LESSON V: Verbs—Introductory.
Objectives
In this chapter, you will learn the essential concepts related to the Ancient Greek verb: voice, mood, aspect, tense, person, number and the verb stem. You will also learn how to conjugate verbs in one tense: the present active indicative. You should become familiar with these essential concepts and learn the conjugation of the present active indicative before moving on to the next section.
Voice
48. The Greek verb has three VOICES, the active, middle, and passive.
The active voice is used when the subject of the sentence is the agent of the action described in the verb.
The middle voice denotes that the subject is both an agent of an action and somehow concerned with the action.
The passive voice is used to show that the subject of the verb is acted on.
Mood
49. There are four MOODS, the indicative, subjunctive, optative, and imperative. These are the finite moods. To them are added, in the conjugation of the verb, the infinitive and participles.
The indicative is the most common verb form you will encounter. It is used for simple statements and questions.
The subjunctive and optative are used in contexts to denote prohibitions, conditions, purpose, and suppositions. These will be covered in more detail beginning in lesson thirty-three.
The imperative is used to give orders and commands
The infinitive has voice and tense but not person and number. It is translated with the English word "to ...". i.e. ἔχειν is the infinitive form of the verb ἔχω and it is translated "to have."
The participle is a verbal noun that is translated with the English ending -ing. i.e. ἔχων is the participle of the verb and it is translated "having".
Tense
50. There are seven TENSES, the present, imperfect, future, aorist, perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect.
The present tense is used to describe an ongoing action in the present time.
The imperfect tense is used to describe an ongoing action in the past.
The future is used to describe a simple or ongoing action in the future.
The aorist tense is used to describe a simple action in the past.
The perfect tense is used to describe a completed action in the present time.
The pluperfect is used to describe a completed action in the past.
The future perfect is used to describe a completed action in the future.
The present, future, perfect, and future perfect indicative are called primary tenses; the imperfect, aorist, and pluperfect indicative are called secondary tenses.
Person and Number
51. There are three PERSONS, 1st person, 2nd person, and third person.
52. There are three NUMBERS, as in nouns (31), singular, plural and dual.
The English first person singular pronoun is 'I'.
The English second person singular pronoun is 'you'.
The English third person singular pronouns are 'he', 'she', and 'it'.
The English first person plural pronoun is 'we'.
The English second person plural pronoun is 'you (all)'.
The English third person plural pronoun is 'they'.
Accent of Verbs
53. The accent of verbs is recessive, i. e. it is thrown as far back as possible.
Verb Stems
54. The STEM of a verb is its fundamental part, from which its various tenses are formed. The stem of λύω, loose, is λῡ or λυ, of βουλεύω, plan, βουλευ, of πέμπω, send, πεμπ.
Present Indicative Active.
λύω (Present Active Indicative) | ||
---|---|---|
1st Person Singular | λύω | I loose |
2nd Person Singular | λύεις | you loose |
3rd Person Singular | λύει | he looses |
2nd Person Dual | λύετον | |
3rd Person Dual | λύετον | |
1st Person Plural | λύομεν | we loose |
2nd Person Plural | λύετε | you loose |
3rd Person Plural | λύουσι | they loose |
βουλεύω (Present Active Indicative) | ||
---|---|---|
1st Person Singular | βουλεύω | I plan |
2nd Person Singular | βουλεύεις | you plan |
3rd Person Singular | βουλεύει | he/she/it plans |
2nd Person Dual | βουλεύετον | |
3rd Person Dual | βουλεύετον | |
1st Person Plural | βουλεύομεν | we plan |
2nd Person Plural | βουλεύετε | you plan |
3rd Person Plural | βουλεύουσι | they plan |
πέμπω (Present Active Indicative) | ||
---|---|---|
1st Person Singular | πέμπω | I send |
2nd Person Singular | πέμπεις | you send |
3rd Person Singular | πέμπει | he/she/it sends |
2nd Person Dual | πέμπετον | |
3rd Person Dual | πέμπετον | |
1st Person Plural | πέμπομεν | we send |
2nd Person Plural | πέμπετε | you send |
3rd Person Plural | πέμπουσι | they send |
ἁρπάζω (Present Active Indicative) | ||
---|---|---|
1st Person Singular | ἁρπάζω | I rob |
2nd Person Singular | ἁρπάζεις | you rob |
3rd Person Singular | ἁρπάζει | he/she/it robs |
2nd Person Dual | ἁρπάζετον | |
3rd Person Dual | ἁρπάζετον | |
1st Person Plural | ἁρπάζομεν | we rob |
2nd Person Plural | ἁρπάζετε | you rob |
3rd Person Plural | ἁρπάζουσι | they rob |
56. VOCABULARY.
ἄγω | lead, carry, bring. |
ἁρπάζω | seize, rob, plunder. |
βουλεύω | plan, plot. |
ἔχω | have, hold. |
λύω | loose, destroy, break. |
πέμπω | send. |
Ἑλληνική | adj., Greek. |
πύλη, ης, ἡ | gate. |
φυλακή, ῆς, ἡ | guard, garrison. |
ἐξ | (before a vowel), ἐκ (before a consonant), prep. with gen., out of, from a proclitic). |
οὐ | (before a consonant), οὐκ (before the smooth breathing), οὐχ (before the rough breathing), adv., not (a proclitic). |
57. READ ALOUD AND TRANSLATE:
1. βουλεύει. |
2. λύουσι. |
3. ἔχεις. |
4. πέμπεις. |
5. ἔχετε. |
6. βουλεύομεν. |
7. ἄγω. |
8. ἁρπάζει. |
9. ἁρπάζετε. |
10. πέμπουσι. |
59. READ ALOUD AND TRANSLATE:
1. τὰς καλὰς σκηνὰς λύουσι. |
2. οὐχ ἁρπάζω τὰς κώμᾱς. |
3. τὴν φυλακὴν ἄγουσιν1 ἐκ τῶν σκηνῶν. |
4. ἔχουσιν οἰκίᾱς καλάς. |
5. αἱ κῶμαι πύλᾱς οὐκ ἔχουσιν.1 |
6. οὐ πέμπομεν τὴν φυλακήν. |
7. ἁρπάζετε τὴν χώρᾱν; |
8. ἐκ τῶν κωμῶν πέμπει τὴν στρατιάν. |
9. ἐκ τῆς ἀγορᾶς ἄγεις τὴν Ἑλληνικὴν φυλακήν; |
NOTE.—1 For ν movable, see 17.