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Gótico 101

The document discusses two interpretations of pronouncing Gothic diphthongs - as two-part sounds or single elongated vowels. It provides exercises to practice each pronunciation with example words. It notes disagreement on a standard pronunciation but encourages learning the diphthong digraphs to

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0% found this document useful (0 votes)
68 views84 pages

Gótico 101

The document discusses two interpretations of pronouncing Gothic diphthongs - as two-part sounds or single elongated vowels. It provides exercises to practice each pronunciation with example words. It notes disagreement on a standard pronunciation but encourages learning the diphthong digraphs to

Uploaded by

Agustín Sartor
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Pronunciation:

ō = o (like in s​o​), /oː/


ē = ay (like in s​ay ​but elongated), /eː/
a = a (like in ​a​re), /a/
i = i (like in ​i​t), /i/
u = u (like in p​u​t), /u/
ū = oo (like in l​oo​k, but longer), /uː/
ei = ee (like in m​e​), /iː/
aw = a-oo (like in n​ow​), /au/
aj = a-y (like in t​i​me), /ai̯/
g = g (like in ​g​o) when it is the first letter in the word, for example in ​g​iban​. When
it is the last letter, for example in ​mag​ ​, it is pronounced like the ​ch ​in Scottish
Lo​ch ​Ness.
gg = ng (like in mi​ng​)
gk = nk (like in thi​nk​)
gq = nkw (like in thi​nk + w​)
h = before consonants as ‘kh’ (like in German ​ch ​or Scottish Lo​ch ​Ness) and also
as final.
Otherwise it’s pronounced as ​h​.
ƕ = hw (Gothic ‘h’ + w; somewhat like in why, as though it were spelled ‘​hw​y’),
/ʍ/
iu = iy-oo (like in c​u​te), /iu/
j = y (like in ​y​our), /j/
q = kw (like in ​qu​een), /kʷ/
þ = th (like in ​th​orn), /θ/
ddj = n + j (​n ​pronounced like the nasal French ​n ​in bo​n​jour and directly after that
the ​j ​like in ​J​ames) , /ɟː/
1

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/

Ai​ and ​au​ are pronounced as diphthongs in all cases unless:

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.

Likewise, sometimes ​ai​ followed by ​r, h, or hv​ will still be pronounced as a


diphthong. The ablaut of the 1st class strong verb is always ​ái​ in the preterite
singular. leihvan > láihv

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:

áiþs hláifs nimái áuk dáuþus nimáu

Try to pronounce these words without diphthongs:

aírls saíhs saíhvan aúhsa waúrd


2

waian staua

2. Another interpretation is the monophthong pronunciation. ​(The Gothic


pronunciation ​when they transitioned​ to monophthongs​)

For the monophthongs you need to know that:

The diphthongs​ ái​ and ​áu​ became ​long mid-vowels​:

ái = e-e (like in l​e​t, but extend the​ e​)


áu = o-o (like s​o​rry, but​ o​ is extended)

Exercise
pronounce the previous words as elongated monophthongs:

áiþs hláifs nimái áuk dáuþus nimáu

Pronounce the following words as short monophthongs:


aírls saíhs saíhvan aúhsa waúrd

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

Text 1 - The king


“​Hails þiudan!”​ , qaþ.
Sa ist auk Alareiks.

Vocabulary:

hails​​- hello (said to masculine person)


þiudan ​-​king​​ ​(when addressed)
þiudans​​- king
qaþ ​- he said (​refers to a servant​)
sa​​- he
ist ​- is
auk ​- for, because
Alareiks​​- Alaric

Translate​​:
1. “Hello!”
2. He is Alaric.
3. “King!”, he said. (​​king is addressing a king here​)

Sources:

John 19:3
Matthew 11:10

The verb "to be"

The present tense of the verb "to be" is as follows:

I am im
You are is
(singular)
He/she/it is ist
We are sijum
4

You are sijuþ


(plural)
They are sind

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​:

1. Emphasis​ (​You​ are here.)


2. In ​comparisons​ where there is a c​ ontrast​. (Not you, but he.)
3. When addressing someone directly, somewhat laying emphasis in a
question. (Are you from America?)

Translate​:
1. I am
2. They are
3. We are
4. You are (singular)

Indicate if a personal pronoun would be used in Gothic in these sentences, if


yes explain why:

1. He is a very nice person.


2. We obviously aren't aware of that.
3. He isn't there, but I saw them in that place actually.
4. So you are from Canada? I hadn't expected that.
5

Text 2 - The wolf

Was manna, Alareiks, sah was þiudans.


Hausida þatei wulfs qimiþ. Qimiþ jah usqisteiþ.
Hva nuh taujái Alareiks?

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)​

Translate with help of the vocabulary:


1. He comes.
2. He heard that a king comes.
3. What should the king do now? ​(translate the beginning as: What now … )
4. He heard that a man kills.
5. What did he hear?

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?
6

Grammar

How to recognize long and short vowels

The vowels ​ē ​and ​ō ​are always long.

The vowels​ i, a ​and​ u​ can be either long or short. Look at the following guidelines:

1) ē ​and ​ō ​are always long vowels.


2) If​ i ​is short, it is often written as plain ​i​, while the long form is written as ​ei​.
3) In native Gothic words ​(not loanwords),​ an ​a ​is normally always short if it
isn't followed by ​h​.
4) sometimes a single vowel like ​a ​becomes a long vowel ​ā​ in words which in
an earlier stage (Protogermanic) had a consonant in front of the ​h​. An
example is the word "briggan", of which the preterite (past tense) is "br​ā​hta"
because it had an ​n ​in front of ​h ​in the Protogermanic form "bra​n​htē". The
long vowel ​ā​ in native Gothic words (not Greek loanwords) only occurs in
the combination ​āh​. In the lessons we will put a macron, the long stripe over
the vowel, where a single vowel like a is long.
5) u ​can be either short or long, there are no clear rules, when this is a long ​ū
we will add a macron on top.

Sources:

Grammar of the Gothic language, Joseph Wright, p. 6

The present tense

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 “usqist​eiþ​​”. As you can see, the final -jan is
removed and replaced by -ei​​þ​. 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​.

A verb is a ​weak​ ​i-verb ​and gets ​-ei ​when it:

1) Has multiple syllables (ga-maurg-jan)


2) Has a ​long vowel ​(ō, ū, ā, ū, ei) or ​diphthong​ (​ái, áu, but also other forms
of ai and au)​ followed by at least ​one consonant ​(​s​ōk​jan​)
3) A short vowel followed by ​2 or more consonants​ (​qi​ st​jan​) <- short​ i
followed by ​st​.

