Archaic Conjugations

• All verbs would take -en with I: I ären, I voren, I haden varit, I skolen vara, I måsten, I tror
• In the present, plurals are like the infinitive, except vi äro: vi hafva
• In the past, weak verbs had one form, while strong plurals would take -o, some with a different stem vowel (det fanns, de funnos) shared by the subjunctive.
• 1st. pl. imperative with -om: låtom oss tro
• 2nd pl. imperative with n: tron
• vara form perfect past with intransitive verbs: jag är uppstigen
• present subjunctive replaces infinitive’s a with -e (if not -a, same as infinitive)
• past subjunctive only exists with strong verbs, adding -e (to plural past stem)

Note verbs themselves were often spelled differently: hafva, blifva, skrifva etc.

• skall has vi skola, i skolen
• Lär in the present: han lära vara he is said to be
• Må for subjunctive: det må du icke göra you mustn’t do this
• Månne/månde: Hvad månde det betyda? What might this mean?

Fossilized Cases

The genitives complicate word building, as words can’t be compounded willy-nilly.

Genitive singular:

• hos prästens - at the minister’s
• hos grannas - at the neighbor’s
• till lands - by and
• till fots - by foot
• till sjös, havs - by/at sea
• till sängs - to bed
• till skogs - to the forest
• tills mans - everyone
• ättartal - genealogy
• giftermål - marriage
• varubyte - barter
• läroverk - school
• till spillo - to ruin

Also consider the time construction e.g. i middags, i söndags, dagsens, lifsens, riksens.

Latin/Greek genitives: Kristi, Jesu, Messie, Anne, Marie, musei, kollegii.

Genitive plural:

• herravälde - power/dominion
• mannamod - manly courage
• konungaval - election of kings
• kola mörkret - pitch dark
• till handa - at hand
• tillbaka, till rygga - back
• till hopa - together
• bringa till väga - bring about

Dative singular:

• å sido - aside
• i ty fall, i så målto - in such case(s)
• i förmågo av - by the power/virtue of
• i min ägo - in my possession
• i delo med - in disagreement with
• meds Guds nåde - by the grace of God
• för visso - surely
• på färde - going on
• gå man ur huse - take to the streets
• gammal i gårde
• skämt åsido - jokes aside
• vara av godo/ondo - be good/evil
• se i syne - have visions
• på sistone - lately
• i allt i allo
• famla i blindo
• i huru
• varg i veum

Dative plural:

• i handom - in hand
• i löndom - in secret
• lagom - just right
• i sinom tid - in due time
• stundom - once in a while/sometimes
• tusen sinom tusen - thousands upon thousands
• allom bekant
• androm till skräck och varnagel
• i andanom

Accusative:

• i rättan tid - at the right time
• skrita i högan sky - scream loudly
• i ljusan låga
• i godan ro
• ana argan list