Lesson 1

In this lesson you'll learn:
- How to start a conversation
- The present tense of the verb "to be" and personal pronouns
- A few important words

 Lesson 1


The verb "to be" (wisan)

Just like Spanish, Gothic uses personal pronouns (I, you, he etc.) which are often left out. Personal pronouns in Gothic are used for emphasis and for clarification. An example is: "Who did it? He!"

The personal pronouns in Gothic look a bit like a mix of Dutch, German and English, let's take a look:
  • I = ik
  • You (sing) =  þu
  • He = is
  • She = si
  • It = ita
  • We (dual) = wit
  • We = weis
  • You (dual) = jut
  • You (plural) = jus
  • They (masc.) = eis
  • They (fem.) = ijos
  • They (neut.) = ija
The dual is used to express that two persons are involved, so "wit" = we two, "jut" = you two.

You use they (neuter) for mixed groups of both men and women.
One of the most important verbs to know is "to be", while we look at this verb we'll repeat the personal pronouns, as you now know which you and we are dual, singular and plural, they will be left out here:
  • I am = ik im
  • You are = þu is
  • He is = is ist
  • She is = si ist
  • It is = ita ist
  • We are = wit sijos
  • We are = weis sijum
  • You are = jut sijuts
  • You are = jus sijuþ
  • They are (masc) = eis sind
  • They are (fem) = ijos sind
  • They are (neut.) = ija sind
 You don't need to learn the future tense in Gothic, because it's the same as the present tense, so "ik im" means both "I am" and "I 'll be".

The declension of the singular masculine A-stem

 

Gothic is a language with declensions, English only has two declensions of words, a singular and a plural, for example "car" and "cars".
Gothic has more of them.
Let's first look at the A-stem declension:

King = þiudans
  • King nom. = þiudans
  • King gen. = þiudanis
  • King dat. = þiudana
  • King acc. = þiudan

The nominative is the thing or living being which acts, for example: "The king sees the boy". The king is the one who sees and would be "þiudans" in Gothic.
The genitive is used for possession, king gen. could be translated as "of the king". It is also used in combination with certain words.
The dative translates "to the king" or "for the king".
The accusative is the thing or living being to which something is done. In "The boy sees the king", king would be translated as "þiudan".

Vocabulary:


king = þiudans (m. A)
in = in + dative (to be in a place, no movement)
bird = fugls (m. A)
field = akrs (m. A)
soldier = gadrauhts (m. I) (singular is declined in the same way as m. A)
servant = andbahts (m. A)
day = dags (m. A)
road = wigs (m. A)
on = ana + dat. (to be on a place, without movement).
with = miþ + dat.
and, too = jah
helmet = hilms (m. A)
now = nu
but = iþ
not = ni (always directly before verb)
isn't = nist (ni + ist)
far = fairra
stone = stains (m. A)

Reading text:

Þiudans ist miþ gadrauhta. Gadrauhts ist ana wiga, jah þiudans ist jah ana wiga. Fugls ist ana akra, andbahts ist jah ana akra. Hilms gadrauhtis ist ana akra, iþ gadrauhts nist ana akra. Gadrauhts nu ist ana wiga. Akrs ist fairra. 

Translate:

1. I am with a king now.
2. The helmet is on the stone.
3. They (masc.) are on the road with the soldier.

Select underneath to see the answers:

1. Ik im miþ þiudana nu.
2. Hilms ist ana staina.
3. Eis sind ana wiga miþ gadrauhta.



Important expressions to start a conversation:

Hello = hails (to a man) / haila (to a woman)
How are you doing = Hwaiwa magt? (To one person)

Are the reading text and translatios not enough and do you want to practice more?

Do the test




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