When it’s a ​weak​ ​-j​ verb, it ends with ​-jiþ​.

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.

This seems a bit complicated so let's summarize this in shorter rules:

- short vowel + 1 consonant or no consonant = ji​þ​


- short vowel + 2 consonants = ei​þ​
- long vowel or diphthong + consonant(s) = ei​þ​
- long vowel or diphthong + no consonant = ji​þ​
- multiple syllables = ei​þ​
8

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
9

Text 3 - The ignorant man


“​​Hvar ist atta þeins?”​ Qaþ Alareiks.
Iþ is qaþ: “​ni​ ​wáit.​”​
Frah þan ina Alareiks: “​​Hva qiþis?”​ .
“​Ni​ ​wáit​”,​ qaþ sa manna.
“​​Hvaþro is þu, hvaþro ist sa atta þeins?​”, frah ina.
“​​Ni wáit​”, qaþ sa manna.
Bihloh ina Alareiks.

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​)

Repetition and comprehension exercise:


1. In the second phrase “is” means “he”, but what other thing could “is” mean?
2. Is the verb “aljan” a weak -ji or -ei verb?
3. “Sa atta” is mentioned before, what do you see in the first time that atta is
mentioned what makes it different from “sa atta”?

Grammar

Syntax and word order

The position of ​hv-​ words

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:
10

Hvaþro is þu?
From where are you
(hv- word)​ (2nd singular) ?
(verb)

Hva qiþis?
What ​(hv​-word) you say (2nd sg.)
(verb)​?​

Hvar ist sa atta þeins?


Where ​(hv-word) is (​ verb) father your
(​singular​)?

The use of sa

Sa ​is what we call a ​demonstrative pronoun​ or ​definite article​.

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.

When it is already known though, you do use the definite article/demonstrative


pronoun ​sa ​for masculine words,​ ​in this case with father.

Let's look at the text:

“​​Hvar ist atta þeins?”​ Qaþ Alareiks.


11

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.

“​​Hvaþro is þu, hvaþro ist sa atta þeins?​”, frah ina.

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:

1. To translate ​this ​or t​ hat


2. To translate ​the ​if the thing, animal or person is mentioned before.
3. To translate ​he ​when the person is mentioned before.
4. For the description of someone in a function: ​John the Baptist​, ​Attila the
Hun, the boy Jesus​.

Exercise:

Indicate if sa would be used in Gothic here (anywhere in the phrase), answer


with yes or no:

1. The man sits down.


2. The boy which eats.
3. That boy which eats.
4. A man can be seen, the man is walking.
5. The great journey
6. Alaric the Great

When to use sa or sah

In text 2 we saw the following phrase:


12

Was manna, Alareiks, sah was þiudans.

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​:

1. Sa ist wulfs. (This is a wolf).


2. Alareiks, sah ist þiudans​. (​ The ​sah​ meaning ​he​ in this context​ ​refers to the
before mentioned Alaric, giving him in a way emphasis as well.)

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 . . . .

the Father which sent me​, ​he​ gave me a commandment

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.

Remember these guidelines:

- Sa is used for general reference to ​this, that, he​, ​the


13

- Sah is used for ​emphasis and extra clarification​ of a before mentioned


thing.

Exercise

Indicate if you would use sah or attach -(u)h here, don't translate but only
answer with yes or no:

1. Here is the man.


2. I have to preach to God every day. This is my duty.
3. He saw a beautiful flower among many and said: "This is the most beautiful
one I have seen."
4. He is one among the people which stole money. This is a big criminal.
5. This flower is big.
6. This helmet is small.

Try to translate the text phrase by phrase with help of the vocabulary of the
text:

1. “​​Hvar ist sa atta þeins?”​ Qaþ Alareiks.


2. Iþ is qaþ: “​​ni wait.​”
3. Frah þan ina Alareiks: “​​Hva qiþis?”​ .
4. “​​Ni wáit​”, qaþ sa manna.
5. “​​Hvaþro is þu?​”, frah ina.
6. “​​Ni wáit​”, qaþ sa manna. Bihloh ina Alareiks.
14

Try to translate with help of the grammar of this lesson and vocabulary of the
previous lessons:

1. Where is the wolf?


2. I know that he asked.
3. “​​And where is the king?”​ he said.
4. Then he asked him: ​“Where is the wolf?”
5. Where is your wolf? (your is 2nd singular)

Sources:
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, p. 82
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, p. 64, 65
15

Text 4 - The minister and the king

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

The m. A noun declension

In the previous lessons you saw different forms used for the word þiudans,​ which
means​ “king”.

- Sah was þiudans​ ​ = He was king

- Untē baúrgs ist þiudani​ s​ = Because it is the city of the king


- Gaggiþ du þamma þiudana​ ​ = He goes to the king
- Hails, þiudan! = Hello, 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.
16

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.
17

You can make the different forms by removing the final -s and replacing it with
the appropriate form.

case king

nominative þiudan​s

genitive þiudan​is

dative þiudan​a

Accusative / vocative þiudan

The third person singular personal pronoun “​he​”


We saw different uses of this pronoun in the previous lessons. (​we will treat the
genitive later)​ , let’s look at the different declensions in a table:

Case pronoun

Nominative is

Dative imma

Accusative ina
18

iþ ​is​ qaþ = but ​he​ said

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.

qaþ du ​imma​ = he said ​to him

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-​.

him ​->​ (-h) ​->​ im ​->​ (+ma) ​->​ imma​.

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.

frah ​ina​ = he asked ​him

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.

The strong verbs

Just like modern Germanic languages, Gothic has verbs in which the vowel
changes in different forms. In English you have: "s​ee​, s​aw​, s​ee​n" for example.
19

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:

The 5th class strong verb

Iþ Alareiks ​qaþ​ du imma: “hva q​ iþis​?”

But Alaric ​said ​to him: "What do you ​say​?".

