Verb Categories and Classes
Verbs in Middle High German are divided into two basic categories, based upon the formation of the preterite: strong and weak. Strong verbs exhibit an alternation of the stem vowel in the preterite and past participle (called apophony, vowel gradation, or, traditionally, Ablaut), while in weak verbs, the vowel generally remains the same as in the present tense, and a dental suffix (usually "-(e)t-") is attached. In addition to the strong and weak classes, there are a few minor classes of verbs: the so-called "preterite-presents", which exhibit a strong preterite-like vowel alternation in the present tense, contracted verbs, which have full forms as well as shortened versions, and anomalous verbs, which are simply irregular and do not conform to a general pattern.
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