Theme: syntax in oe contents I. Introduction II. Main body. Structural relations of old english

1.2. Verb-Subject

This word-order is common in independent clauses introduced by the adverbs þā 'then', þonne 'then', þǣr 'there', þanon 'thence', þider 'thither', the negative adverb ne, and the conjunctions and/ond and ac 'but'.

Since Old English narrative often advances in a series of þā-clauses, we will find the Verb-Subject word-order quite frequent in narrative:

Ðā cwæð Drihten tō Caine: "Hwǣr is Abel ðīn brōðor?"

Ðā andswarode hē and cwæð: "Iċ nāt; seġst ðū, sceolde iċ mīnne brōðor healdan?"

Ðā cwæð Drihten tō Caine: "Hwæt dydest ðū? Þīnes brōðor blōd clypað tō mē of eorða

Then the Lord said to Cain: "Where is Abel, your brother?"

Then he answered and said: "I don't know: do you say I must look after my brother?"

Then the Lord said to Cain: "What have you done? Your brother's blood cries to me from the earth."

This word-order also occurs in independent clauses not introduced by an adverb or adverbial element:

Wǣron hī ēac swȳþe druncene, for ðām þǣr wæs brōht wīn sūðan.

[They were also very drunk, for wine had been brought from the south.]

When the clause contains a direct object, it will usually follow the subject, but it may also come first in the clause.

The Verb-Subject word-order is also characteristic of questions, whether or not introduced by an interrogative word: Him cwæð Nicodemus tō: "Hū mæġ se ealda mann eft bēon ācenned? Mæġ hē, lā, inn faran tō his mōdor innoðe eft, and swā bēon ġeedcenned?" Nicodemus said to him, "How can the old man be born again? May he, indeed, go into his mother's womb again, and thus be reborn?"

In Modern English this word-order is used mostly in questions, but in Old English it is also used in declarative sentences.

The Verb-Subject word-order has suggested to most editors that the line is a question, to be translated "Are you the Beowulf who contended with Breca?" But it has been plausibly suggested that it is instead a statement, to be translated "You're that Beowulf, the one who contended with Breca!"

Commands also generally have the Verb-Subject word-order unless the subject is omitted, as happens more often than not when the command is positive:

Ne wyrċ ðū ðē āgrafene godas.

[Do not make graven gods for yourself.]

Ārwurða fæder and mōdor.

[Honor (your) father and mother.]( Beowulf)