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:

Form of "to say" q​i​þ​a​n


I said q​a​þ
you said (2nd singular) q​a​st
He said q​a​þ
We said q​ē​þ​u​m
You said (2nd plural) q​ē​þ​u​þ
They said q​ē​þ​u​n

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:
20

Example:
we sat - ​s..t..m​ =
s​ē​t​u​m (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 w​a​s
you were (2nd w​a​st
singular)
He was w​a​s
We were w​ē​s​u​m
You were (2nd w​ē​s​u​þ
plural)
They were w​ē​s​u​n

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​!
21

Translation exercises with the help of the vocabulary:

1. The wolf of the king


2. He said to the king: “I know.”
3. I know that he said to the king: “He asked him.”
4. Wolf! Where are you?
5. King! Where are you from?
22

Text 5 - Believers

Ni galaubjand du im.
Jah jūs ni galaubeiþ!

“Jah weis galaubjam”, qaþ du imma Alareiks.


miþ tagram qaþ: galaubja!

Vocabulary:

galaubjand ​= they believe


im ​= them (dative)
jūs ​= you (2nd plural)
galaubeiþ​ = you believe (2nd plural)
weis ​= we
galaubjam ​= we believe
miþ + dative​ = with
tagram​ = tears
galaubja ​=​ ​I believe

Grammar

The full 1st class verb (except for the dual)

English Gothic

I believe galaubja

you believe (2nd singular) galaubeis


23

he believes galaubeiþ

we believe galaubjam

you believe (2nd plural) galaubeiþ

they believe galaubjand

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:

meljan (to write) ​->​ mēlja = I write


galaubjan (to believe) ​->​ galaubja = I believe

To form the first person plural (we …) you always have to ​replace the final -n
with -m:

Examples:

mēljan (to write) ​->​ mēljam = we write


galaubjan (to believe)​ ->​ galaubjam = we believe

To form the third person plural (​they​) you always have to ​replace the final -n
with -nd:

Examples:

mēlja​n​ (to write) ​->​ mēlja​nd​ = they write


24

galaubja​n​ (to believe) ​->​ galaubja​nd​ = they believe


drigka​n​ (to drink)​ ->​ drigka​nd​ = they drink

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.) = galaub​eis
he believes (3rd sing. ) = galaub​eiþ
That it is written as ​ji​ in ​J​ verbs:
you eat (2nd sing.) = mat​jis
he eats (3rd sing.) = mat​jiþ

Translation exercises (you can also look at the rules below as a help):

1. We believe the king


2. Alaric writes for them (​use the dative for them without a preposition, for the
word order translate 'Writes Alaric for them')
3. With tears you write (2nd plural)
4. The wolf heard that he comes ​(for the word order start with "heard", if you
don't remember this word look back in the vocabulary of lesson text 2)
5. "We believe him", he said.

Rules to form verb forms with the infinitive, in which the red arrow shows how
the final -n changes:

- I (1st person singular) = -n ​->​ -


- we (1st person plural) = -n -​ >​ -m
- they (3rd person plural) = -n​ ->​ -nd
25

Text 6 - The poor family

Ist hlaifs ains hēr.


"​Gif unsis þana hlaif!​ ", sa magus ufhrōpida.
Jah sunsaiw ufhrōpjands atta þis barnis miþ tagram qaþ:
"​Hva matjam þau hva drigkam!?"

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
26

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

In text 11 you will learn about verbs in the dual.


27

Exercise:

Translate into Gothic:

Translate "Not …. but" as "Ni … ak". Translate "here" as "hēr":

1. We are here ​(emphasis on we​)


2. They are here.
3. You (​2nd singular)
4. He!
5. I!
6. Not you (​2nd plural​), but we!

The paste tense of weak verbs


The past tense of several important ​-jan​ verbs is formed with regular endings.
These are weak first class verbs, they are formed in a similar way as -​ed ​in English
walk​ed.​

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 "ufhrōp​ida​"​.
In other words, the final -jan of the infinitive is replaced with ​-id + ending​.
There are a few forms:

I cried out / he cried out = ufhrōp​ida


you cried out (2nd sing.) = ufhrōp​ides
we cried out = ufhrōp​idedum
you cried out (2nd plur.) = ufhrōp​ideduþ
they cried out​ ​=​ ​ufhrōp​idedun
28

These forms are somewhat similar to the present forms:

Both the 2nd person singular forms (you) end in ​ -​s​ ​:


you cry out (present) = ufhrōp​ei​s
you cried out (past) = ufhrōp​ide​s

Both the 2nd person plural forms (you) end in ​-þ:


you cry out (present) = ufhrōp​ei​þ
you cried out (past) = ufhrōp​idedu​þ

Both the 1st person plural forms (we) end in ​-m​:


we cry out (present) = ufhrōp​ja​m
we cried out (past) = ufhrōp​idedu​m

Both 3rd person plural forms (they) contain an ​-n​:



They cry out (present) = ufhrōp​ja​nd
They cried out (past) = ufhrōp​idedu​n

As you can see, all the singular forms in the preterite (past tense) contain ​-id:
I ate = mat​id​a
you ate = mat​id​ēs
he ate = mat​id​a

While all the plural forms contain ​-idēd​:


we ate = mat​idēd​um
you ate = mat​idēd​uþ
they are = mat​idēd​un
29

These plural forms also end on ​u,​ like you saw earlier with verbs like qiþan​:
(qēþ​um​, qēþ​uþ​, qēþ​un​).

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.

water (nom. / acc.) = watō


bread (​ m. A)​ (singular accusative) = hlaif
to cry out = ufhrōpjan
to eat = matjan
to believe = galaubjan
to kill = usqistjan
to hear = hausjan
Exercise:
1. They cried out
2. We ate
3. He believes
4. He believed
5. The man killed
6. The wolf ate
7. The king cried out
8. The child heard
9. They drink water (3rd plural present always ends with ​-nd​)
10.You ​(2nd plural​) ate bread.
30

Text 7 - The attack of the wolf


Ist manna her. Galaubeiþ.
"​galaubeins meina ganasida mik​.", qaþ du im.
Miþþanei is rōdida þata du im, þaruh wulfs ains qimands báit ina.
"​Hilp meina!​ ", ufhvopida sa manna.
Laistidedun þana wulf, þanuh þan þláuh sa wulfs.
Hvar ist laists þis wulfis?

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:

1. "​Hilp meina​!", ufhvopida sa manna.


