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Ancient Greek for Everyone: A New Digital Resource for Beginning Greek . a s taught at Louisiana State University Spring 2013 Albert Watanabe Unit 11: The Imperfect Tense. Intermediate Greek. This class (someday, Month ##, 2013) AGE Unit 11: The Imperfect Tense
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Ancient Greek for Everyone:A New Digital Resource for Beginning Greek as taught at Louisiana State University Spring 2013 Albert Watanabe Unit 11: The Imperfect Tense
Intermediate Greek This class (someday, Month ##, 2013) AGE Unit 11: The Imperfect Tense • So far, all verbs have been in primary tenses, meaning that the tenses refer to action in the present or future. • This unit introduces a secondary tense (a tense that refers to past), the imperfect tense.
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • The Master List of Endings • Posted in Moodle is a “Master List of Greek Verb Endings” where you can see the overall scheme of verb endings. Here you can see that you have learned the three sets of primary endings (-μι, -ωor -μαι). • Here you can also see the full sets of secondary endings. • On the second sheet (= back side) are the other moods, of which you have already learned the infinitive.
Intermediate Greek • A Greek verb by itself usually communicates FIVE pieces of information: • Person: 1st, 2nd, 3rd • Number: singular, plural • Tense: present, future,imperfect • Mood: indicative, infinitive • The imperfect tense does not occur in the infinitive mood. • Voice: active, middle • This unit covers only active verbs.
Intermediate Greek • The imperfect tense of Greek verbs: • Fundamentally, the imperfect tense is the present tense shifted back into the past. • Verbs in the imperfect tense always have exactly the same stem as they do in the present tense. • Two markers combine to indicate the imperfect tense: • An augment (ἐ-) precedes the stem. • Secondary tenses of Greek verbs use endings slightly different from those of primary tenses. As a secondary tense, the imperfect uses these secondary endings.
Intermediate Greek Conjugating a Greek verb • In Unit 7, you learned that Greek has two conjugations: • -μιverbs • -ωverbs • In the active voice, these conjugations use somewhat different endings to designate person and number. • This is true of both primary and secondary endings. • This unit introduces only the active endings of the secondary tenses. The middle endings for both conjugations will be the same (as they are in primary tenses).
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • The secondary endings of -μι verbs are as follows: • -ν= I (1stsg) -μεν= we (1stpl) • -ς= you (2ndsg) -τε= y’all (2ndpl) • -= (s)he, it (3rdsg) -σαν= they (3rdpl) Notice that the 3rd person singular has no ending, so this form simply stops with the ending of the verb’s present stem.
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • Remember that -ωverbs have a thematic vowel, so the secondary endings appear as follows: • -ον= I (1stsg) -ομεν= we (1stpl) • -ες= you (2ndsg) -ετε= y’all (2ndpl) • -ε= (s)he, it (3rdsg) -ον= they (3rdpl) Notice that the 1st person singular and 3rd person plural are identical.
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • Remember that -ωverbs have a thematic vowel, so the secondary endings appear as follows: • -ον= I (1stsg) -ομεν= we (1stpl) • -ες= you (2ndsg) -ετε= y’all (2ndpl) • -ε= (s)he, it (3rdsg) -ον= they (3rdpl) Notice that the 1st person singular and 3rd person plural are identical.
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • Remember that, to begin building a Greek verb, start with the “stem.” • The stem tells what action the verb describes: δεικ = “show” λυ= “loosen, destroy” λαβ= “take”
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • Recall that some verbs add a marker (often a ν) to the stem that says the verb is in the present tense. • A verb always uses the same marker in the imperfect tense that is uses in the present: • δεικνυ = “show” (in the present) • λυ= “loosen” (no marker in the present) • λαμβαν= “take” (in the present)
Intermediate Greek Building a Greek verb • In secondary tenses, however, a Greek verb adds an augment to the beginning of the stem. • This augment used to be a separate word (ἐ), which meant that the verb was in the past, and gradually it became a prefix to the verb stem: • ἐδεικνυ = “show” (in the imperfect) • ἐλυ = “loosen” (in the imperfect) • ἐλαμβαν= “take” (in the imperfect)
Intermediate Greek • ἐδείκνυν • ἐδείκνυς • ἐδείκνυ • ἐδείκνυμεν • ἐδείκνυτε • ἐδείκνυσαν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of δείκνυμι(GPH p. 157)
Intermediate Greek • ἔλυον • ἔλυες • ἔλυε • ἐλύομεν • ἐλύετε • ἔλυον Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of λύω (GPH p. 70)
Intermediate Greek • ἐλάμβανον • ἐλάμβανες • ἐλάμβανε • ἐλαμβάνομεν • ἐλαμβάνετε • ἐλάμβανον Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of λαμβάνω
Intermediate Greek From Unit 2: -μιVerbs • δίδωμιgive • τίθημιput, make • ἵστημιstand • ἵημιthrow • εἰμίbe • φημίsay
Intermediate Greek • ἐδίδουν • ἐδίδους • ἐδίδου Notice that δίδωμιuses -ου- here in the singular rather than -ω-, as it does in the present tense. • ἐδίδομεν • ἐδίδοτε • ἐδίδοσαν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of δίδωμι(GPH p. 124)
Intermediate Greek • ἐτίθην • ἐτίθεις • ἐτίθει Notice that τίθημιuses -ει- here in the singular rather than -η-, as it does in the present tense. • ἐτίθεμεν • ἐτίθετε • ἐτίθεσαν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of τίθημι(GPH p. 146)
Intermediate Greek Vowel contractions in the Imperfect Tense • If the verb stem begins with a vowel, instead of adding the augment -ε, the initial vowel lengthens (αand ε η, ο ω). • Verbs that have vowel contraction in the present tense (Contract verbs, Unit 7) follow the same rules of vowel contraction in the imperfect tense.
