which forms are the same, forms which only occur once
are given in black:
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Exercise:
Convert these forms into feminine forms, use the table above if necessary:
1. sa
2. þata (accusative)
3. þana
4. þai
5. þaim
6. þizē
7. þata
8. sō
9. þis
10. þamma
Now convert both the demonstrative pronoun and the nouns to their plural forms:
1. sa balgs
2. þis wulfis
3. þamma þiudana
4. sō giba
5. þizōs gibōs
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Vocabulary:
Sources:
Matthew 9:4
1 Corinthians 9:4
Luke 9:30
Mark 1:17
Mark 10:39
Grammar
The word ibai is used to indicate a rhetorical question, which means a question
which already implies the answer so an answer isn't expected.
Examples are:
In both cases the person who asks the question, knows the answer themselves. In
Gothic a rhetorical question to which a negative reply is expected can be
introduced by "ibai".
Examples in attested Gothic texts of these rhetorical questions with ibai are:
John 6:67 þaruh qaþ Iesus du þaim twalibim: ibai jah jus wileiþ galeiþan?
"Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away?"
John 7:52 andhofun jah qeþun du imma: ibai jah þu us Galeilaia is?
The expected reply is negative again, because the questioners don't believe he is
from Galilea.
Exercise:
Translate the following short phrases in Gothic, use ibai where it is appropriate,
don't translate the explanations of some phrases:
The way to form the dual is by replacing the final -an or -ōn of the infinitive with -ats for
you two … and -ōs for we two …
Example:
To write = mēljan
We two write = mēljan -> mēlj- -> mēljōs
To pour = giutand
You two poor = giutan -> giut- -> giutats
Exercise:
Change the following verbs into the dual forms and translate the duals:
1. witan
2. laisjan
3. galaubjan
4. ufhrōpjan
Numerals are the numbers used in Gothic. Some of these numerals are declined, just like
the demonstrative pronouns, while others aren't. Only the numbers 1, 2 and 3 are
declined.
Let's look at the declensions of number one and how they compare to the demonstrative
pronouns. One only corresponds to the singular forms because one in itself is singular, so
you can't have "these" or "those" to correspond to "one fish".
Again the colors indicate similar forms. The forms on the left are masculine, those in the
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One Demonstrative
pronoun; singular
Nominative ains | ain | aina sa | þata | sō
The nominative forms don't look similar, but as you can see the genitive and dative forms
are quite similar.
It's important that you keep in mind the genitive feminine form ainaizōs with -aizōs.
Exercise:
Use the table above and give the right form of ains, this numeral can both be used in
front and after a noun:
1. ain… fisks
2. ain… þiudanis
3. ain… gibōs
4. ain… wulfa
5. stibna ain…
6. ain… wulf
The other two numbers are 2 and 3. Both of them look a bit different. Here only
plural forms will correspond, again the colors indicate similar forms:
pronoun;
plural
The forms of these numerals are the same as those of strong adjectives.
If you replace these with the numerals from above, you get:
In this table you can see the singular and plural forms of strong adjectives, very similar to
the numerals:
Exercise:
Give the right forms of adjectives, use the table from above (leitil = small):
Sources:
"Mag qiman?"
Galaiþ du gudjin.
Gaqimiþ alla aikklesjo samana.
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Vocabulary:
Sources:
Luke 7:37
Mark 14:10
Corinthians I 14:23
Matthew 7:21
Grammar
In this text we have seen the singular form of weak masculine nouns. These nouns are
given as (m. N).
As you know, the particle du is used in combination with the dative. In the following
phrase we could see the dative form of a weak masculine noun:
In another phrase we can see both the accusative and genitive forms:
Sa taujands wiljan attins meinis þis in himinam. = He doing the will of the father in
heaven.
Wiljan is the accusative singular form. To make the accusative form, you add -n after the
noun.
attins, meaning "of the father", is the genitive singular form. To make the genitive form,
you have to change the final -a to -ins. It looks like the dative gudjin, but with an -s after
it.
We can see these forms in a table, let's take the word father (atta) as an example:
Form m. N, singular
Nominative sa atta
Are the following words masculine weak N-stem nouns or feminine O-stem nouns?
