Читать книгу A Book of Middle English - J. A. Burrow - Страница 70

The past tense is similarly used to express both simple and progressive aspects; see the translation of the verbs sete and underʒete here: þo al þo þat þerin sete / þat it was King Orfeo underʒete, ‘then all those who were sitting there understood that it was King Orfeo’, 5/575–6. Especially in early texts, the past tense can be used for the perfect, where Modern English uses ‘have’ or ‘had’: ne isæh nævere na man selere cniht nenne, ‘no one had ever seen a better knight’, 3/28.