2. Miþþanei is rōdida þata du im
3. wulfs ains qimands báit ina.
4. galaubeins þeina ganasida þuk.
31

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

You might remember all these forms from previous lessons:

Sa​ ist auk Alareiks. = Because t​ his​ is Alaric. ​(Nominative)

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

verb - subject - object


writes - man - king):
1. The man writes the king.
2. We eat the bread, they drink. ​(Remember the final -m for we​)
3. We followed the wolf, the wolf goes.
4. The bread of the king is here, we write you ​(2nd singular accusative)​ that
the bread is here.
5. He talked to him, because the king is here.
6. I talk to you ​(2nd singular dative​), because they believe in him. (you = ​þus)
7. He writes you? ​(2nd singular)​ Where is he?

The 1st class strong verb


In this text you saw the following phrase:

þaruh wulfs ains qimands ​báit​ ina.

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 b​ei​t​a​n
I bit b​ái​t
You bit (2nd singular) *b​ái​st
He bit b​ái​t
We bit b​i​t​u​m
You bit (2nd plural) b​i​t​u​þ
They bit b​i​t​u​n

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 - usl​ei​þan (1st class)
to cast out - usdr​ei​ban (1st class)
to go up - usst​ei​gan (1st class)
to come - q​i​man (4th class)
to destroy - br​i​kan (4th class)
to arise - urr​ei​san (1st class)
to remain - bil​ei​ban (keep the ​-b ​in mind!) (1st class)

The 2nd class strong verbs

Another phrase which you encountered was:

þanuh þan ​þláuh​ sa wulfs. = Then the wolf f​ led.​

This is an example of a 2nd class strong verb. The infinitive ​to flee l​ ooks like
þl​iu​han​. ​Fortunately the forms of the past of the 2nd class are easier to remember:
34

Some 2nd class strong verbs have a plural in ​u.

Form dr​iu​san (to fall)


I fell dr​áu​s
You fell (2nd singular) dr​áu​s
He fell dr​áu​s
We fell dr​u​sun
You fell (2nd plural) dr​u​sun
They fell dr​u​sun

Before ​h, hv and r ​the u stays áu, like in the verb which we saw in this text :

Form þl​iu​han (to flee)


I fled þl​áu​h
You fled (2nd singular) þl​áu​ht
He fled þl​áu​h
We fled gaþl​áu​hun
You fled (2nd plural) gaþl​áu​hun
They fled gaþl​áu​hun

Exercise:
Convert to the plural forms, keep in mind when to use áu and when to use u:

1. gakiusan (to try), they tried = …


2. giutan (to pour), we poured = …
3. miþgatiuhan (to carry away), you carried away (plural) = …
4. liudan (to grow), I grew = …
5. tiuhan (to pull), we pulled = …
35
36

Text 8 - The man in the garden


bisaihvands bisunjanē þans bi sik sitandans qaþ: "​Was in aurtigarda"​
Framuh þan þaim dagam qam.
qaþ sums þizē skalkē: "​Niu þuk sahv ik in aurtigarda miþ imma​?"
Jah qaþ du þaim jainar: "​Sahv ina in aurtigarda!"
Iþ þai anþarai qeþun: "​Sēhvum þuk.​"

Vocabulary:

bisaihvands​ = looking around ​(present participle)


bisunjane​ = around
þans​ = these ​(masculine accusative plural)
bi sik​ = around himself
sitandans​ = the sitting ​(present participle accusative plural)
in + dative​ = in
aurtigarda​ = garden (dative singular)
framuh + dative ​= and from
þaim dagam (dative)​ = these days (dative plural masculine)
dags (m. A) ​= day
sums​ = one (a certain of several)
qam​ = he came
þizē​ = of the (genitive plural masculine)
skalkē​ = of the servants (genitive plural masculine)
skalks (m. A) ​= servant
niu​ = didn't, doesn't (question)
sahv​ = saw
ik​ = I
þaim​ = these (dative plural masculine)
jainar​ = there
iþ​ = but
þai​ = the / these (nominative plural masculine)
anþarai​ = others (nominative masculine plural)
qēþun​ = they said
sēhvum​ = we saw

Translation exercise:
37

1. Framuh þan þaim dagam qam.


2. Niu þuk sahv ik in aurtigarda miþ imma?
3. iþ þai anþarai qeþun: "​Sehvum þuk."​

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

Nominative plural þai dag​ōs

Genitive plural þiz​ē​ dag​ē

Dative plural þai​m​ daga​m

Accusative plural þ​ans​ dag​ans

As you can see the endings of both the noun (m. A) and the demonstrative pronoun are
somewhat similar:

Form Singular Plural

Nominative dag​s dag​ōs

Genitive dag​is dag​ē

Dative dag​ē dag​am

Accusative dag dag​ans

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):

Form Singular Plural

Nominative hlai​fs hlai​b​ō​s ​(followed by vowel


ō)

Genitive hlai​b​is​ ​(followed by vowel hlai​b​ē​ ​(followed by vowel


i) ē)
38

Dative hlai​b​a ​(followed by vowel hlai​b​a​m ​(followed by


a) vowel a)

Accusative hlai​f hlai​b​a​ns ​(followed by


vowel a)

servant = ​skalks (m. A)


king = ​þiudans (m. A)

Exercise m. A nouns (you don't need to add demonstrative pronouns):

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

Translation exercise with help of the vocabulary above:

1. One of these days.


2. "​To these servants"​ , they said.
3. Didn't the king write him?
4. Didn't I speak to you (2nd sing.)?
5. But these others drink.
6. "​The slave is with him"​ , he said.
7. He is there in the garden. ​(there in last position of the phrase)
8. In these days I believed.
39

Text 9 - A storm over the city of the king


Wegs mikils warþ.

"​Wiljau witan fram izwis"​ , qaþ du im sa þiudans: "​wileidu garda waldan þau
afleiþan?​"

"​Wileima afleiþan",​ qēþun du imma.


