Editing Middle English (section)

=== Nouns ===
Middle English retains only two distinct noun-ending patterns from the more complex system of [[Old English grammar#Nouns|inflection in Old English]]:
{| class="wikitable"
|+Middle English nouns
! rowspan="2" |Nouns
! colspan="2" |[[Strong noun]]s
! colspan="2" |[[Weak noun]]s
|-
!Singular
!Plural
!Singular
!Plural
|-
!Nominative
| rowspan="2" | -({{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}})
| rowspan="2" | -{{lang|enm|es|italic=unset}}
| -{{lang|enm|e}}
| rowspan="4" | -{{lang|enm|en|italic=unset}}
|-
!Accusative
| rowspan="3" | -{{lang|enm|en|italic=unset}}
|-
!Genitive
| -{{lang|enm|es|italic=unset}}<ref name="ReferenceA"/>
| -{{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}}({{lang|enm|ne|italic=unset}})<ref>cf. 'Ancrene Wisse' (The ''Anchoresses''' Guide)</ref>
|-
!Dative
| -{{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}}
| -{{lang|enm|e|italic=unset}}({{lang|enm|s|italic=unset}})
|}
Nouns of the weak declension are primarily inherited from Old English ''n''-stem nouns but also from ''ō''-stem, ''wō''-stem, and ''u''-stem nouns,{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}} which did not inflect in the same way as ''n''-stem nouns in Old English, but joined the weak declension in Middle English. Nouns of the strong declension are inherited from the other Old English noun stem classes.

Some nouns of the strong type have an ''-e'' in the nominative/accusative singular, like the weak declension, but otherwise strong endings. Often, these are the same nouns that had an ''-e'' in the nominative/accusative singular of Old English (they, in turn, were inherited from [[Proto-Germanic]] ''ja''-stem and ''i''-stem nouns).

The distinct dative case was lost in early Middle English, and although the genitive survived, by the end of the Middle English period only the strong ''-'s'' ending (variously spelled) was in use.<ref>Fischer, O., van Kemenade, A., Koopman, W., van der Wurff, W., ''The Syntax of Early English'', CUP 2000, p. 72.</ref> Some formerly feminine nouns, as well as some weak nouns, continued to make their genitive forms with ''-e'' or no ending (e.g., {{lang|enm|fole hoves}}, horses' hooves), and nouns of relationship ending in ''-er'' frequently have no genitive ending (e.g., {{lang|enm|fader bone}}, "father's bane").<ref name="Burrow-2005-p23">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, p.&nbsp;23</ref>

The strong ''-(e)s'' plural form has survived into Modern English. The weak ''-(e)n'' form is now rare and used only in ''oxen'' and as part of a [[double plural]], in ''children'' and ''brethren''. Some dialects still have forms such as ''eyen'' (for ''eyes''), ''shoon'' (for ''shoes''), ''hosen'' (for ''hose(s)''), ''kine'' (for ''cows''), and ''been'' (for ''bees'').

[[Grammatical gender]] survived to a limited extent in early Middle English<ref name="Burrow-2005-p23"/> before being replaced by natural gender in the course of the Middle English period. Grammatical gender was indicated by agreement of articles and pronouns (e.g., {{lang|enm|þo ule}} "the feminine owl") or using the pronoun {{lang|enm|he}} to refer to masculine nouns such as {{lang|enm|helm}} ("helmet"), or phrases such as {{lang|enm|scaft stærcne}} (strong shaft), with the masculine accusative adjective ending ''-ne''.<ref name="Burrow-2005-p38">Burrow & Turville-Petre 2005, p.&nbsp;38</ref>