Old English grammar in the feminine singular and neuter plural: The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -h: The following shows an example of an adjective ending with -ƿ: Old English had two main determiners: "se", which could function as both 'the' or 'that', and "þes" for 'this'. Modern English 'that' descends from the neuter nominative/accusative form, and 'the' from the masculine nominative form, with 's' replaced analogously by the 'th' of the other forms. The feminine nominative form was possibly the source of Modern English 'she'. Most pronouns are declined by number, case and gender; in the plural form
Old English many inflectional endings and forms, and word order is much freer. The oldest Old English inscriptions were written using a runic system, but from about the 9th century this was replaced by a version of the Latin alphabet. "Englisc", which the term "English" is derived from, means 'pertaining to the Angles'. In Old English, this word was derived from "Angles" (one of the Germanic tribes who conquered parts of Great Britain in the 5th century). During the 9th century, all invading Germanic tribes were referred to as "Englisc". It has been hypothesised that the Angles acquired their name because their