Jah stibna qam us himinam, sō ist stibna mikila: "​Wileidu afleiþan?"

vocabulary:

wegs (m. A) ​= tempest


mikils (adjective masc. nom. sg.) ​= great
warþ ​= became (​here: a big tempest arose​)
wiljau​ = I want, I would
witan​ = to know
fram + dative ​= from
izwis (dative)​ = you (2nd plural)
wileidu = ​do​ ​you want (2nd plural) ​(in a question with a yes or no choice, the answer
isn't presupposed )
wilei​þ​ = you want (2nd plural)
-u ​= ​put behind a verb for rhetorical question or choice.
garda waldan​ = guard the house
þau​ = or (​between two choices)​
afleiþan​ = to go, to depart
wileima ​= we want
stibna (feminine) ​= voice
us + dative ​= out of, from
himins (m. A) ​= heaven (​plural form can be translated as singular heaven​)
so ​= this/that (femine singular nominative)
mikila ​= big (feminine singular nominative)

Translate:
40

1. Wiljau witan fram izwis


2. Jah stibna qam us himinam
3. so ist stibna mikila
4. wileidu garda waldan þau afleiþan?

In this lesson you saw the verb "​to want​", ​this is an irregular verb which you will need to
learn by heart:

I want wil​jau

you want (2nd sing.) wil​eis

he/she wants wil​i

we want wil​eima

you want (2nd plur.) wil​ei​þ

They want wil​eina

Basics of strong A-stem adjectives:

You also saw an adjective: "​great​". As could be seen, it is declined, just like nouns:

weg​s​ mikil​s​ = the great tempest


stibn​a​ mikil​a​ = the great voice

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.

​ e will explain f. O nouns in reading text 10​)


(W

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.
41

Translation exercises:

1. I heard a great voice.


2. The big wolf comes, he kills. ​(For "kills" look back at vocabulary of text 1)
3. I said that I want to know from you ​(2nd singular dative ​"þus")
4. The king wants to know, but you don't want to know. ​(Translate you don't as
"Ni wileis", but is "iþ").
5. There arose a big voice, it said: "​What is there?"

The use of -u in direct questions

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.

Examples where we can see it used in Gothic texts:

John 9:35 ​ga-u-laubeis in sunau gudis?


Do you believe in the son of God?

In negations (Don't you), ​niu​ is used, in which -​ u ​attaches to ​ni (​ not).

John 14:10 ​Niu galaubeis?


Don't you believe?

-u ​is also a translation of "​whether​".

Mark 3:2 ​witaidedun imma ​hailidedi-u​ sabbato


They watched him to see ​whether he would heal h​ im on the Sabbath day.

In other words, -u is indicating an uncertain situation.

You might wonder how ​-u​ is used, as it is attached to ​wilei​þ ​in ​wileidu ​(wileiþ​ + -u​).
42

There are the following rules:

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 ​wilei​d​u ​and a final ​-s ​changes
in ​-z ​like in ​wilei​z​u​.
4. Sometimes it can also attach to a particle like ​us ​(​from)​, becoming ​u​z​u​,

Exercise to translate:

1. Does he believe in him?


2. Do you want to talk?
3. Don't you want to save? (Singular)
4. Do you cry out? (Plural)
5. Do you believe? (Singular)
6. From heaven? ​(heaven = himins, m. A )

Sources:

Mark 15:9
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, Miller, p. 559
43

Text 10 - The gift of Alaric


Hvaiwa mag sa unsis hva giban du matjan? Alareikis giba ist.

Giutand wein in balgins. Matjand hlaif.

Awiliud Alareika in qumis is gibōs.

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:

1. Convert the verb in “giutand wein” into a singular form.


2. Convert the verb of “Giuta in balgins” into a plural form.
3. Why is the 2nd singular form of matjan, mat​jis​?
4. Translate “Thanks to the king”.

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​ wulf​s þata​ wein​ <- singular (final -s
lacks)
45

genitive þis wulf​is þis wein​is


dative þamma wulf​a þamma wein​a
accusative þana​ wulf þata​ wein ​ <- singular (final -s
lacks)

​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 wulf​ōs þo wein​a
genitive þizē wulf​ē þizē wein​ē
dative þaim wulf​am þaim wein​am
accusative þans wulf​ans þo wein​a

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 balg​s þai balg​e​i​s
e
Genitive þis balg​is þizē balg​ē
Dative þamma balg​a þaim balg​i​m
46

Accusative þana balg þans balg​i​ns

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):

sō gib​a þ​ōs​ gib​ōs

þiz​ōs​ gib​ōs þiz​ō​ gib​ō

þiz​ai​ gib​ai þaim gib​ōm

þiz​ōs​ gib​ōs þ​ōs​ gib​ōs

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.

You can remember the differences in the following way:

- Only the nominative plural m. A is a ​masculine​ word ending in ​-ōs:

​ ai​ þiudan​ōs
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:

I​-stem: ​balg​i​m (dative plural)


O​-stem: ​gib​ō​m (dative plural)
A​-stem: ​dag​a​ns​ ​(accusative plural)
47

- Neuter A-stem words have a shorter ending in the plural than masculine
A-stems:
Masculine = þai þiudan​ōs
Neuter = þō wein​a

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"

1. þai þiudanōs (​look at þai​)


2. þizō ahvō
3. þaim gardim
4. þō lamba
5. þans skalkans

Which of these are f. O words? Look at the endings to recognize them.

6. þiz​ō​ ahan​ō​ (these chaffs)


7. þ​ans​ mann​ans
8. þ​ōs​ bid​ōs
9. þ​ō​ draggk​a
10. þiz​ōs​ ark​ōs

The demonstrative pronouns


In the grammar of this text you could see different demonstrative pronouns of the
feminine and neuter forms apart from the masculine one. Here you can see them in
a table, on the left of the | are the singular forms, while on the right of the | the
plural forms are given.

The different colors show which forms are the same, forms which only occur once
are given in black:
48

Form Masculine Neuter Feminine

Nominative sa | ​þai þata​ | ​þō sō​ | ​þōs

Genitive þis​ | ​þizē þis​ | ​þizē þizōs | þizō


Dative þamma​ | ​þaim þamma​ | ​þaim þizai | ​þaim
Accusative þana | þans þata​ | ​þō þō​ | ​þōs

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

Convert these forms to plural:

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
49

Text 11 - The two men

Duhvē jūs mitōþ ubila?


Ibai ni habam waldufni matjan jah drigkan?

Wairōs twai wēsun.

Qaþ im Alareiks: hirjats afar mis.


"​þana stikl þanei ik driggka, driggkats​".
"​Driggkōs​", qēþun.
50

Vocabulary:

duhve​ = why (in questions)


jūs​ = you (plural, nominative)
mitōþ​ = think (2nd plural present)
ubila​ = bad
ibai​ = ​rhetorical question as in: Don’t you go there?
habam​ = we have
waldufni​ = power (here: right)
wairs (m. A) ​= man
twai ​= two
wēsun ​= they were
hirjats ​= you two come
afar mis ​= after me
stikls (m. A) ​= cup
þanei ​= which, acc. masc. sg.
driggkats ​= you two drink
driggkos ​= we two drink

Sources​:
Matthew 9:4
1 Corinthians 9:4
Luke 9:30
Mark 1:17
Mark 10:39

Translation exercise from Gothic to English:

1. Ibai ni habam waldufni matjan jah drigkan?


2. Duhve eis mitōnd ubila?
3. Hvaiwa mag sa matjan?
4. Drigkand wein.

Grammar

The use of "ibai"


51

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:

"Am I not your boss?"

