Gothic grammar for readers
Short notes for reading Wulfila's Gothic Bible. Every example comes from a text in this course.
Start reading Gothic
No account needed. Your first line takes about three minutes.
An alphabet made for this Bible
Wulfila built the Gothic alphabet in the fourth century, mostly from Greek letters, with a few from Latin and possibly runes. Many are easy to guess. A few to learn: πΈ is ΓΎ (th), π is Ζ (hw), π΅ is q, and πΎ is j (y).
Spellings can mislead: the pair π΄πΉ (ei) is a long βeeβ, and π°πΉ (ai) often sounds like the βeβ in βbedβ, though older books also read it as βeyeβ in some words.
π°πππ° πΏπ½ππ°π
Our Father
Atta unsar. The Gothic word for βfatherβ here is atta.
Endings show who does what
Like Latin and Old English, Gothic marks a word's job with its ending, though word order helps too. Many masculine nouns end in -s when they're the subject, and lose it when they're the object.
| πΈπΉπΏπ³πΉπ½π°πππΏπ | subject | the kingdom (does it) |
| π·π»π°πΉπ | object | loaf, bread (it's done to) |
| π³π°π²π° | dative | day (with himma, βon this dayβ) |
| πΌπ°π½π½π΄ | genitive plural | of men |
π·π»π°πΉπ πΏπ½ππ°ππ°π½π°
our bread
Hlaif, without -s: it's what is being given. Compare English loaf.
βThyβ agrees with its noun
βThyβ is ΓΎeins, and it changes its ending to match its noun, often following it. That's why the Lord's Prayer has both ΓΎein and ΓΎeins.
π½π°πΌπ πΈπ΄πΉπ½
thy name
Namo is neuter, so βthyβ is ΓΎein.
πΈπΉπΏπ³πΉπ½π°πππΏπ πΈπ΄πΉπ½π
Thy kingdom
Γiudinassus is masculine, so βthyβ is ΓΎeins.
Wishes and commands
Gothic has a verb form for wishes, the optative, which often ends in -ai in the third person singular: βmay it comeβ. Direct commands are often just the bare stem. The Lord's Prayer has plenty of both.
| π΅πΉπΌπ°πΉ | wish | may it come |
| π π΄πΉπ·π½π°πΉ | wish | may it be hallowed |
| π²πΉπ | command | give |
| π°ππ»π΄π | command | forgive |
π΅πΉπΌπ°πΉ πΈπΉπΏπ³πΉπ½π°πππΏπ πΈπ΄πΉπ½π
Thy kingdom come.
The verb comes first here: βmay it comeβ.
Two ways to form the past
Most Gothic pasts form in two ways, the same two English has. Some verbs change their vowel, as in sing and sang. Others add an ending with a d, as in walk and walked. If you speak English, you already know this pattern. A smaller group repeats the start of the verb instead, as in haihait, βcalledβ.
| π½π°πΌ | vowel change | took (niman) |
| π²π°π | vowel change | gave (giban) |
| π°π½π°ππΉπ»π°π πΉπ³π° | with -d- | grew quiet (anasilan) |
| π²π°π π°ππΉπ³π° | with -d- | clothed (gawasjan) |
πΎπ°π· π°ππ·π°πΉππ°π½π³π ππΏπΌπ°π½π° πΌπ°π²πΉπ π΄ πππ°π·πΏπ·
And he called one of the servants, and asked
Frah, βaskedβ, is a vowel-change past, with -uh, βandβ, added on.
jah, ni and -uh
πΎπ°π· (jah) means βandβ, and π½πΉ (ni) means βnotβ, usually right before the verb. A little -uh can also be stuck onto a word to mean βandβ, and Gothic may place it after the first word of a clause, as in qaΓΎuh, βand he saidβ.
πΎπ°π· π½πΉ π±ππΉπ²π²π°πΉπ πΏπ½π
And lead us not
Jah, βandβ, with ni right before the verb.
Practise on real texts
These notes make most sense once you have seen the forms in context. Urling brings each one up as you meet it in a text.
Start reading Gothic
No account needed. Your first line takes about three minutes.
Notes written by Claude and checked against Joseph Wright, Grammar of the Gothic Language (1910). Not yet reviewed by a Gothic teacher.