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The evolution of the Germanic verbal system saw the rise of the so-called weak verbs, a very broad and largely secondary category formed by suffixation. Originally, several suffixes with different semantic and functional values existed, later reduced to four, which remain fully distinct only in Gothic. A dental suffix, furthermore, marks the formation of the preterite and past participle of weak verbs, as well as of other Germanic verbal types. Some verbs, weak or otherwise, however, show the preterite marker directly attached to the stem due to the loss or absence of the thematic vowel; direct contact between stem and dental suffix can therefore produce phonetic changes of historical significance. A phonetic analysis of the stem–suffix contact zones can help clarify, where possible, the nature and chronology of the dental suffix, and maybe help reexamine the traditional hypotheses on the origin of the suffix, which mainly point to either an adjectival/participial derivation (PIE *-tó-) or a periphrastic formation involving a form of infinitive and a postponed auxiliary PIE *dheh- ‘do, set’.