"How can he not see what is wrong?"

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?"

The expected reply here is that they wouldn't leave him.

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:

1. Will you think evil?


2. Will they give him?
3. Are you from Galilea? (​Neutral question)​
4. Will they eat? ​(The asker isn't sure)
5. Is it the gift of Alaric!? (​Said in a mocking way​)
52

The use of the dual


In this text you saw the use of the dual in verbs:

you two drink = driggkats


we two drink = driggkōs

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

The use of numerals


In this text you saw the following phrase:

Wairōs twai wēsun. = There were two men.

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
53

middle neuter and those on the right feminine, so


(​ains​ = masc | ​ain​ = neut | ​aina​ = fem.):

One Demonstrative
pronoun; singular
Nominative ains | ain | aina sa | þata | sō

Genitive ain​is​ ​| ​ain​is​ ​| ​ain​aizōs þ​is​ ​| ​þ​is​ ​| ​þ​izōs

Dative ain​amma​ ​| ​ain​amma​ | þ​amma​ ​| ​þ​amma​ ​|


ain​ai þiz​ai

Accusative ain​ana​ ​| ain | aina þ​ana​ ​| þata | þō

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:

Form Two Three Demonst


rative
54

pronoun;
plural

Nominative tw​ai​ | twa | twōs *þreis | þrija | *þrij​ōs þ​ai​ | þō |


þōs

Genitive twaddj​ē​ | ​twaddj​ē​ | twaddjō þrij​ē​ | ​þrij​ē​ | *þrijō þiz​ē​ | ​þiz​ē


| þizō

Dative tw​aim​ | ​tw​aim​ | ​tw​aim þr​im​ | ​þr​im​ | ​þr​im þ​aim​ |


þ​aim​ |
þ​aim

Accusative tw​ans​ | twa | twōs þrins | þrija | *þrij​ōs þ​ans​ | þō |


þōs

The strong adjectives

The forms of these numerals are the same as those of strong adjectives.

Back in text 9 we saw the following nominative forms of adjectives:

weg​s​ mikil​s​ = the great tempest


stibn​a​ mikil​a​ = the great voice

If you replace these with the numerals from above, you get:

weg​s​ ​ain​s​ ​= one way


stibn​a​ ​ain​a​ ​= one voice

As you can see, they are the same.

Numerals in the singular are actually the same as strong adjectives:

stibn​ōs​ ain​aizōs​ ​= of one voice


stibn​ōs​ mikil​aizōs​ ​= of a strong voice

weg​is​ ain​is​ ​= of one wave


weg​is​ mikil​is​ ​= of a strong wave

weg​a​ ain​amma​ = to one wave


weg​a​ mikil​amma​ = to a big wave
55

In this table you can see the singular and plural forms of strong adjectives, very similar to
the numerals:

Form Singular Plural

Nominative mikil​s​ | ​mikil​ | ​mikil​a mikil​ai​ | ​mikil​a​ | ​mikil​ōs

Genitive mikil​is​ | ​mikil​is​ | mikil​aizōs mikil​aizē​ | ​mikil​aizē​ |


mikil​aizō

Dative mikil​amma​ | ​mikil​amma​ | mikil​aim​ | ​mikil​aim​ |


mikil​ai mikil​aim

Accusative mikil​ana​ | ​mikil​ | ​mikil​a mikil​ans​ | ​mikil​a​ | ​mikil​ōs

Exercise:
Give the right forms of adjectives, use the table from above (leitil = small):

1. þiudan (m.) mikil…


2. wulfa (m.) leitil…
3. stibnōs (f.) ain…
4. wēgōs (m.) leitil…
5. balgē (m.) mikil...

Sources:

Gothic Grammar, Miller, p. 507


56

Text 12 - In the church

Sai, qinō in þizai baurg, sei was frawaurhta.

Jah atgaggandei sunsaiw sniumundo du þiudana baþ qiþandei:

"​Mag qiman?"

Galaiþ du gudjin.
Gaqimiþ alla aikklesjo samana.
57

Anakunnand: "​Sa taujands wiljan attins meinis þis in himinam."​

Vocabulary:

sai = behold; see


qinō (f. N) = woman
sei = which, ​nom. sg. fem.
frawaurhta = sinner
atgaggandei = entering, ​nom. sg. fem.
sunsaiw = suddenly
sniumundo = hastily, in a hurry
baþ = she asked
bidan = to ask
qiþandei = saying, ​fem. nom. sg.
mag = I can, (I may)
galaiþ = she went, left
gudja (m. N) = priest
gudjin = priest, ​masc. nom. sg.
gaqiman = to come together
alla = whole, all, ​fem. nom. sg. strong adjective
aikklēsjō (f. N) = the church, ​fem. nom. sg.
samana = together
anakunnan = to read, recite
taujands = doing ​masc. nom. sg.
wilja (m. N) = the will
wiljan = the will, ​masc. acc. sg.
atta (m. N) = father
attins = of the father, ​masc. gen. sg.
meinis = of my, ​masc. gen. sg.

Sources:

Luke 7:37
Mark 14:10
Corinthians I 14:23
Matthew 7:21

Grammar

Weak masculine nouns (m. N)


58

In this text we have seen the singular form of weak masculine nouns. These nouns are
given as ​(m. N).

All masculine weak nouns end on ​-ja o​ r -​a​.

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:

Galaiþ du ​gudjin​. = She went to the ​priest​.

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 att​a

Genitive þis att​ins

Dative þamma att​in

Accusative þana att​an

Are the following words masculine weak N-stem nouns or feminine O-stem nouns?

1. þizōs gibōs (the gift)


2. sō runa (the mystery)
3. sa gudja (the priest)
4. sa ahma (the spirit)
5. þamma ahin (the mind)
6. þana aran (the eagle)
7. þō ahva (the river)
59

Present participles

In this text were a few present participles, in English "​coming​" is an example of a


present participle.

We saw:

​ dei​ ​= And entering


Jah atgaggan

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 "werke​nd​" and German
"schreibe​nd​".

