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70 OLD HIGH GERMAN PRIMER.<br />
tense, three verbal nouns (pres. infin., pres. participle, and<br />
gerund), and one verbal adjective (the past participle).<br />
Conjugation.<br />
173. The OHG. verbs are divided into two great<br />
classes :<br />
Strong and Weak. The latter form their preterite<br />
by the addition of the syllable -ta, and their past participle by<br />
means of a t-suffix ;<br />
the former form their pret.<br />
and past<br />
participle by vowel gradation (ablaut).<br />
Ablaut is the gradation of vowels both in stem and suffix,<br />
caused by the primitive Indo-Germanic system of accentuation.<br />
The vowels vary within certain series of related<br />
vowels,<br />
called ablaut-series. There are in OHG. six such<br />
series which appear most clearly<br />
in the various classes of the<br />
strong verbs. We are able to conjugate a strong verb when<br />
\ve know the four stems, as seen (i)<br />
in the infin. or i. sg.<br />
pres. indie., (2) i. sg. pret. indie., (3) r. pi. pret. indie., (4)<br />
the past participle. By arranging the vowels according to<br />
these four stems we arrive at the f<strong>ol</strong>lowing system<br />
:<br />
i.<br />
11.<br />
I. 1,1<br />
II.<br />
III.<br />
eo(io), iu<br />
1(), i<br />
IV. g, i<br />
V. e, i<br />
VI. a, a<br />
NOTE. i. Under i. the first vertical c<strong>ol</strong>umn represents the vowels as<br />
they appear in the stem of the infinitive, and the second the vowels as<br />
they appear in the stem of the i. sg. pres. indicative.<br />
2. On the difference between eo(io) and iu, see 56 ; i(S) and i, see<br />
37, i ;<br />
6 and i, see 44 ;<br />
ei and e, see 54 ;<br />
ou and 6, see 55 ;<br />
u and<br />
o, see 39.
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