Early Old Swedish was markedly different from the modern language in that it had a more complex case structure and also retained the original Germanic three-gender system. Nouns, adjectives, pronouns and certain numerals were inflected in four cases; besides the extant nominative, there were also the genitive (later possessive), dative and accusative. The gender system resembled that of modern German, having masculine, feminine and neuter genders. The masculine and feminine genders were later merged into a common gender with the definite suffix -en and the definite article den, in contrast with the neuter gender equivalents -et and det. The verb system was also more complex: it included subjunctive and imperative moods and verbs were conjugated according to person as well as number. By the 16th century, the case and gender systems of the colloquial spoken language and the profane literature had been largely reduced to the two cases and two genders of modern Swedish.
early old swedish was markedly different from the modern language in that it had a more complex case structure and also retained the original germanic three-gender system nouns adjectives pronouns and certain numerals were inflected in four cases; besides the extant nominative there were also the genitive (later possessive) dative and accusative the gender system resembled that of modern german having masculine feminine and neuter genders the masculine and feminine genders were later merged into a common gender with the definite suffix -en and the definite article den in contrast with the neuter gender equivalents -et and det the verb system was also more complex it included subjunctive and imperative moods and verbs were conjugated according to person as well as number by the 16th century the case and gender systems of the colloquial spoken language and the profane literature had been largely reduced to the two cases and two genders of modern swedish