C.W. Shelmerdine
Introduction to Greek
2nd edition
(Newburyport, MA: Focus, 2008)
Chapter 2
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: terminology
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
3. Verb accents
4. The negative οὐ
5. Common conjunctions
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: terminology
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
3. Verb accents
4. The negative οὐ
5. Common conjunctions
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
Five items to know and identify about
every Greek verb:
• PERSON
• NUMBER
• TENSE
• MOOD
• VOICE
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
• PERSON - subject of verb
– 1st (I, we)
– 2nd (you, y’all)
– 3rd (she, he, it, they, Godzilla, etc)
•
•
•
•
NUMBER
TENSE
MOOD
VOICE
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
• PERSON
• NUMBER - subject of verb
– Singular (I, you, she, he, it, Godzilla)
– Plural (we, y’all, they, Godzillas)
• TENSE
• MOOD
• VOICE
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
• PERSON
• NUMBER
• TENSE - time
– present
• MOOD
• VOICE
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
•
•
•
•
PERSON
NUMBER
TENSE
MOOD – purpose of verb in sentence
– indicative
• VOICE
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
•
•
•
•
•
PERSON
NUMBER
TENSE
MOOD
VOICE – relationship of subject to verb
– active
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
parse/parsing
•
•
•
•
•
1st, 2nd or 3RD PERSON
SINGULAR or PLURAL
PRESENT
INDICATIVE
ACTIVE
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: principal parts
“Principal parts” are a shorthand way of indicating
how an individual verb forms its tenses. For
example, in English:
• carry carried carried
• go went gone
• sing sang sung
all summarize how these verbs form their tenses.
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: principal parts
In Greek, there are seven tenses and three voices,
although few verbs have all possible
combinations of these. Six principal parts
provide the shorthand for the possible tenses and
voices. We will learn these parts as we learn the
tenses and voices.
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: terminology
2. The present active indicative of
thematic verbs (1st principal part)
3. Verb accents
4. The negative οὐ
5. Common conjunctions
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
All verbs in this chapter are present indicative
active.
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
All verbs in this chapter have two parts
–
–
a stem which tells you the vocabulary meaning of
the verb
an ending which tells you the person and number
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
Since only the ending tells you the person and
number, you must use the ending to determine
the subject of the verb (which normally will not
be expressed by a separate word).
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
singular
• -ω (I)
• -εις (you)
• -ει (s/he, it)
plural
• -ομεν (we)
• -ετε (you, y’all)
• -ουσι (they)
the endings for
present indicative active
verbs
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
singular
• λύω (I loose)
• λύεις (you loose)
• λύει (s/he, it looses)
plural
• λύομεν (we loose)
• λύετε (you, y’all loose)
• λύουσι (they loose)
the stem λυ = “loose”
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
singular
• ἔχω (I have)
• ἔχεις (you have)
• ἔχει (s/he, it has)
plural
• ἔχομεν (we have)
• ἔχετε (you, y’all have)
• ἔχουσι (they have)
the stem ἐχ = “have”
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
Greek has only one present tense, so ἔχομεν =
–
–
–
“we have”
or “we are having”
or “we do have”
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
Any word in Greek which ends in -σι adds an
additional –ν when followed by either
(1) a word beginning with a vowel
or (2) a mark of punctuation.
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
•
This rule affects the spelling and pronunciation
of verbs in the 3rd person plural. It does not
change the meaning.
–
–
–
ἔχουσι καί... “they have and…”
ἔχουσιν ἀλλά... “they have but…”
ἔχουσιν. “they have.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
Looking up a Greek verb
•
In a vocabulary, glossary, lexicon, or dictionary,
a Greek verb is listed by its 1st person, singular,
present, indicative, active form
–
λύω loose
•
•
the form means “I loose,” but the vocabulary will just
say “loose”
the stem is everything before the –ω:
– stem = λυ-
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: terminology
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
3. Verb accents
4. The negative οὐ
5. Common conjunctions
ELEMENTARY GREEK
Most Greek verbs have “recessive” accent
= the accent wants to “recede” back (“left”) to the
antepenult.
• The length of the vowel in the ultima determines
how far back the accent can recede.
• If the ultima is short, the accent recedes to the
antepenult: λύομεν
accent on antepenult
short ultima
ELEMENTARY GREEK
Most words in Greek have “recessive” accent
= the accent wants to “recede” back (“left”) to the
antepenult.
• The length of the vowel in the the ultima
determines how far back the accent can recede.
• If the ultima is long (= two shorts), the accent
recedes only to the penult:
λύω
accent on penult long ultima
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: terminology
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
3. Verb accents
4. The negative οὐ
5. Common conjunctions
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
4. The negative οὐ
The word οὐ means “not” and negates a verb:
• λύομεν = “we loose”
• οὐ λύομεν = “we do not loose”
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
4. The negative οὐ
•
οὐ normally does not have an accent and
precedes the word it negates:
–
•
before a vowel, οὐ adds a –κ, with no change in
meaning
–
•
οὐ λύομεν
οὐκ ἔχομεν
before a vowel with a rough breathing, the –κ
becomes a -χ, with no change in meaning
–
οὐχ ἕξομεν
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
1. Verb formation: terminology
2. The present active indicative of thematic
verbs (1st principal part)
3. Verb accents
4. The negative οὐ
5. Common conjunctions
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
5. Common conjunctions
This chapter introduces two common
conjunctions
• καί and
• ἀλλά but
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
5. Common conjunctions
Notice that both καί and ἀλλά have acute accents
on the ultima.
Any word with an acute accent on the ultima
changes it to grave when followed by another
word:
•
γράφομεν καὶ θύομεν ἀλλὰ φεύγομεν
“We write and we sacrifice but we run away.”
• this is the only use of the grave accent
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
5. Common conjunctions
Before a word beginning with a vowel, ἀλλὰ
elides to ἀλλ’
– διώκομεν ἀλλ’ οὐ φεύγομεν
– “We pursue but we do not run away.”
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
Vocabulary
• LSU uses a “Core Vocabulary” of about
1,100 words which you learn during the
first two years of Greek.
• You are responsible only for vocabulary
in Shelmerdine which also appears in the
Core Vocabulary.
Shelmerdine Chapter 2
Vocabulary
• In Moodle is a pdf listing which words in
Shelmerdine you are responsible for this
semester
• All the vocabulary listed in Chapter 2 is
in the Core Vocabulary.
ELEMENTARY GREEK
for tomorrow (***):
• Quiz: given a verb (as in the vocabulary),
write out all six forms