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    2.2.3.2 (Regular) strong verbs
    quickinfo

    Unlike weak verbs, strong verbs do not form past and present tense forms by means of a suffix. Instead, they make use of stem alternation, e.g. iek biende, iek boont, iek häbe buunden ‘I bind, I bound, I have bound’. Many strong verbs are regular in teir own way. That is to say: they share (more or less) the same paradigm with other verbs with regard to the past and perfect tense forms, e.g.: iek fiende, iek foont, iek häbe fuunden ‘I find, I found, I have found’.

    The present and past tense personal endings are those of the class I weak verbs. Many strong verbs feature stem vowel alternation in the second and third person singular of the present tense, just like irregular weak verbs (2.3.1). For example:

    present tense:

    1
    iek nieme, du nimst, hie (etc.) nimt; wie, jie, jo nieme ‘I take, you take, he (etc.) takes; we, you, they take’

    past tense:

    2
    iek noom, du noomst, hie (etc.) noom; wie, jie, jo nomen ‘I took, you took, he (etc.) took; we, you, they took’.

    Strong verbs can be subdivided into seven historical classes, ordered by descending frequency. The following scheme is not meant to be exhaustive.

    (The historical verb class is listed in Latin numbers behind the infinitive form. Where there is stem alternation in the present tense, only the second person singular is mentioned. The plural imperative form is always identical to the short infinitive plus -t, so: bietet ‘bite (imperat.pl.)’.)

    Table 1
    infinitive 2.sg.prs past perf.ptc
    biete (I) bitst beet bieten bit/biete ‘to bite’
    bjode (II) bjudst bood beden bjud ‘to offer’
    glimme (III) glom glommen glimme ‘to shine’
    nieme (III) nimst noom numen nim ‘to take’
    drinke (III) droank droanken drink ‘to drink’
    stele (IV) stäälst stuul stälen stele ‘to steal’
    breke (IV) bräkst briek breken breek, breke ‘to break’
    mete (V) mätst miet meten mät, mete ‘to measure’
    woakse (VI) wuuks woaksen woakse ‘to grow’
    drege (VII) drächst druuch drain dräch, drege ‘carry’
    fange (VII) fäng fangen fang(e) ‘to catch’
    lope (VII) lopst liep lepen loop ‘to walk’

    Historically, the verb classes IV and V have merged into one and the same class (cf. the past participles breken [IV] ‘broken’ and meten [V] with Dutch gebroken and gemeten or German gebrochen and gemessen respectively).

    As one can conclude from the above scheme, the strong verb classes are not homogeneous. They can be split up into subclasses and even then exceptions emerge. Some verbs have ended up in the ‘wrong’ class historically, either in full or in part (e.g. the preterite form iek luus from leze ‘to read’ is unexpected and unhistorical). Other strong verbs have obtained weak forms, e.g. weeuwe – wuuf (or: weeuwde) – weeuwen ‘to weave’. The strong verb stete – stiet – steten ‘to bump’ is also in use as an irregular weak verb: stete – statte – stat.

    Some verbs are completely irregular, for example weze ‘to be’, häbe ‘to have’ and kwede ‘to say’.

    3
    weze; (present) iek bän, du bääst, hie (etc.) is, wie (etc.) sunt ; (preterite) iek waas, du wierst, hie (etc.) waas, wie (etc.) wieren; (perfect) iek bän wezen; (imperative) wääs.
    4
    häbe; (present) iek häbe, du hääst, hie (etc.) hät,wie (etc.) häbe; (preterite) iek hied, wie (etc.) hieden; (perfect) iek häbe heeuwed; (imperative) haäb.
    5
    kwede; (present) iek kwede, du kwädst, hie (etc.) kwädt, wie (etc.) kwede; (preterite) iek kwaad, du kwiest, hie kwied, wie (etc.) kwieden; iek häbe kweden; (imperative) kwäd, kwede.
    References
      About this article
      Author(s): Eric Hoekstra, Bouke Slofstra
      Category: Saterfrisian Syntax
      Version: 1.0, December 2023
      Version history:
      version editor(s) date remarks
      1.0 Eric Hoekstra, Bouke Slofstra December 2023
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