​ ds​ ​is a masculine form. Be aware that with a masculine nominative noun the
Sa taujan
present participle often becomes -​nda​:

Sa waurkjanda gudja ​= the working priest

Apart from this, there is a neuter form ending in ​-ndo​. An example is:

þata barn ​ligando​ = the ​lying​ child

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 tauja​nds

Genitive þis tauja​nd​ins

Dative þamma tauja​nd​in

Accusative þana tauja​nd​an


60

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)

When to use the present participle in Gothic


The use of the present participle is broader than in English and some other languages, a
present participle like ​nasjands ​("saving, savior") translates:

1. A normal present participle meaning "saving" as in, someone is in the act of


saving and still performing this action.
2. An agent noun, this is a person who is doing what the verb signifies, in this case,
someone who is saving is a ​savior​, so ​nasjands c​ an translate ​savior​. These need to
be used with the genitive, like: ​nasjands all​aizē​ mannē​ ​= the saviour of all men
3. Regularly doing something. "He regularly saves" can be translated as ​nasjands​.
4. Non-past forms, so it ​can't​ translate "​he has saved​".

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:

daga þamma mikili​ n​ =


​ on the great day
þamma attin​ =
​ to the father

usnimiþ þana ubila​ n ​= take away the evil


þana atta​ n​ ​= the father (accusative)

Exercise:
Translate to Gothic with a weak adjective:

1. The great father


61

2. To the evil father


3. Of the great father
4. The evil father (accusative)

Vocabulary
great, big = mikils (adj. A)
bad, evil = ubils (adj. A)

Translation exercise:
Translate from Gothic to English:

1. Sai, qinō in þizai baurg


2. Sō qinō atgaggandei.
3. Sa atta mēljands.
4. gaqimiþ alla aikklēsjō.

Translate from English to Gothic:

5. The working mystery


6. The great priest reading..
7. They work.
8. Do you (​singular) ​think that the entering priest works? (​Said in mocking way​)

Sources:
The Oxford Gothic Grammar, p. 80, 81
62

Text 13 - The lost son


Wēsun þan jainar wairōs, sitandans andwairþis biuda.

Qam manna matjands jah drigkands jah qiþand:


"​Niu sa ist sa sunus Maþþaiaus, þizei weis kunþēdum aiþein?"​

Qēmun þan atta jah aiþei.

Qaþ sa wair du Dagilai, aiþein is: "​Sunus þeins qam. Gasēhvum ina sitandan at biuda."​
63

Andhafjandei sō aiþei is qaþ: "​Sa ist þanei sōkidēdum."

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:
64

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 full present participle

In this text we saw the feminine form of the present participle:

Andhafja​ndei​ sō aiþei is qaþ = His mother said answering

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​:

Form Masculine Neuter Feminine

Nominative sitand​s sitand​o sitand​ei

Genitive sitand​ins sitand​ins sitand​eins

Dative sitand​in sitand​in sitand​ein

Accusative sitand​an sitand​o sitand​ein

As you can see:


- The ​genitive and dative​ of the ​masculine and neuter​ are the same (orange
and red)
- The ​neuter​ is the same in ​nominative​ and ​accusative​ (blue)
- The ​feminine​ ​dative​ and ​accusative​ are the same (green)
65

There are also weak nouns (f. N) like "ai​þei​"​ and (n. N) "hairtō" (heart) which
look similar to these:

Nominative:
sō​ ​sitand​ei​ ai​þ​ei
þata sitand​ō​ hairt​ō

Genitive:
þizōs sitand​eins​ aiþ​eins
þis sitand​ins​ hairt​ins

Exercise:
Translate into Gothic with demonstrative pronouns:

1. The sitting heart


2. Of the sitting father
3. To the sitting mother
4. The sitting mother (​accusative​)
5. Of the sitting heart
6. To the sitting heart
7. The sitting heart (​accusative​)
8. Of the sitting mother ​(aiþ​ eins)

The plural forms of the present participle and weak nouns

We also saw two plural forms in this text:

Masculine:
Wēsun þan jainar wairōs, ​sitand​ans
There were men there, ​sitting

Neuter:
Sai, sa atta þeins jah ik ​winnand​ona
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

Forms Masculine Neuter Feminine

Nominative þai ​sitand​ans​ att​ans þō ​ligand​ōna​ hairt​ōna þōs ​sitand​eins


aiþ​eins

Genitive þizē ​sitand​anē​ att​anē þizē ​ligand​anē​ hairt​anē þizō sitand​einō


aiþ​einō

Dative þaim ​sitand​am​ att​am þaim ​ligand​am​ ​hairt​am þaim sitand​eim


aiþ​eim
Accusative þans ​sitand​ans​ att​ans þō ​ligand​ōna​ ​hairt​ōna þōs ​sitand​eins
aiþ​eins

Again, you can use the color schemes to memorize similar forms.

Exercise:

The masculine u-stem

In this text you saw two forms of the masculine U-stem:

Niu sa ist sa ​sunus ​(nominative) ​Maþþaiaus (​ genitive)

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 sun​us

Genitive sun​aus

Dative sun​au

Accusative sun​u

What you can basically remember is that the accusative form is: ​nominative - final s.
The dative form is: ​genitive - final s.
67

Sunus (nominative) -> sunu = accusative


Sunaus (genitive) -> sunau = dative

To make it clearer in a table:

Form Son
Nominative sun​us

Genitive sun​aus

Dative sun​au (- s)

Accusative sun​u (- 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:

way - haidus (m. U)


ox - auhsus (m. U)
sword - hairus (m. U)

1. The great son


2. With the great sword
3. Of the sitting ox
4. To the saving sword
5. The man saw the sitting ox.

The relative pronoun

In this text you saw a few more relative pronouns (“​which​”):

Niu sa ist sa sunus Maþþaiaus, þ​ izei weis kunþēdum​ aiþein?


Of which we knew

Sa ist ​þanei​ sōkidēdum.


He is the one ​which​ we seeked.
68

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:

Form Masculine Neuter Feminine

Nominative saei (​sa​), þatei (​þata​), soei / sei (​so​),


þaiei (​þai​) þoei (​þo​) þo​z​ei (​þos​)

Genitive þizei (​þis​), þizei (​þis​), þizo​z​ei (​þizos​),


þizeei (​þize​) þizeei (​þize​) Þizoei (​þizo​)

Dative þammei (​þamma​), þammei (​þamma​), þaimei þizaiei (​þizai​),


þaimei (​þaim​) (​þaim​) þaimei (​þaim​)

Accusative þanei (​þana​), þatei (​þata​), þoei (​þo​),


þan​z​ei (​þans​) þoei (​þo​) þo​z​ei (​þos​)

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)

1. The sitting man which I saw.


2. He said to the sleeping man which I seeked.
3. The ox of the sleeping son of which I seeked...
4. To the sleeping sword which is in this earth.

