Irregular Nouns
A - Nouns
These are the nouns that have the ending -a in inflected forms of the singular, and the nominative/accusative plural. There aren't really any distinguishing features to set these nouns apart from others, so one must memorize them.
Masculine
Case / Number | Singular | Plural |
Nominative | sunu | suna |
Genitive | suna | suna |
Dative | suna | sunum |
Instrumental | suna | sunum |
Accusative | sunu | suna |
Masculine A-Nouns | Feminine A-Nouns |
æppel – apple
bregu – prince, ruler eard – native country feld – field ford – ford gár – spear (mostly in compounds) hád – rank, condition hearg – temple heoru - sword lagu – sea, flood magu – son, man medu - mead meodu – mead séað – pit, spring sidu - custom spitu - spit sumor – summer sunu - son weald – forest winter – winter wudu – wood |
cin(n) - chin
|
A-Nouns are declined alike, both masculine and feminine. If the word
ends in -u, then drop the -u, and add the -a or -um endings as necessary.
This type of noun is different from normal, since normal feminine nouns must add
-e in the accusative.
Former Masculine and Neuter A-Nouns
In prehistoric Old English, there were more A-Nouns, but they changed to regular nouns by the time OE was written down. The -oð nouns, and two neuter nouns, amongst others, no longer decline as A-nouns do.
Masculine | Neuter |
ár – messenger |
feoh - cattle feolu - much, many |