Ancient Greek verbs

Ancient Greek verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs are conjugated in four main combinations of tense and aspect (present, future, perfect, and aorist), with a full complement of moods for each of these main "tenses", except for the following restrictions:

In addition, for each of the four "tenses", there exist, in each voice, an infinitive and participles. There is also an imperfect indicative that can be constructed from the present using a prefix (the "augment") and the secondary endings. A pluperfect and a future perfect indicative also exist, built on the perfect stem, but these are relatively rare, especially the future perfect. The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is predominantly one of aspect rather than time. The Ancient Greek verbal system preserves nearly all the complexities of Proto-Indo-European (PIE).

A distinction is traditionally made between the so-called athematic verbs, with endings affixed directly to the root (also called mi-verbs) and the thematic class of verbs which present a "thematic" vowel /o/ or /e/ before the ending. All athematic roots end in a vowel except for /es-/ "be" and /hes-/ "sit". The endings are classified into primary (those used in the present, future, perfect and rare future perfect of the indicative, as well as in the subjunctive) and secondary (used in the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect of the indicative, as well as in the optative). Ancient Greek also preserves the PIE middle voice and adds a passive voice, with separate forms only in the future and aorist (elsewhere, the middle forms are used).

Tenses

The Ancient Greek verbal system has seven tense-aspect forms, traditionally called "tenses" (χρόνος). The temporal distinctions only appear in the indicative.[1] Four of these forms (in bold) are found in other moods, where they distinguish aspect only, or, in the case of the future, express relative tense.

  perfective
aspect
imperfective
aspect
perfect
aspect
primary
sequence
future
time
future future perfect
present
time
present perfect
secondary
sequence
past
time
aorist imperfect pluperfect

The most basic meanings of the tenses are as follows:

τόδε γράφω, ἐκεῖνο ἔγραφον.
tóde gráphō, ekeîno égraphon.
"I am writing this, I was writing that."
ἐκεῖνο γράψω.
ekeîno grápsō.
"I will write" or "be writing that."
τοῦτο ἔγραψα.
toûto égrapsa.
"I wrote" or "have written this."
γέγραφα ταῦτα. ταῦτα γέγραπται. τέθνηκα.
gégrapha taûta. taûta gégraptai. téthnēka.
"I am the author of these things. These things are written down. I am dead (I have died)."
ἐγεγράφει ταῦτα. ταῦτα ἐγέγραπτο. τεθνήκη.
egegráphei taûta. taûta egégrapto. tethnḗkē.
"He was the author of these things. These things were written down. I was dead (I had died)."
τεθνήξω.
tethnḗksō.
"I will be dead (I will have died)."

Moods

There are four moods (ἐγκλίσεις enklíseis "bendings" or "tippings") and two non-finite verb forms.

ἀνὴρ θύει βοῦν.
anḕr thýei boûn.
A man is sacrificing an ox.
πέμπουσιν ἄνδρα, ἵνα θύσῃ βοῦν.
pémpousin ándra, hína thýsēi boûn.
They are sending a man in order for him to sacrifice an ox.
ἔπεμψαν ἄνδρα, ἵνα θύσαι βοῦν.
épempsan ándra, hína thýsai boûn.
They sent a man in order for him to sacrifice an ox.
εἴθε ἀνὴρ θύοι βοῦν.
eíthe anḕr thýoi boûn.
I wish a man would sacrifice an ox.
ἔλεγον ὅτι ἀνὴρ οὐ θύοι βοῦν.
élegon hóti anḕr ou thýoi boûn.
They said that a man doesn't sacrifice an ox.
εἰ βούλοιτο, θύοι ἂν βοῦν.
ei boúloito, thýoi àn boûn.
If he wanted, he would sacrifice an ox.
ἄνερ, θῦσον βοῦν.
áner, thŷson boûn.
Man, sacrifice an ox.
βούλομαι ἄνδρα θῦσαι βοῦν.
boúlomai ándra thŷsai boûn.
I want a man to sacrifice an ox.
νομίζω ἄνδρα θῦσαι βοῦν.
nomízō ándra thŷsai boûn.
I think that a man sacrificed an ox.
οἶδα ἄνδρα θύοντα βοῦν.
oîda ándra thýonta boûn.
I know that a man is sacrificing an ox.

Voices

The Ancient Greek grammar has three voices. The middle and the passive voice are the same except in the future and aorists.

