Contracted Verbs
Another small group of verbs are the so-called "contracted" verbs, named for their characteristic shortened forms alongside their regular forms:
- "lân" (from "lâzen", Modern German 'lassen', English 'to let')
- "vân" (from "vâhen", Modern German 'anfangen', English 'to begin')
- "hân" (from "hâhen", Modern German 'hängen', English 'to hang')
- "hân" (from "hâben", Modern German 'haben', English 'to have') This verb generally exhibits the contracted forms in the indicative and the uncontracted forms in the subjunctive.
Read more about this topic: Middle High German Verbs
Famous quotes containing the words contracted and/or verbs:
“This death’s livery which walled its bearers from ordinary life was sign that they have sold their wills and bodies to the State: and contracted themselves into a service not the less abject for that its beginning was voluntary.”
—T.E. (Thomas Edward)
“He crafted his writing and loved listening to those tiny explosions when the active brutality of verbs in revolution raced into sweet established nouns to send marching across the page a newly commissioned army of words-on-maneuvers, all decorated in loops, frets, and arrowlike flourishes.”
—Alexander Theroux (b. 1940)