COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE VERB IN OLD ENGLISH AND MODERN ENGLISH

Abstract

This study presents a comparative linguistic analysis of the verb system in Old English and Modern English. The research focuses on morphological, syntactic, and semantic changes that occurred in the evolution of the English verb from the early Germanic period to the present day. Using descriptive and comparative methods, the study explores verb conjugation, tense and aspect formation, auxiliary usage, and irregular forms. The findings show that while Old English verbs were characterized by rich inflection and strong morphological regularity, Modern English has moved toward analytical construction, relying on auxiliary verbs and word order rather than inflectional endings. The paper concludes that the simplification of verb morphology in Modern English reflects broader historical linguistic tendencies toward analytical grammar and syntactic stability