Chapter 14: Weak Nouns
Fourth Declension ("weak") nouns are nouns whose stems end in a vowel (except for nouns that end in u, which are either third declension or minor declension). You do not need to be concerned about the gender of a fourth declension noun.
Some Fourth Declension (Weak) Nouns:
| Old English | Modern English |
|---|---|
| blostma | flower |
| draca | dragon |
| eage | eye |
| sceaða | enemy |
| hæte | heat |
The endings for these nouns are given in the table below
(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)
Fourth Declension (Weak) Nouns Paradigm
| Case | Singular | Plural |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | - | an |
| Genitive | an | ena |
| Accusative | an | an |
| Dative and Instrumental | an | um |
Fourth Declension (Weak) Singular Nouns: Examples
| Case | Old English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | draca | dragon (subject) |
| Genitive | dracan | of the dragon |
| Accusative | dracan | dragon (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | dracan | with the dragon
dragon (indirect object) |
Fourth Declension (Weak) Plural Nouns: Examples
| Case | Old English | Translation |
|---|---|---|
| Nominative | dracan | dragons (subject) |
| Genitive | dracena | of the dragons |
| Accusative | dracan | dragons (direct object) |
| Dative/Instrumental | dracum | with the dragons
dragons (indirect object) |