Theme: The main features of the Noun and the Adjectives in the Middle English period Contents: Introduction

4. The declension of adjectives in the Middle English period
The declension system of adjectives in Middle English changed greatly. An adjective is a dependent part of speech. In Old English adjectives were inflected for case, number and gender agreeing with the noun they modified. One and the same adjective could be either strong or weak depending on the noun which it modified and on the presence or absence of the definite article before it. In Middle English the simplification of the declension system of nouns led to the simplification of the declension of adjectives.
There were two ways of declining adjectives – the definite and the indefinite declension. The adjective followed the definite declension mainly if the noun if modified had another attribute – a demonstrative pronoun, and they were declined as indefinite otherwise. ²²
The grammatical suffixes – forms of cases mainly coincided with those of nouns with the stem originally ending in a vowel or -n, yet in some cases we find pronominal suffixes example, in the Genitive Plural, in Dative Singular, etc. ²³
Declension of adjectives

Declension Case	Indefinite (strong)	Definite (weak)
Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative	Зōd (good) Зōdes Зōdum Зōdne	Зōda Зōdan
Nominative Genitive Dative Accusative	Зōde Зōdra Зōdum Зōde	Зōdan Зōdra Зōdum Зōdan