The verb "taujan"

The verb "kunnan"

Text 14

The future tense

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

What is the subjunctive?


When you say "May he come" or "May he do" in English, this expresses a wish.

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:

Strong adjective declensions


Strong verbs class 1
U-declensions
Neuter and feminine weak nouns
Relative pronouns

Text 14:

Imperative
Future tense
Class 2 and class 3 weak verbs
Haban?
Declension of hva
f. I/O
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-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

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Answers
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Answers text 1:
1. “Hails!”
2. Sa ist Alareiks.
3. “Þiudan!”, qaþ.

Answers:
1. im
2. sind
3. sijum
4. is

Use of personal pronoun:

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

3. -ei, ai is a diphthong followed by 1 consonant


4. -ji, au is a diphthong not followed by any consonant
5. -ji, iu is a diphthong not followed by any consonant
6. -ji, u is a short vowel followed by one consonant
7. -ei, a is a short vowel followed by the two consonants "nd"
8. -ji, a is a short vowel followed by only one consonant "t"
9. -ei, u is a short vowel followed by the two consonants "mb"
10.-ei, a is a short vowel followed by the two consonants "gl"
11.-ei, au is followed by the two consonants "rk"
12.-ei, the short vowel a is followed by the two consonants "gl"
13.-ei, ō is a long vowel followed by at least one consonant (​k​)

Answers text 3:

Repetition and comprehension exercise:


1. You are (2nd singular)
2. -ji verb because of a vowel and one consonant before the -jan
3. Sa isn’t used

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
75

6. No

Translation of text:

1. “Where is your father?” said Alaric.


2. But he said: “I don’t know.”
3. Then Alaric asked him: “What are you saying? / What do you say?”
4. “I don’t know”, said the man.
5. “Where are you from?”, he asked him.
6. “I don’t know”, the man said. Alaric laughed at him.

Answers translation to Gothic:

1. Hvar ist (sa) wulfs?


2. Wait ​þatei frah.
3. “Jah hvar ist (sa) þiudans?” qaþ.
4. Frah þan ina: “Hvar ist (sa) wulfs?”
5. Hvar ist wulfs þeins?

Answers text 4:

Strong verb class 5 past:

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?
76

Answers text 5:

1. Galaubjam du (þamma) þiudana


2. Meleiþ Alareiks im
3. Miþ tagram meleiþ
4. Hausida (sa) wulfs þatei qimiþ.
5. "Galaubjam du imma", qaþ.

Answers text 6:

Personal pronouns:

1. Weis sijum hēr.


2. Hēr sind.
3. þu
4. Is! / Sa!
5. Ik!
6. Ni jūs, ak weis!

Past tense of jan-verbs:

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)?

Strong verb forms:


1. Usláiþ
2. Usdribun
3. Usstaig
4. Qēmun
5. Brak
6. Urrais
7. Biláif

Strong 2nd class verbs:


1. gakusun
2. gutum
3. miþgatáuhun (​h​ before ​iu​, so ​áu​)
4. láud
5. táuhum (​h ​before ​iu​, so ​áu​)

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

Answers Gothic to English:


1. I want to know from you (2nd plural)
2. And a voice came out of heaven
3. This is a loud/great voice
4. Do you (2nd plural) want to guard your house or do you want to
leave/depart/go away?

English to Gothic:

1. Hausida stibna mikila.


2. Qimiþ wulfs mikils, usqisteiþ.
3. Qaþ þatei wiljau witan fram þus.
4. Wili witan sa þiudans, iþ ni wileis witan.
5. Stibna mikila warþ, qaþ: "​Hva ist jainar?"​
79

-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)​ :
m​a​tj​ 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
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Demonstrative pronoun:

1. sō
2. þō
3. þō
4. þōs
5. þaim
6. þizō

7. þō
8. þōs
9. þizē
10. þaim

Both demonstrative and nouns:

1. þai balgeis
2. þizē wulfē
3. þaim þiudanam
4. þōs gibōs
5. þizō gibō

Text 11

Answers translation:

1. Don't we have the right to eat and drink?


2. Why do they think evil?
3. How can he eat?
4. They drink wine.

Answers use of ibai:

1. Ibai mitōþ ubila?


2. Ibai giband ina? / ibai giband imma?
3. þu us Galilea is? / þu uzu Galilea is?
4. Matjand? / Eis matjand?
5. Ibai Alareikis giba ist!?
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Use of the dual:

1. witōs = we two know, witats = you two know


2. laisjōs = we two follow, laisjats = you two follow
3. galaubjōs = we two believe, galaubjats = you two believe
4. ufhrōpjōs = we two cry out, ufhrōpjats = you two cry out

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. (Du þamma) attin


2. þis mēljandins gudjins
3. Mēleiþ (þana) attan | (þana) attan mēleiþ
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4. (Du þamma) waurkjandin


5. þamma ligandin gudjin
6. þana taujandan attan

The weak adjective

1. sa mikila atta
2. þamma ubilin attin
3. þis mikilins attins
4. þana ubilan attan

Translation exercise:

1. Behold / see, a woman in this/that city


2. This/the woman entering
3. This/the father writing
4. The whole church comes together.

5. Sō waurkjandei runa
6. Sa mikila gudja anakunnands..
7. Waurkjand.
8. Ibai mitōs þatei sa atgagganda gudja waurkeiþ?

Text 13

Text comprehension:

1. We is given emphasis here.


2. Because the men are mentioned for the first time in the first paragraph.
Thereafter they are referred to with a demonstrative pronoun like ​sa ​because
they were mentioned before.
3. The mother
4. Sitting over against a table. ​(If you answered sitting this is correct as well.)
5. That she and her husband were looking for him while sorrowing.

The present participle singular:

1. þata sitandō hairtō


2. þis sitandins attins
3. þizai sitandein aiþein
4. þō sitandein aiþein
83

5. þis sitandins hairtins


6. þamma sitandin barna
7. þata sitandō hairtō
8. þizōs sitandeins aiþeins

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.

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