ἀνὴρ θύει βοῦν (A man is sacrificing an ox).
anḕr thýei boûn.
ἄνερ, θῦσον βοῦν (Man, sacrifice an ox).
áner, thŷson boûn.
ἀνὴρ τιμᾶται (A man is honouring himself).
anḕr timâtai.
ἀνὴρ ἐτιμήσατο (A man honoured himself).
anḕr etimḗsato.

In later Koine Greek grammar the trend to greater use of reflexive pronouns means that middle voice becomes more used for other meanings.

ἀνὴρ τιμᾶται ὑπ' ἀνδρός (A man is honoured by a man).
anḕr timâtai hyp' andrós.
In this tense the verb is same with the verb of the middle voice.
ἀνὴρ ἐτιμήθη ὑπ' ἀνδρός (A man was honoured by a man).
anḕr etimḗthē hyp' andrós.
In this tense the verb is different from the verb of the middle voice (aorist).

This situation is complicated somewhat by the facts that some middle verbs have active meanings, and that some verbs take different voices in different tenses.

Stems

Verbs have six principal parts or verbal stems: present (I), future (II), aorist (III), perfect (IV), perfect middle (V) and aorist passive (VI). In dictionaries, each is listed in its first-person singular form.

One principal part can sometimes be predicted from another, but not with any certainty. For some classes of verbs, however, all principal parts can be predicted given the first one. This mostly includes contracted verbs (present stem ending in α /a/, ε /e/, ο /o/) and verbs ending in ευ /eu/ and ιζ /izd/. There are also certain other regularities; for example, the stem in part IV often occurs in parts V and VI as well.

Thus, for the verb "παιδεύω" paideúō (I teach), the principle parts would be listed as: παιδεύω, παιδεύσω, ἐπαίδευσα, πεπαίδευκα, πεπαίδευμαι, ἐπαιδεύθην (paideúō, paideúsō, epaídeusa, pepaídeuka, pepaídeumai, epaideúthēn).

Present stem

Main article: Present tense

The thematic present stem is formed in various ways:

Contracted verbs

An additional, extremely important class is that of contracted verbs, where the stem itself ends in a vowel, and the vowel contracts with the initial (thematic) vowel of the endings. There are three varieties, depending on whether the stem ends with α /a/, ε /e/ or ο /o/, and the details of contraction are extremely complex. The earliest contract verbs arose from loss of intervocalic σ /s/ or /j/, when the latter (the present stem suffix /j/) was added to noun stems ending in a vowel; but soon, these verbs were formed directly from noun stems (so-called denominative verbs). Many later verbs were derived by analogy from various other kinds of nouns (compare the development of the denominative -āre, -ēre, and -īre classes in Latin, with -āre eventually becoming dominant regardless of the noun declension on which the verb was based).

Future stem

Main article: Future tense

The future stem is normally formed from the verb stem (minus any present suffix) with /s/ added and a preceding short vowel lengthened. Verb stems in μ /m/, ν /n/, λ /l/ and ρ /r/, however, as well as most stems in ιζ izd, usually add ε /e/ instead (deleting the ζ zd in the case of these verbs), and form contracted futures, conjugated like contracted presents. (Note: Verb stems in α /a/, ε /e/ and ο /o/, which form contracted presents, do not have contracted futures; rather, they have futures ending in -ης /ēs/, -ης /ēs/, and -ως /ōs/, respectively. One verb, however, καλέω (καλῶ) kaleō (kalô) "I call", forms a future based on its root /kal/. This will be a contracted future; hence, the present and future of this verb are both contracted and both nearly identical.)

Aorist stem

The aorist stem is formed in three basic ways, with three corresponding sets of endings:

The aorist indicative (but no other form) also has an augment added onto the beginning.

Occasionally, two different aorists exist for a single verb, with different meanings: A first (or second) aorist with a transitive meaning, and a root aorist with an intransitive meaning. This was the origin of the aorist passive, which takes active athematic endings.

The aorist passive comes in two varieties, first and second. The first aorist adds -θη- -thē- onto the verb stem, while the second adds -η- -ē-. Active athematic endings are added onto this.

Perfect stem

The perfect involves reduplication of the beginning of the stem (see below).

The perfect active stem (principal part IV) comes in two varieties:

The endings are the same in both cases.

The perfect middle stem (principal part V) is formed by direct addition of middle endings onto the (reduplicated) verb stem, with a preceding short vowel sometimes lengthened.

