"Minor" declensions are so called because there are many fewer words that follow these patterns than follow the strong and weak declensions (declensions 1 through 4). Nevertheless, several important and common words follow these minor declensions, and you need to be able to recognize them.
There are three important minor declensions: the u-declension, the r-declension ("family words") and the radical consonant declension.
Most u-declension nouns end in u, although the u-declension does contain some other nouns that end in consonants but nevertheless follow the same paradigm as those that end in u. Remember that not all nouns that end in u fall into the u-declension, some are third-declension nouns such as giefu.
| Old English | Modern English |
| sunu | son (masculine) |
| hond | hand (feminine) |
| wudu | wood (masculine) |
| weald | forest (masculine) |
| medu | field (masculine) |
| fela | many (neuter) |
The endings for these nouns are given in the table below
(a dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | - or a | a or u |
| Genitive | a | a |
| Accusative | - or a | a or u |
| Dative and Instrumental | a or u | um |
| Case | Old English | Translation |
| Nominative | sunu | son (subject) |
| Genitive | suna | of the son |
| Accusative | sunu | son (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | suna |
with the son son (indirect object) |
| Case | OldEnglish | Translation |
| Nominative | sunu | sons (subject) |
| Genitive | suna | of the sons |
| Accusative | sunu | sons (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | sunum |
with the sons sons (indirect object) |
These nouns included the "family words," such as "mother," and "father."
| Old English | Modern English |
| fæder | father |
| broðor | brother |
| modor | mother |
| sweostor | sister |
The endings for these nouns are given in the table below
(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | - | ru or ra or ras |
| Genitive | - or res | ra |
| Accusative | - | ru or ra or ras |
| Dative and Instrumental | - or er | um or rum |
| Case | OldEnglish | Translation |
| Nominative | fæder | father (subject) |
| Genitive | fæderes | of the father |
| Accusative | fæder | father (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | fæder |
with the father father (indirect object) |
| Case | OldEnglish | Translation |
| Nominative | fæderas | fathers (subject) |
| Genitive | fædera | of the fathers |
| Accusative | fæderas | fathers (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | fæderum |
with the fathers fathers (indirect object) |
Radical Consonant Declension Nouns
Radical Consonant Declension nouns are nouns where vowels in the noun change (the way that Modern English "foot" changes to "feet" in the plural) either in addition to, or in place of, adding an ending to the stem.
| Old English | Modern English |
| monn | man |
| fot | foot |
| to | tooth |
| boc | book |
The endings for these nouns are given in the table below.
(the dash - indicates that the stem gets no additional ending)
| Case | Singular | Plural |
| Nominative | - | - |
| Genitive | es | a |
| Accusative | - | - |
| Dative and Instrumental |
vowel changes from "o" to "e" monn ==> menn |
um |
| Case | OldEnglish | Translation |
| Nominative | fot | foot (subject) |
| Genitive | fotes | of the foot |
| Accusative | fot | foot (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | fet |
with the foot foot (indirect object) |
| Case | OldEnglish | Translation |
| Nominative | fot | feet (subject) |
| Genitive | fota | of the feet |
| Accusative | fot | feet (direct object) |
| Dative and Instrumental | fotum |
with the feet feet (indirect object) |