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Geordie Grammar

Geordie Dialect Grammar

It is extremely difficult to collect examples of dialect grammar, compared with pronunciation or even vocabulary. In an interview lasting an hour, for instance, you are likely to hear most of the vowels and probably all the consonants, but very few if any non-standard grammatical constructions. You would not, for instance, expect to hear the past tense of every single verb in the English language, but you might expect to encounter every single consonant and vowel sound. In addition, many constructions turn out to be widespread nationally rather than regionally specific.

Listen to examples

The table below gives several examples of non-standard grammatical constructions typical of Tyneside. All the audio clips are taken from recent BBC interviews and represent current usage. They are from spontaneous conversation and so reflect the natural reflexes of the spoken grammar of Geordie. The left-hand column lists each construction, while the second column gives the preferred form in Standard English. Click on the sound file to listen to speakers using the target construction. The right-hand column gives information about its regional distribution. The list is by no means comprehensive, but it includes examples of distinctive local grammar, such as non-standard negatives and pronouns.

Geordie

Geordie Verbal Constructions

Geordie form	Standard English equivalent / explanation	sound file	recordings where this feature also occurs
third person plural is	are	Five Pillars of Islam is, uhm, five rules which we, we live by	Read Portesham Bleanish Island
third person plural was	were	the cables was the best, cause that lasted years	Stannington Byker Stannington Byker Salford Boston Nottingham Bristol Portesham Peter Tavy Milland Portsoy Portsoy Portsoy Londonderry Bleanish Island
there was + plural complement	there were	, there wasn’t any machines in them days	Salford Nottingham Danesford North Elmham Melksham Hackney Canterbury Milland Maerdy Cardiff Dalmellington Bleanish Island
mustn’t have + past participle	can't have + past participle	, the other thing there was never any shortage of seemed to be rice pudding; it mustn‘t’ve been on rations, but we usually got rice pudding
to be to + infinitive	need to be + past participle	would still be to feed	Stannington
they call him/her/it ...	he/she/it’s called ...	I can remember the carthorse – the last one we had, they called him Jock	Stannington Middlesbrough
historic present	the suffix <s> is added to all forms of the verb (I goes, we says goes, they asks) etc.) — a narrative device used to create immediacy and heighten suspense when relating an anecdote	the bairns now, they says, ‘Dad, we thought you were hard and you were hard then and we were frightened to talk to you’	Stannington Byker Wearhead Middlesbrough Welwick Birmingham Kniveton Cardiff Glasgow
past tense come	came	the water come out the mouth – it was like a lion’s face, but it, the water come out the mouth	Stannington Wearhead Salford Birkenhead Boston Birmingham Hilton Danesford North Elmham Bristol Maerdy Dalmellington Bleanish Island
past tense done	did	bought our house and, uh, it's the best thing we done, like	Melksham
tense eat	ate	vegetables was straight out the soil and we eat them
tense give	gave	theory used to be if you chewed your fingernails or ate a grape pip or something, it went straight to your appendix and give you appendicitis	Bristol Hackney
past participle give	given	, now you know yourself, if you’ve give something to a good cause, you feel good about it
past tense run	ran	, the club would put a trip on for we, but if we had to go down to Swalwell to get the train; so that was all right - we run down	Boston Hackney
past tense rang	rung	I’ve rang them and they've come out
past participle took	taken	was big baskets took with food and	Birmingham

Geordie Nouns and Pronouns

Geordie form	Standard English	sound file	recordings where this feature also occurs
zero plural marker	a small set of count nouns such as week, month, year, pound, stone and mile are commonly unmarked for plural in many varieties of non-standard English, while Standard English requires the plural suffix <-s>	would be just 30 year ago, yes, aye	Wearhead Burnley Salford Kniveton Boston Birmingham Warmington North Elmham Milland Resolven Downpatrick Bleanish Island
first person singular object us	me	used to get dropped off, off the bus in the mornings and, uhm, they picked us up on the way back
first person plural object we	us	, she took we, she wouldn't let we go, I mean, she, she did, she'd always took we on these trips
second person plural youse	you	he says, ‘I’ll see youse in the woods!’
reflexive and emphatic pronouns	the reflexive and emphatic pronouns in Geordie dialect (mysell, yoursell, hissell, hersell, oursells etc.) contrast with Standard English myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves etc.	so, I used to sit in the, in the st, the bus stop, in the shelter, you know, just on the, on the ground and have my bait, by mysell I think I, we had the best years, you know, for entertaining oursells
anticipatory pronoun	much of the North of England speakers frequently use a pronoun as an emphatic tag in expressions, such as I play football, me or he's a madman, him	’ve always had casual work, me, you know
& demonstrative pronoun them	those	, them days you didn’t, you didn’t live with lasses ’ve got flat-irons here, haven’t you? yes, there they are, them are my mothers, look at the candlestick are these the same ones?	Stannington Byker Wearhead Whitehaven Read Nottingham Birmingham Hilton Warmington Melksham Portesham Londonderry
relative pronoun what	that	know, you know you pray on a mat or something clean, that somebody, you know, what nobody’s walked over	Nottingham Norwich Portseham Milland
zero relative pronoun	who/that	father had three brothers lived round the next street	Ballymoney Bleanish Island

Geordie Negative Constructions

Geordie form	Standard English equivalent/explanation	sound file	recordings where this feature also occurs
cannot	can’t	cannot speak for other people, really, can you?	Stannington Byker Wearhead
do + negative particle = divn’t	don’t	divn’t think they’re right now, anyway	Stannington Byker
be & have with unreduced negative particle	in much of the North of England and Scotland speakers favour forms of the verbs ‘to be’ and ‘to have’ with a fully articulated negative particle (I’ve not, you’ll not, she’s not and we’re not etc.) whilst speakers elsewhere tend to use a fully articulated verb with a reduced negative particle (I haven’t, you won’t, she isn’t and we aren’t etc.)	I've just never seen a house with two upstairs rooms that are not connected oh well, there’s, there’s only one door, there’s not a back door, there’s a front door why, the tractor’ll not gan through a lot of snow I mean, they’re not here now, but he fell in the stream and he sat, and we had a tent, and he sat, and it was a red-hot day, and he had to sit in the tent, till his clothes, his main clothes dried	Stannington Read
multiple negation	single negative particle, not	know, you can't do nothing with them	Middlesbrough Burnley Birkenhead Kniveton Bristol Melksham Portesham Plymouth Milland Stonehaven

Geordie Prepositions, Conjunctions and Adverbs

Geordie form	Standard English equivalent/explanation	sound file	recordings where this feature also occurs
for to + infinitive	to + infinitive	people kept a few hens for to get a few eggs	East Harting Bleanish Island
bit + zero of	of	do a bit _ part-time teaching sometimes, I get teaching and that	Byker Stonehaven Kilmarnock
conjunction so as	so that	a portion of mat, you see, for you to wipe your feet on and that, so’s you didn't dirty the yard
zero adverbial marker	adverbs are commonly unmarked for plural in many varieties of non-standard English, while Standard English requires the adverbial suffix <-ly>	didn’t know you were doing it, yeah, you used to just do it automatic	Stannington Byker Wearhead Withernsea Welwick Read Salford Banbury Bristol Hackney Bleanish Island
non-standard qualifiers	really, quite, very	mean I’m lucky, I’ve been lucky - dead lucky! she said she was fair sick of looking for these cows and it was real nice in the woods	Byker Leeds Birmingham