Is there a historical reason for I taking a verb form that's also plural?

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greystroke

Junior Member
Joined
Nov 21, 2007
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Student or Learner
Native Language
Tamil
Home Country
India
Current Location
India
Dear Sir,

Why does " I" take a verb form that's(also) plural?

Examples: I talk to my friends everyday or I go to the market regularly.

Is there a historical reason for this? I've read somewhere that it is because of a feature called syncretism.

Can somebody clarify please?

Thanks,

Arun
 
In old English, there were different endings for the different person of the verb, but they all got dropped except the third person singular, we also lost the pronoun thou along the way. The third person ending came from the north of the country, where there was a stronger Viking influence, replacing the older ending. The first person ending was dropped. English evolved from a mix of languages and it started as a highly synthetic language, but gradually lost many of those features over time.
 
Thank you, Tdol,

That's useful information.

Regards,

Arun
 
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