Orthography

• The first characteristic of Old English (OE) that may appear difficult is the alphabet: letters such as þ (thorn, as in the original rune) and ð (eth) were used interchangeably, as in "þing" ("thing") and "brōðor" ("brother").
  
  

Pronunciation

• Old English becomes more familiar when we hear it spoken. Consonants have the same sounds as modern English and all consonants are voiced; hence the OE "cniht" is pronounced "[k]niht" and it is our word "knight." However, the vowels and dipthongs (such as æ and œ) can be confusing. These are the elements of pronunciation that have changed the most over time and that also are affected by regional differences.
  
  

Vocabulary

• It looks more difficult than it actually is.page image by Mykola Velychko from Fotolia.com
  
  We still use some common words that existed in OE: "þing," "brōðor," "mann," "under" and "him," for example. But much of the OE lexicon was replaced by French words or derivations after the Norman invasion in the 11th century; therefore, reading "Beowulf" or "The Last Wanderer" is much more difficult than reading a medieval text such as "The Canterbury Tales."
  
  

Nouns and Adjectives

• Perhaps the most difficult aspect of Old English is the use of case endings for nouns and adjectives, according to gender and number. For example, the word "sāwol" (feminine), meaning "soul," could be "sāwle," "sāwla, -e" or "sāwlum," depending on the situation. Such endings either disappeared over time or were replaced by appropriate prepositions.
  
  

Fun Fact

• Alfred the Great (871-899) was responsible for encouraging literacy and the recording of traditional oral stories, so the few surviving copies we have of texts dating from that time (such as the regional Chronicles) could well be thanks to his reign.