Feminine

Short-root vowel Long-root vowel

N. talu N. wund

G. tale G. wunde

D. tale D. wunde

Ac. tale Ac. wunde

Plural

N. tala (-e) N. wunda (-e)

G. tala (-ena) G. wunda (-ena)

D. talum D. wundum

Ac. tala (-e) Ac. wunda (-e)

Group of i-stem included nouns of all 3 genders. The Masc. and Neut had much in common with a-stems, and Femin. – with -stem.

Singular

Masc. Femin.

N. mete N. with “thing”

G. metes G. wihte

D. mete D. wihte

Ac. mete Ac. with

Plural

N. mete (-as) N. wihta (-e)

G. meta G. wihta

D. metum D. wihtum

Ac. mete (-as) Ac. wihta (-e)

Among u-stem nouns were those of Masc. and Femin. genders. In the Nom. and Acc., sing. these nouns with short-root vowel had ending –u, with long – no ending at all.

Singular

Masc. Femin.

N. sunu N. nosu

G. suna G. nosa

D. suna D. nosa

Ac. sunu Ac. nosu

Plural

N. suna N. nosa

G. suna G. nosa

D. sunum D. nosum

Ac. suna Ac. nosa

4. Weak declension.

Here belonged nouns in n-stem, they were numerous, and had 3 genders. In the Nom., sing., Masc. the nouns ended in –a, Fem. and Neut. – in -e.

5. Another consonantal declension is the Root declension, where nouns without any stem-forming suffix belonged.

Among other consonantal stems we should mention a small group of nouns denoting family relationship with stem-suffix -r- (broþor, fæder, mōdor), and also with -s- stem (which later changed into -r-: according to Verner’s law).

We may conclude that the system of noun declensions lacked consistency. There were many polyfunctional and homonymous markers of the paradigm. The distinction between morphological classes was not strict. Towards the end of OE formal variation grew and the system tended to be re-arranged. None of the declensions made a distinction between 8 forms: for 2 numbers & 4 cases.