Intermediate Greek • ἵστην • ἵστης • ἵστη This verb has a long vowel augment, but it does not affect the way it the vowel is written (since long and short ιare written the same). • ἵσταμεν • ἵστατε • ἵστασαν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of ἵστημι(GPH p. 135)
Intermediate Greek • ἵην • ἵεις • ἵει Notice that ἵημιuses -ει- here in the singular rather than -η-, as it does in the present tense • ἵεμεν • ἵετε • ἵεσαν This verb has a long vowel augment, but it does not affect the way it the vowel is written (since long and short ιare written the same). Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of ἵημι
Intermediate Greek • ἦ orἦν • ἦσθα • ἦν Notice that εἰμίhas irregularities in the singular. • ἦμεν • ἦτε • ἦσαν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of εἰμί(GPH p. 178)
Intermediate Greek • ἔφην • ἔφηςorἔφησθα • ἔφη • ἔφαμεν • ἔφατε • ἔφασαν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of φημί(GPH p. 169)
Intermediate Greek From Unit 7: Contract Verbs • The rules of vowel contraction operate in verbs when the stem ends in one of the vowels α,εor ο. • In these cases, this final vowel of the stem contracts with the thematic vowel of “-ωverbs.”
Intermediate Greek • (ἐ-αἵρεον) ᾕρουν • (ἐ-αἵρεες) ᾕρεις • (ἐ-αἵρεε) ᾕρει This verb has a long vowel augment. • (ἐ-αἱρέομεν) ᾑροῦμεν • (ἐ-αἱρέετε) ᾑρεῖτε • (ἐ-αἵρεον) ᾕρουν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of αἱρέω
Intermediate Greek • (ἐ-ερώταον) ἠρώτων • (ἐ-ερώταες) ἠρώτας • (ἐ-ερώταε) ἠρώτα This verb has a long vowel augment. • (ἐ-ερωτάομεν) ἠρωτῶμεν • (ἐ-ερωτάετε) ἠρωτᾶτε • (ἐ-ερώταον) ἠρώτων Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of ἐρωτάω
Intermediate Greek • (ἐδήλοον) ἐδήλουν • (ἐδήλοες) ἐδήλους • (ἐδήλοε) ἐδήλου • (ἐδηλόομεν) ἐδηλοῦμεν • (ἐδηλόετε) ἐδηλοῦτε • (ἐδήλοον) ἐδήλουν Building a Greek Verb The Imperfect Indicative Active of δηλόωGPH p. 119)
Intermediate Greek Understanding the Imperfect Tense • Fundamentally, the imperfect tense is the present tense shifted back into the past. • The present tense indicates that an action is currently taking place. • The imperfect tense indicates that an action was taking place. • Think of it as a bit of video of an action from the past.
Intermediate Greek Translating the Imperfect Tense • Traditionally, therefore, the imperfect is translated using was/were + -ingforms. For example: • ἐδίδουν = “I was giving” • ἐδίδοσαν = “they were giving” • In some contexts, a simple past in English sounds better, even if the traditional translation also works (“they gave every day” rather than “they were giving every day”). • Sometimes other translations will make better sense in a particular context (for example, “they used to give,” “they kept giving”).
Intermediate Greek • VOCABULARY: Although a Greek verb can morph into many different forms, it is listed in a dictionary (Greek “lexicon”) under just one form. • As you have seen, verbs are listed in their 1st person, singular, present, indicative, active form, with a -μιor -ωending, depending on the conjugation of the verb. • Nothing about the imperfect tense affects how a Greek verb is listed. The imperfect forms are not normally listed (even as a principal part), so you need to be able to recognize the present tense of a verb when you see it in the imperfect tense.
Intermediate Greek • VOCABULARY • Verbs with prefixes in the imperfect tense. • Keep in mind that the augment attaches to the beginning of the verb’s stem. • Even if the verb is a compound with a prefix, the augmentis normally added directly to the stem: ἐδίδοσαν = “they were giving” παρα +ἐδίδοσαν = παρεδίδοσαν = “they weredelivering”
Intermediate Greek • Next class (someday, Month ##, 2013) • Classical reading • Biblical reading