Koine Greek/Imperfect Active/Mediopassive Indicative

The 7 tenses can be divided into primary and secondary tenses. In general, primary tenses refer to action in the present or future; secondary tenses refer to action in the past. One of the main distinctions between the inflection of primary and secondary verbs is the personal endings that each uses: Secondary Personal Endings-ω conjugation active-μι conjugation activemiddle voice Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural -ον -ομεν -ν -μεν -μην -μεθα -ες -ετε -ς -τε -σο -σθε -ε -ον — -σαν -το -ντο The first secondary tense that we are learning is the imperfect. While it is among the most commonly used tenses of finite verbs, there is no infinitive form of the imperfect, and it is only used in the indicative mood. Formation 1. In the Greek conception, the imperfect tense is essentially the present tense shifted back into the past. In other words, the imperfect was conceived of as a state of existence, or an action that was still going on in the past. As a result, to form verbs in the imperfect, Greek begins with the present tense stem, not the verb stem. δεικνυ show λυ loosen λαμβαν take 2. To the beginning of this stem is added the augment ἐ–. This augment used to be a separate word that indicated that the verb was in the past. Gradually it became a prefix that signifies the past tense for indicative verbs. With the addition of the augment, we now have the imperfect tense stem. ἐδεικνυ show ἐλυ loosen ἐλαμβαν take 3. Secondary personal endings are added to indicate person and number. As seen in the chart above, there are two sets of active secondary personal endings: those for athematic verbs (-μι verbs), and those for thematic verbs (-ω verbs). Note that –ω verbs have nearly identical secondary endings to –μι verbs. The main differences are that –ω verbs: Add the thematic vowel Have identical 1st person singular and 3rd person plural ending Bringing It All Together δείκνυμι (athematic): Active Mediopassiveἐδείκνυνἐδείκνυςἐδείκνυ(ν)ἐδείκνυμενἐδείκνυτεἐδείκνυσαν λύω (thematic): Active Mediopassiveἔλῡονἐλῡόμηνἔλῡεςἐλῡ́ουἔλῡε(ν)ἐλῡ́ετοἐλῡ́ομενἐλῡόμεθᾰἐλῡ́ετεἐλῡ́εσθεἔλῡονἐλῡ́οντο λαμβάνω (thematic): Active Mediopassiveἐλάμβανονἐλάμβανεςἐλάμβανε(ν)ἐλαμβάνομενἐλαμβάνετεἐλάμβανον More -μι Verbs While the formation of the imperfect tense is relatively straightforward, there are a handful of –μι verbs that exhibit slight irregularities: δίδωμι give τίθημι put, make φημί say ἵστημι stand ἵημι throw εἰμί be δίδωμι: Active Mediopassiveἐδίδουνἐδίδουςἐδίδου(ν)ἐδίδομενἐδίδοτεἐδίδοσαν Note that δίδωμι uses –ου– in the singular. τίθημι: Active Mediopassiveἐτίθηνἐτίθειςἐτίθει(ν)ἐτίθεμενἐτίθετεἐτίθεσαν Note that τίθημι uses –ει– in the 2nd and 3rd person singular. φημί: Active Mediopassiveἔφηνἔφης/ἔφησθαἔφη(ν)ἔφαμενἔφατεἔφασαν Translation The imperfect tense indicates an ongoing action in the past, like a video of a past event. Thus, the imperfect is usually translated as "was 'verbing." E.g., ἐδίδουν = I was giving, I used to give, I kept giving Category:Ancient Greek Language