sat sat (archaic sitten) Class 5 verbs in Modern English: (in the sense of "to command" or "to invite"), , , , (= lie down), , . The verb is only used poetically now. Get, speak, tread, and weave, which come from Class 5 verbs, are now Class 4. The verb comes from a Class 2 verb in Old English, as did in the sense of "to offer, proclaim", but forbid is conflated with the other verb bid ("to command"). The preterite can be forbad or forbade, or even forbid. The preterite ate is pronounced "et" in some British dialects; historically the form eat, homophonous with the present stem was also found for the preterite. Although the verb to be is suppletive and highly irregular, its past follows the pattern of a class 5 strong verb, with grammatischer Wechsel (the alternation of "s" and "r" in "was" versus "were"), and has uniquely retained the singular/plural distinction of both ablaut grade and consonant in the modern languages. Old English: , English: was/were. For full paradigms and historical explanations see Indo-European copula. Class 6 Class 6 has disintegrated as well. The verbs shake, take and forsake come closest to the original vowel sequence. The consonant anomaly in stand is still visible, and is extended to the participle. shake shook shaken stand stood stood Class 6 verbs in modern English: , , , , , , , , , . The verb is in this class when used in a nautical context. Like most other classes in Modern English, this class has lost cohesion and now forms principal parts according to many different patterns. Two preterites (drew and slew) are now spelled with "ew", which is similar in sound to the "oo" of the others that still use a strong form. Swear is now class 4. The adjective graven was originally a past participle of the now obsolete verb grave. Note that lade, shape, shave, are now weak outside of their optionally strong past participle forms (laden, shapen, shaven, and waxen respectively). Fare has archaic past tense fore and rare past participle faren, but is normally weak now. Class 7 In Modern English this class has lost its homogeneity: fall fell fallen hang hung hung (Note that, in the transitive sense of hanging someone by the neck, hang usually has regular weak conjugation hanged) hold held held (the original past participle is preserved