Chapter 15: Minor Declension Nouns

"Minor" declensions are so called because there are many fewer words that follow these patterns than follow the strong and weak declensions (declensions 1 through 4). Nevertheless, several important and common words follow these minor declensions, and you need to be able to recognize them.

There are three important minor declensions: the u-declension, the r-declension ("family words") and the radical consonant declension.

u-declension Nouns

Most u-declension nouns end in u, although the u-declension does contain some other nouns that end in consonants but nevertheless follow the same paradigm as those that end in u. Remember that not all nouns that end in u fall into the u-declension, some are third-declension nouns such as giefu.

Some u-declension Nouns:

Old English	Modern English
sunu	son (masculine)
hond	hand (feminine)
wudu	wood (masculine)
weald	forest (masculine)
medu	field (masculine)
fela	many (neuter)

The endings for these nouns are given in the table below

(a dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)

u-Declension Nouns Paradigm

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	- or a	a or u
Genitive	a	a
Accusative	- or a	a or u
Dative and Instrumental	a or u	um

u-Declension Singular Nouns: Examples

Case	Old English	Translation
Nominative	sunu	son (subject)
Genitive	suna	of the son
Accusative	sunu	son (direct object)
Dative and Instrumental	suna	with the son son (indirect object)

u-Declension Plural Nouns: Examples

Case	Old English	Translation
Nominative	sunu	sons (subject)
Genitive	suna	of the sons
Accusative	sunu	sons (direct object)
Dative and Instrumental	sunum	with the sons sons (indirect object)

r-declension Nouns ("family words")

These nouns included the "family words," such as "mother," and "father."

Some r-Declension Nouns

Old English	Modern English
fæder	father
broðor	brother
modor	mother
sweostor	sister

The endings for these nouns are given in the table below

(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)

r-Declension Nouns Paradigm

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-	ru or ra or ras
Genitive	- or res	ra
Accusative	-	ru or ra or ras
Dative and Instrumental	- or er	um or rum

r-Declension Singular Nouns: Examples

Case	Old English	Translation
Nominative	fæder	father (subject)
Genitive	fæderes	of the father
Accusative	fæder	father (direct object)
Dative and Instrumental	fæder	with the father father (indirect object)

r-Declension Plural Nouns: Examples

Case	Old English	Translation
Nominative	fæderas	fathers (subject)
Genitive	fædera	of the fathers
Accusative	fæderas	fathers (direct object)
Dative and Instrumental	fæderum	with the fathers fathers (indirect object)

Radical Consonant Declension Nouns

Radical Consonant Declension nouns are nouns where vowels in the noun change (the way that Modern English "foot" changes to "feet" in the plural) either in addition to, or in place of, adding an ending to the stem.

Some Radical Consonant Declension Nouns:

Old English	Modern English
monn	man
fot	foot
to	tooth
boc	book

The endings for these nouns are given in the table below.

(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)

Radical Consonant Declension Nouns Paradigm

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	-	-
Genitive	es	a
Accusative	-	-
Dative and Instrumental	vowel changes from "o" to "e" monn ==> menn	um

Radical Consonant Declension Singular Nouns: Examples

Case	Old English	Translation
Nominative	fot	foot (subject)
Genitive	fotes	of the foot
Accusative	fot	foot (direct object)
Dative and Instrumental	fet	with the foot foot (indirect object)

Radical Consonant Declension Plural Nouns: Examples

Case	Old English	Translation
Nominative	fot	feet (subject)
Genitive	fota	of the feet
Accusative	fot	feet (direct object)
Dative and Instrumental	fotum	with the feet feet (indirect object)