Chaucer’s English

I. Consonants. Nearly all consonants in ME are pronounced individually. Hence in know the “k” is pronounced; in folk the “l” is pronounced. A few exceptions: “gh” is not silent as in ModEng, but is pronounced like the in German nach. With “gn” both consonants are pronounced when they appear at the beginning of a word (like gnawe), but in any other position the “g” is silent (as in signe).

II. Final e is often pronouncedalways when it occurs at the end of a line.

III. Vowels are tricky and every phonetic study you read will give you different modern equivalents. Use the following as an oversimplified guide:

Short Vowels:
ME short “a” (as in ME whan, hath) is pronounced like ModEng hot
ME short “o” (as in ME of, yonge) is pronounced like the ModBritish fox
ME short “u” (as in ME sunne) is pronounced like ModEng full.

Long Vowels:
ME long “a” (as in ME bathed) is pronounced like ModEng father
ME long “e” (as in ME sweet) is pronounced like a ModEng long “a,” as in name
ME long “i” (as in ME inspired) is pronounced like ModEng “ee,” as in feet
ME long “o” (as in ME roote, holy) is pronounced like ModEng holy
ME long u (as in ME shoures) is pronounced like ModEng Luke

Dipthongs:
ME “ai,” “ay,” “ei,” “ey” may all be pronounced like the “ai” in ModEng aisle
ME “au,” “aw” (as in ME chaunge) may be pronounced like the “ow” in ModEng how
ME “ew,” “eu” (as in ME newe) may be pronounced like the “ew” in ModEng curfew
ME “oi,” “oy” (as in ME joye) may be pronounced like the ModEng joy
ME “ou,” “ow” (as in ME thoughte) may be pronounced like the ModEng thought, but sometimes “out” (depending on which guide you use)

Quick Grammar:

Pronouns: Almost the same as ModEng: I/ich, my/myn, me; he, his, him; etc. But “they” takes slightly different forms: ME they, hire (theirs); them or hem.
Also ME distinguishes between singular and plural “you”: “you” sing. is “thou”; “you” pl. is “ye.”
Possessive Nouns: As in ModEng, generally add “s” if the word ends with a vowel or “es” if the word ends with a consonant (as in ME aventure, aventures; wight, wightes). Some nouns are irregular (as in ME hors, hors; gos, gees)
Adjectives: Partially inflected. For example: “sik lay the goode man,” but “his opinion was good.”
Comparative Adjectives: Same as ModEng: i.e. strong, stronger, strongest; grete, gretter, grettest.
Adverbs: Like ModEng. Formed from the adjectives by adding “-ly,” “-liche” or “-e,” i.e. ME queyntelych, queyntely
Verbs: The present tense is formed with “-e,” “-erest,” and “-eth” in the singular, and “-en” in the plural: “I finde,” “thou findest,” “he findeth,” “they finden.” Sometimes the third person singular is contracted: i.e. “he fynt”‘ “he findeth.” The pronoun “thou” is sometimes suffixed to the verb (usually in questions): “Herestow?” means “Do you hear?”
Past tense, as in ModEng, is formed normally by adding “-d” or “-t” to the stem (weak conjugation) or by a change in the stem vowel (strong conjugation): I heer, I herde; I go, I wente
Impersonal verbs: These no longer exist in ModEng. “Him liketh” means “it pleases him”; “him list” means “it pleases him” or “he wants”; “him reweth” means “it pains him” or “he repents,” etc.