Basic Greek Grammar: Lesson Two
Introduction to Verb Conjugations
The Greek Verb is characterized by
tense
,
voice
,
mood
,
person
, and
number
.
Tense
indicates both
time
and
kind
of action.
Time
can be past, present, or future.
Kind
(Aktionsart) can be linear (durative, continuous, progressive), punctiliar (simple), or perfective (ongoing result of completed action).The Greek tenses are:
TenseTimeKindEnglish Equiv.Graphic Rep.
PresentpresentprogressiveI am loosing ----|----ImperfectpastprogressiveI was loosing-------- |FuturefuturepunctiliarI will loose |
·
AoristpastpunctiliarI loosed
·
|Perfectpast with ongoing
present
results perfectiveI have loosed
·
-----|-----Pluperfectpast with ongoing
past
results perfectiveI had loosed
·
---- |
Voice
indicates whether the verb's subject is
acting
,
being acted upon
, or
acting upon or for itself
Active: “I am loosing”Passive: “I am being loosed”Middle: “I am loosing myself” (“I am getting dressed,” “I am sitting down,” etc.)
Mood
indicates whether the verb's action is
real
,
potential
,
mandated
, or
requested
Indicative: real action (“I am loosing,” “I will loose,” etc. – statement of fact)Subjunctive: potential action (“If I should be loosing,” “If I had loosed,” “If I do loose,” etc.)Imperative: mandated action (“Loose him!” – command)Optative (very rare in NT): requested/desired action (“May you be loosed!” “Grant that it may be so,” etc.)
Person
indicates to whom the action relatesFirst Person: (I am loosing; we are loosing)Second Person: (You are loosing; y'all are loosing)Third person: (He/she/it is loosing; they are loosing)
Number
indicates whether the subject is singular or pluralSingular: (I am loosing; you [alone] are loosing; he/she/it is loosing)Plural: (We are loosing; you all are loosing; they are loosing)
Introduction to Noun Declensions
The Greek noun is characterized by
gender
,
number
, and
case
.
Gender
is a grammatical phenomenon, not suggesting sexuality. Greek nouns may have one of threegenders: masculine, feminine, or neuter. The noun's article is useful for determining gender (
ὁ
,
ἡ
,
τό
).
Number
indicates whether the noun is singular or plural.
Case
indicates the role a noun plays in the sentence. What English signifies largely through word order,Greek indicates with case endings. Hence, Greek word order is much more flexible than in English; butthe case endings of nouns are of vital importance for understanding the sentence. The Greek cases are: Nominative:Subject, Predicate Nominative. (
The ball
is here. This
is
the ball
.)Genitive:Possessive [often translated with “of”] (Red is the color
of the ball
.)Dative:Indirect Object [often translated with “to” or “for”] (I gave
[to] the ball
a kick.)Accusative:Direct Object (I kicked
the ball
.)Vocative:Direct Address (
Ball
, where are you?)
Verb Conjugations to Memorize
:A major part of learning Greek is learning how to conjugate a verb. The verb typically used in Greek conjugations is
λύω
(“I loose,” or “I destroy”), because it is perfectly regular. Each verb has a stem(e.g. “
λύ
-”), which gives a root meaning (“loose” or “destroy”); and also an ending, which providesfurther information (e.g. “-
εις
” – “you” [2
nd
singular] “are” [present progressive]). You can onlytranslate any verb in a sentence when you put together the information from the stem and the tenseending. Hence “
λύ
-” [destroy] plus “-
εις
” [you are] equals “you are destroying” [
λύεις
].
Present Active IndicativePresent Middle/Passive Indicative
Singular Plural Singular Plural1
st
Person
λύω λύομεν
1
st
Person
λύο
µ
αι λυό
µ
εθα
2
nd
λύεις λύετε
2
nd
λύῃ λύεσθε
3
rd
λύει λύουσι
(
ν
)
3
rd
λύεται λύονται
If you look back at the explanations of tense, voice, and mood, you should be able to translate theseforms. Here's an English gloss to help.
Present Active IndicativePresent Middle/Passive Indicative
Singular Plural Singular Plural1
st
Person
I loose/am loosingWe loose
1
st
Person
I am beingloosed/am loosingmyselfWe are beingloosed, etc.
2
nd
You (sg.) looseYou (pl.) loose
2
nd
You (sg.) arebeing loosed, etc.You (pl.) are beingloosed, etc.
3
rd
He (she, it) loosesThey loose
3
rd
He is beingloosed, etc.They are beingloosed, etc.
It is important to note that two distinct voices (middle and passive) share the same endings in the
present indicative. Context will help you to determine how to translate each verb.These two conjugations make use of two basic sets of endings:
primary active
and
primary middle passive endings
. You will see these same basic endings show up time and time again, as you learn new paradigms. So learn them well! The actual endings themselves are as below. You will notice that the 2
nd
person singular of the primary middle/passive looks different than in your
λύω
conjugation. This is because the weak sigma drops out when a connecting vowel,
ε
, is added; this connecting vowel thencontracts with the following vowel according to a definite set of rules (which we will discuss later) to produce the form you have learned. For now, you just need to know that some tenses, including the present middle/passive, insert connecting vowels between the stem and the tense endings. A connectingvowel can be either an
ο
or an
ε
; and you will naturally memorize them as you learn new paradigms.
Primary Active Primary Middle/Passive
Singular Plural Singular Plural1
st
Person
-
ω
-
ομεν
1
st
Person
-µ
αι
-µ
εθα
2
nd
-
εις
-
ετε
2
nd
-
σαι
-
σθε
3
rd
-
ει
-
ουσι
(
ν
)
3
rd
-
ται
-
νται
Noun Declensions to Memorize
There are three basic noun declensions in Greek; the first is almost always feminine, the second isalmost always masculine or neuter, and the third may be any gender. Today, we will learn the masculineand neuter forms of the second declension.
2
nd
Declension Masculine2
nd
Declension Neuter
[art.]
Sing.
[art.]
Plural
[art.]
Sing.
[art.]
Plural
Nom.
ὁ λόγος οἱ λόγοι
Nom.
τό τέκνον τά τέκνα
Gen.
τοῦ λόγου τῶν λόγων
Gen.
τοῦ τέκνου τῶν τέκνων
Dat.
τῷ λόγῳ τοῖς λόγοις
Dat.
τῷ τέκνῳ τοις τἐκνοις
Acc.
τον λόγον τους λόγους
Acc.
τό τέκνον τά τέκνα
Voc.
λόγε λόγοι
Voc.
----With the exception of the singular in 2
nd
declension masculine nouns, the vocatives always have thesame form as nominatives; hence, the rest of the noun declensions we learn will only be the four caseswe have given in the neuter declension. If you need to know the vocative, just remember the nom.Three helpful notes for all future declensions: first, the articles never change, no matter whatdeclension their noun is in; so paying close attention to articles may help decline irregular nouns downthe road. Second, in the neuter gender, no matter what declension, the nominative and accusative formsare always the same. Third, the genitive plural ending
-
ων
is always the same, no matter whatdeclension or gender the noun might be.
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