Present participles
We saw:
The -ei is a feminine ending, which means that it refers to a female person or a feminine
noun (with sō for example).
Present participles can be recognized by their typical -and, -jand or -ond part.
This is similar to some modern Germanic languages like Dutch "werkend" and German
"schreibend".
ds is a masculine form. Be aware that with a masculine nominative noun the
Sa taujan
present participle often becomes -nda:
Apart from this, there is a neuter form ending in -ndo. An example is:
You just learned the singular forms of the weak masculine m. N declension, but with
this, you also learned the masculine singular form of present participles:
Form
Nominative sa taujands
Exercise:
Try to translate from English to Gothic:
1. To the father
2. Of the writing priest
3. He writes the father
4. To the working (to work = waurkjan)
5. To the lying priest
6. The doing father (accusative)
Weak adjectives
And you actually also learned the weak adjective forms by learning atta, because
they are declined in the same way as atta.
Weak adjectives are used in combination with demonstrative pronouns like sa a nd
with certain words. Examples:
Exercise:
Translate to Gothic with a weak adjective:
Vocabulary
great, big = mikils (adj. A)
bad, evil = ubils (adj. A)
Translation exercise:
Translate from Gothic to English:
Sources:
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, p. 80, 81
62
Qaþ sa wair du Dagilai, aiþein is: "Sunus þeins qam. Gasēhvum ina sitandan at biuda."
63
Jah qaþ du imma sō aiþei is: "Magau, hva gatawides uns swa? Sai, sa atta þeins jah ik
winnandona sōkidēdum þuk."
Vocabulary:
þan = then
jainar = there
wair (m. A) = man
sitandans = sitting, pres. participle, masc. nom. pl.
andwairþis + dative = over against
biuþs (m. A) = table
sunus (m. U) = son, masc. nom. sg.
Maþþaius = Matthew
Maþþaiaus = M atthew, m
asc. gen. sg.
þizei = of which, rel. pron. masc. acc. sg.
kunþēdum = we knew
kunnan (pret-pres) = to know
Dagila (f. O) = Dagila
gasaíhvan (strong 5th class) = to see (forms like q iþan)
andhafjandei = answering, fem. nom. sg.
aiþei (f. N) = mother
aiþein = mother, accusative or dative
þanei = which, masc. acc. sg.
magau = son, vocative/dative singular
hva = here: why
gatawides = you did, 2nd singular past
uns = us, dat. / acc.
swa = such
winnandōna = sorrowing, present participle, neuter plural
sōkjan (1st weak verb) = to seek, search
Exercise:
Text comprehension; answer these questions:
1. Why is "weis" used?
2. Why does the first paragraph say wairōs while "sa wair" with sa is used in the
fourth paragraph?
3. Which person is speaking to the men?
4. What are the two men doing?
5. What does the mother say to her son?
Sources:
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Matthew 27:61
John 6:42
Luke 3:12
John 12:15
Matthew 9:9
Matthew 9:18
Luke 2:34
Luke 1:60
Grammar
The present participle of the feminine form looks similar to those of the masculine and
neuter, the masculine forms which you saw back in text 12 should be familiar, as they
look like atta:
There are also weak nouns (f. N) like "aiþei" and (n. N) "hairtō" (heart) which
look similar to these:
Nominative:
sō sitandei aiþei
þata sitandō hairtō
Genitive:
þizōs sitandeins aiþeins
þis sitandins hairtins
Exercise:
Translate into Gothic with demonstrative pronouns:
Masculine:
Wēsun þan jainar wairōs, sitandans
There were men there, sitting
Neuter:
Sai, sa atta þeins jah ik winnandona
Behold, your father and I sorrowing
Because the father and mother are of mixed gender (masculine and feminine), the
neuter is used here.
Let's look at all the different forms together with weak nouns:
66
Again, you can use the color schemes to memorize similar forms.
Exercise:
It’s apparent that the U-stem looks quite different from the weak stems, A-stems, I-stems
and O-stems which you have seen so far. Let’s look at the singular form of this form, you
already saw two of the forms in this phrase:
Form Son
Nominative sunus
Genitive sunaus
Dative sunau
Accusative sunu
What you can basically remember is that the accusative form is: nominative - final s.
