Middle English

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Middle English was an inflexional language, which means that the different functions within a sentences were visualised by means of endings. In Modern English only the ending -s survies for the third person singular. Here's an example with the verb to sing:

  Present simple   Past simple
1sg singe 1sg sang
2sg singest 2sg sunge
3sg singeþ 3sg sang
1pl singeþ 1pl sungen
2pl singeþ 2pl sungen
3pl singeþ 3pl sungen