Ancient Greek for Everyone:
A New Digital Resource for
Beginning Greek
Unit 7 part 2:
The Future Tense
2013 edition
Wilfred E. Major
wmajor@lsu.edu
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This class
AGE Unit 7: The Future Tense
• So far, all verbs have been in the present tense.
• In this unit, Part 2 adds a new tense, the future.
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• A Greek verb by itself usually communicates
FIVE pieces of information:
– Person: 1st 2nd 3rd
– Number: singular, plural
– Tense: present, future
– Mood: indicative, infinitive
– Voice: active
PARSING: To “parse” a Greek verb means to identify the
above five qualities about a specific verb form.
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Building a Greek verb
• Remember that, to begin building a Greek verb,
start with the stem.
• The stem tells you what action the verb describes:
δεικ = “show”
λυ = “loosen, destroy”
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Building a Greek verb
• All the verbs so far have been in the present tense.
• So the stem needed a marker that says the verb is in the
present tense.
• Adding a -ν- to the stem typically marks a verb as in the present tense.
• It is easier to pronounce this verb by adding –νυ–, so now the stem
looks (and sounds) like this:
– δεικνυ = “show” (in the present)
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Building a Greek verb
• This unit introduces verbs in the future tense.
• So the stem needs a marker that says the verb is in the
future tense.
• Adding a -σ- to the stem marks a verb as in the future tense.
• So now the stem looks (and sounds) like this:
– λυ + σ = “loosen”  λυσ = “loosen” (in the future)
– δεικ + σ = “show”  δειξ = “show” (in the future)
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Conjugating a Greek verb
• Remember that Greek has two conjugations:
– -μι verbs
– -ω verbs
• ALL VERBS, regardless of what endings they use in the
present tense, use -ω verb endings in the future tense.
• Future tense = verb stem + σ + -ω verb endings
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Building a Greek verb
• Remember that, to indicate person and number,
-ω verbs use distinct endings, which are as follows:
• -ω = I (1st person singular)
-ομεν = we (1st person plural)
• -εις = you (2nd person singular) -ετε = y’all (2nd person plural)
• -ει = (s)he, it (3rd person sing) -ουσι = they (3rd person plural)
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• λύσω
• λύσομεν
– I will loosen.
• λύσεις
– We will loosen.
• λύσετε
– You will loosen.
• λύσει
– Y’all will loosen.
• λύσουσι
– (S)he/it will loosen.
– They will loosen.
Building a Greek Verb
The Future Indicative Active of λύω
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• δείξω
• δείξομεν
– I will show.
• δείξεις
– We will show.
• δείξετε
– You will show.
• δείξει
– Y’all will show.
• δείξουσι
– (S)he/it will show.
– They will show.
Building a Greek Verb
The Future Indicative Active of δείκνυμι
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• The ending –ειν signals that an -ω verb is in the infinitive.
• λύσειν
• δείξειν
• This form is the future, infinitive, active.
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Vocabulary: Principal Parts
• Greek verbs can morph into a variety of forms (you
already know 14 different forms of a verb).
• You have already seen how vocabulary entries begin with
just the 1st person singular present indicative active.
• Because adding -σ- to the verb stem can be tricky,
vocabulary entries also normally include the 1st person
singular future indicative active as well.
• These two forms are called principal parts, because they
are principal forms that indicate how other forms work.
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Vocabulary: Principal Parts
• The following slides review the verbs from Units 2 and 7,
adding in their second principal part, the 1st person singular
future indicative active.
• Some verbs never occur in the future indicative active. If a
verb from a previous list is not repeated here, it is because
it does not occur in the future indicative active.
• Verbs of the -ω conjugation that use the -ν- in the present
tense rarely occur in the future indicative active, or are
irregular in some way, so that set of verbs is not reviewed
here.
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Unit 7 part 2 Vocabulary: Classical
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βουλεύω, βουλεύσω deliberate, resolve
θύω, θύσω sacrifice
κελεύω, κελεύσω order
κωλύω, κωλύσω prevent
λύω, λύσω loosen, destroy
παύω, παύσω stop
πιστεύω, πιστεύσω trust, rely on, believe in (+ dat.)
πορεύω, πορεύσω carry; (mid.) go, march
φύω, φύσω produce
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Unit 7 part 2 Vocabulary: NT (New Testament)
• ἀκούω, ἀκούσω hear
• κλαίω, κλαύσω cry out
• λύω, λύσω loosen, destroy
– ἀπολύω release, divorce, forgive
• περισσεύω, περισσεύσω be left over, increase, exceed
• πιστεύω, πιστεύσω trust, rely on, believe in (+ dat.)
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Unit 2 Vocabulary:
• ἀπο + ολ-  ἀπόλλυμι, ἀπολῶ kill, destroy
This verb has a “contract future,” which gives it a different accent,
but which otherwise appears and sounds like a regular -ω verb.
• δεικ-  δείκνυμι, δείξω show
• μιγ-  μίγνυμι, μίξω mix
• δω-  δίδωμι, δώσω give
– ἀποδίδωμι, ἀποδώσω give back
– παραδίδωμι, παραδώσω hand over, deliver
• ἥ-  ἵημι, ἥσω throw
– ἀφίημι, ἀφήσω let go, allow, forgive
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Unit 2 Vocabulary:
• στη-  ἵστημι, στήσω stand
– ἀνίστημι, ἀναστήσω raise, appoint
– καθίστημι, καταστήσω set down, establish
– παρίστημι, παραστήσω present
• θη-  τίθημι, θήσω put, make
– ἐπιτίθημι, ἐπιθήσω put on
– προστίθημι, προσθήσω add to
• φη-  φημί, φήσω say
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Unit 7 part 2 Vocabulary: Core
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ἀκούω, ἀκούσω hear
ἀποδίδωμι, ἀποδώσω give back
ἀπόλλυμι, ἀπολῶ kill, destroy
ἀφίημι, ἀφήσω let go, allow, forgive
δίδωμι, δώσω give
ἵστημι, στήσω stand
λύω, λύσω loosen, destroy
παραδίδωμι, παραδώσω hand over, deliver
πιστεύω, πιστεύσω trust, rely on, believe in (+ dat.)
τίθημι, θήσω put, make
φημί, φήσω say