Irregular Verbs in Germanic Languages

Germanic strong verbs form the tenses by using a vowel shift called 'ablaut' in the root of the verb. Based on different vowel shifts, strong verbs were grouped in 6 categories. Additional category is used for reduplicated verbs. Thus, there are 6+1 groups.

Group I

	Old English	Old Swedish	Modern Swedish	Modern Faroese
	ī - ā - i - ī	ī - ē - i - ī	i - e - e - i	í - ei - i - i
Infinitive	bītan	bīta	bita	bíta
Past, Sg.3	bāt	bēt	bet	beit
Past, Pl.1	biton	bitum	bet	bitu
Past participle	gebīten	bītin	bitit	bitið

Group II

	Old English	Old Swedish	Modern Swedish	Modern Faroese
	ēo - ēa - u - o	iū - ø - u - u	ju - (j)ö - (j)ö - (j)u	jó - ey - u - o
Infinitive	bēodan	biūþa	bjuda	bjóða
Past, Sg.3	bēad	bøþ	bjöd	beyð
Past, Pl.1	budon	buþum	bjöd	buðu
Past participle	geboden	buþin	bjudit	boðið