The dative form is: genitive - final s.
67
Form Son
Nominative sunus
Genitive sunaus
Dative sunau (- s)
Accusative sunu (- s)
Exercise:
Give the right forms of these u-stems, use a demonstrative pronoun, look back at the
section about weak adjectives and the present participles if you have trouble with
this exercise:
Basically the relative pronoun is the same as the demonstrative pronoun, except -ei gets
added after it while a final -s changes to - z like in þis -> þizei and a final -a i s removed
like in þamma -> þammei.
Between the brackets you can see the demonstrative pronoun from which the relative
pronouns are formed:
The word so (“she, this, that, the”) occurs both as sei and soei, but sei is used a lot while
soei isn’t used a lot, so try to always use sei!
Exercise:
Try to convert the following demonstrative pronouns (“this, that, the”) to relative
pronouns (“which”), if you have trouble forming them, look at the table above:
1. sa
2. so
3. þans
4. þos
5. þata
6. þo
7. þamma
8. þizai
Exercise:
69
With the grammar of this text, try to translate the following short phrases. Don’t
worry if you don’t get it right immediately, but try to see how far you can translate
them. If you make mistakes, look over the answers and the grammar again and try
analyze each word in the answers with the help of the tables:
to sleep = slepan
the earth = so airþa (f. O)
Translate man as wair (m. A)
Text 14
In text 9 you saw how to form the verb "to want" in Gothic. This verb has the same verb
as the subjunctive in Gothic.
70
Text 10:
f. O, m. I, n. A
Text 11:
Dual
Numerals
Demonstrative pronouns f. and n.
Gothic alphabet 1
Text 12:
Weak masculine m. N noun full form declensions
Present participle
When to use present participle
Weak adjective
Text 13 A:
Text 14:
Imperative
Future tense
Class 2 and class 3 weak verbs
Haban?
Declension of hva
f. I/O
71
-uh
Text 15:
R-declensions
Past participle
Subjunctive of verbs
Text 16:
Class 2 and class 3 strong verbs
Text 17:
Nd-declensions and root-declension
Irregular nouns
Text 18:
Class 4 weak verbs
Text 19:
Class 4 and class 5 strong verbs
Text 20:
Class 6 and class 7 strong verbs
Text 21:
Subjunctive past
Use of "an"
All reduplicative verbs
http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/browse/text/?book=2&chapter=6#V52
http://www.wulfila.be/gothic/browse/token/?ID=T50158
72
Answers
73
Answers text 1:
1. “Hails!”
2. Sa ist Alareiks.
3. “Þiudan!”, qaþ.
Answers:
1. im
2. sind
3. sijum
4. is
1. No
2. No
3. Yes, because of both emphasis and a contrast
4. Yes, because of emphasis.
Answers text 2:
1. Qimiþ.
2. Hausida þatei þiudans qimiþ.
3. Hva nuh taujái þiudans?
4. Hausida þatei manna usqisteiþ.
5. Hva hausida?
Repetition exercise:
1. Because the personal pronoun is often left away in verbs in Gothic and
mostly used in emphasis and comparisons.
2. Alareiks im. / Im Alareiks.
3. ist
4. sind
Exercise:
1. -ei, ai is followed by 2 consonants
2. -ji, a is a short vowel followed by 1 consonant
74
Answers text 3:
Use of sa:
1. No
2. No
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No
6. Yes
Use of sah:
1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No
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6. No
Translation of text:
Answers text 4:
1. gaf
2. bigat
3. biwēsuþ
4. frah
5. ētun
6. wēsum
1. Wulfs þiudanis.
2. (Is) qaþ du (þamma) þiudana: “Wait.”
3. Wait þatei (is) qaþ du (þamma) þiudana: “Frah ina.”
4. Wulf! Hvar is þu?
5. Þiudan! Hvaþro qimis?
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Answers text 5:
Answers text 6:
Personal pronouns:
1. Ufhropidēdun
2. Matidēdum
3. Galaubeiþ
4. Galaubida
5. Usqistida (sa) manna / (sa) manna usqistida
6. Matida (sa) wulfs / (sa) wulfs matida
7. Ufhvōpida (sa) þiudans / (sa) þiudans ufhvōpida
8. Hausida (þata) barn / (þata) barn hausida
9. Drigkand watō / Watō drigkand
10.Matidēduþ hlaif / Hlaif matidēduþ
Lesson 7 answers:
Gothic to English:
1. "Help me!", the man cried out.