Deponents, semi-deponents

Some verbs, called deponent verbs, have a middle form but active meaning. Most such verbs have no active forms at all. There are two types:

Some verbs have active forms in some stems, middle or passive in others, with no middle or passive meaning. These are called semi-deponents and have many variations:

Sample paradigms

Verbs in vowel stems

Likewise are conjugated: πορεύω (poreuō) and ἐκπορεύω (ekporeuō) "travel", κυριεύω (kȳrieúō) and κατακυριεύω (katakȳrieúō) "dominate", καταπαύω (katapaúō) "take rest", φυτεύω (phȳteuō) "plant", περιπατεύω (peripateúō) "take a walk".
Likewise are conjugated: θύω (thȳ́ō) "sacrifice".

Likewise are conjugated: ἐνδύω endȳ́ō "don".

Likewise are conjugated: εὐλογέω (eulogéō) "bless", ἐμφυσέω (emphȳséō) "inhale", οἰκοδομέω (oikodoméō) "build", προσκολλέω (proskolléō) "stick", κατανοέω (katanoéō) "contemplate", διανοέω (dianoéō) "brood", φοβέω (phobéō) "fear", τηρέω (tēréō) "hurt".

Likewise conjugated συντελέω synteléō - "end up", πλαύω plaúō - "mould",

Likewise are conjugated: ἀπατάω apatáō - "deceive", λυπάω lypáō - "suffer", ἁμαρτάω hamartáō - "mistake", "sin", βοάω boáō - "shout", ζάω zdáō - "live"; deponents: κτάομαι ktáomai - "purchase",

Likewise are conjugated πληρόω, αναπληρόω plēróō, anaplēróō - "fill up", κυκλόω kyklóō - "turn around", ὑπνόω hypnóō - "sleep",

Likewise are conjugated: ποτίζω potízdō - "irrigate", διαχορίζω diakhorízdō - "separate", ἐνοτίζω enotízdō - listen, ἀφορίζω aphorízdō - "divide", κατοικίζω katoikízdō - "settle",

Likewise are conjugated: ἐσυχάζω ēsykházdō - "be still",

Verbs in consonant stems, no ablaut

Likewise are conjugated: brekhō - "wet", deponents dekhomai - "get",

Likewise are conjugated: synagomai - "gather", eksagō - "lead out";

Likewise are conjugated: apostrephō - "return",

Likewise are conjugated: haptō - "touch", rhaptō - "pluck", kryptō - "hide",

Likewise are conjugated: anaggellō - "indicate",

Likewise are conjugated: khainō - "open",

Likewise are conjugated: plethūnō - "multiply",

Likewise are conjugated: auksanō - "grow",

Verbs with ablaut

Likewise are conjugated: kataleipō,

Likewise are conjugated: prosekhō - "regard".

Likewise are conjugated: stellō - "send", eksapostellō - "send out",

Likewise are conjugated: apokteinō - "kill",

Likewise are conjugated: ekteinō - "extend",

Likewise are conjugated: anatellō - "spring up", eksanatellō, entellō - "instruct",

Likewise are conjugated: ekballō - "cast out",

Likewise are conjugated: syllambanō - "conceive",

Likewise are conjugated: sympiptō - "fall down",

Athematic verbs

These verbs have reduplication in the present, ablaut between short and long forms, a separate set of endings, and certain other irregularities that vary from verb to verb.

Likewise are conjugated: anistēmi - surge,

Likewise are conjugated: prostithēmi - "conntinue", apotithēmi - "carry on",

Likewise are conjugated: dianoignūmi - "open up",

Suppletive verbs

These verbs all have complex irregularities, ablaut, second aorist and/or perfect, unexpected reduplication and/or augment, etc. They usually represent compilations of semantically identical or similar stems, various formations of which have become obsolete, the extant formations coming together like a puzzle to fill in a morphologically quirky but functionally complete system. These verbs are few and, if they are to be learnt, the most practical approach is to simply memorise them:

Likewise is conjugated dierkhomai - "get out".

Likewise is conjugated ephoraō "regard".

Likewise are conjugated: diaireō - divide,

Likewise are conjugated epipherō "cause to float",prospherō "bring before".

See also

References

  1. Based on table in Hardy Hansen and Gerald M. Quinn. Greek: An Intensive Course. Second revised edition 1992. p. 41.
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