2. While he spoke about these things / that to them.
3. One wolf came and bit him.
4. Your (2nd sing.) belief saved you. (2nd sing.)
77
English to Gothic:
1. Meleiþ sa manna þana þiudan.
2. Matjam hlaif, drigkand.
3. Laistidēdum þana wulf, sa wulfs gaggiþ.
4. Ist sa hlaifs þis þiudanis hēr, mēljam þuk þatei sa hlaifs ist hēr.
5. Rōdida du imma, untē sa þiudans ist hēr.
6. Rōdja du þus, untē galaubjand du imma.
7. Meleiþ þuk? Hvar ist (sa)?
Text 8
Gothic to English:
1. And from these days he came.
2. Didn't I see you (2nd sing.) in the garden with him?
3. But the others said: "We saw you" (2nd sing.)
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m. A nouns:
1. þiudana
2. þiudanē
3. dagans
4. dags
5. skalkis
6. hlaibam
7. hlaibōs
English to Gothic:
1. Sums þizē dagē.
2. "þaim skalkam" , qēþun.
3. Niu melida ina (sa) þiudans?
4. Niu rōdida du þus?
5. Iþ þai anþarai drigkand.
6. "Ist sa skalks miþ imma", qaþ.
7. Ist (sa) in aurtigarda jainar.
8. Galaubida in þaim dagam.
Text 9
English to Gothic:
-u enclitic exercises
1. Ga-u-laubeiþ in imma?
2. Wileizu rōdjan?
3. Niu wileis ganasjan?
4. Ufhrōpeidu?
5. Ga-u-laubeis?
6. Uzu himina?
Text 10
Answers:
1. They pour wine.
2. He can give him something.
3. I pour in bottles.
4. How do we eat?
5. Thanks to him for his gift.
6. Thanks to you for the wine!
Repetition exercise:
1. gutun wein
2. Giutam in balgins
3. It is a short vowel with one consonant: (vowel = bold, consonant = italics) :
matj an
4. Awiliud (þamma) þiudana
Answers:
1. m. A
2. f. O
3. m. I
4. n. A
5. m. A
6. Yes
7. No
8. Yes
9. No
10. Yes
80
Demonstrative pronoun:
1. sō
2. þō
3. þō
4. þōs
5. þaim
6. þizō
7. þō
8. þōs
9. þizē
10. þaim
1. þai balgeis
2. þizē wulfē
3. þaim þiudanam
4. þōs gibōs
5. þizō gibō
Text 11
Answers translation:
Numerals:
1. ains
2. ainis
3. ainaizōs
4. ainamma
5. ainana
Adjectives:
1. mikilana
2. leitilamma
3. ainaizōs
4. leitilai
5. mikilaizē
Text 12
Recognize m. N nouns
1. f. O
2. f. O
3. m. N
4. m. N
5. m. N
6. m. N
7. f. O
Present participles:
1. sa mikila atta
2. þamma ubilin attin
3. þis mikilins attins
4. þana ubilan attan
Translation exercise:
5. Sō waurkjandei runa
6. Sa mikila gudja anakunnands..
7. Waurkjand.
8. Ibai mitōs þatei sa atgagganda gudja waurkeiþ?
Text 13
Text comprehension:
The m. U stem
1. Sa mikila sunus
2. Miþ þamma mikilin hairau
3. Þis sitandins auhsaus
4. (Du) þamma nasjandin hairau
5. Wair/manna þana sitandan auhsu gasahv (your word order can be different,
as long as the forms are correct)
Relative pronouns
1. saei
2. sei / soei
3. þanzei
4. þozei
5. þatei
6. þoei
7. þammei
8. þizaiei
Short phrases:
1. Sa slepanda wair þanei gasahv.
2. Qaþ du þamma slepandin waira þanei sokida.
3. Auhsa þis slepandins sunaus þizei sokida...
4. Þamma slepandin hairau saei ist in þizai airþai.