Dear friends/colleagues,
Best wishes for the New Year!
Due to an unexpected problem I might not be able to come to the Fridays’ class. I
need to get some documents from the Ministry of Education and the University of
Athens and unfortunately I haven finished his yet. I will definitely be there for
Saturday’s class. Please check your emails or contact the Headmaster, Mr Yiorgos
Papaioannou to verify it. As such I am sending you something like a revision for the
tenses although a strange one since it will be about human behaviour, psychology and
philosophy in the structure of the verbs. Common verbs will be used as examples. I
have to apologize because my laptop doesn’t type t and sometimes t is missing..
Everything is just an example, do not try it at home!
PRESENT
We do live in the continuous present; the past and the future is actually in our minds,
they do not exist, yes? That is why we have he present tense and it has the same use
with present tenses in all languages. It about living the moment, it is continuing and it
refers to the present or habits that we use to have as continuing living moments. It is
the same with the Greek language. Present defines present:
Somebody is talking to his wife on the phone from his office.
-Τι κάνεις Στέλλα;
-Καλά είμαι, λίγο κουρασμένη, ευχαριστώ Γιώργο. Τώρα αγοράζω πατάτες στο
σουπερμάρκετ.
The person asked two things with one sentence, probably because they know each
other and they use same kind of semantic dictionary. As such Stella replied that she is
fine, generally speaking but she is a bi tired this afternoon. Additionally she describes
what she is actually doing, buying potatoes from the supermarket. The Greek
approach to the present tense is twofold: I buy and I am buying. We use the same
verb: αγοράζω. When I am buying something I actually live in continuing moments,
probably from the time I decide to do it until the actual action of getting the product.
We only live in moments..
PRESENT-PAST-FUTURE: THE CONNECTION
Future and past do not exist. They live in our minds, yes?
But we do need to remember and imagine as a process, yes? Probably one of the
reasons is that we need an anchor to live the moment and dream. Let’s see how it
might work. I remember something I tried in the past once, didn’t like and stopped
doing it. I did it or have done it once. For example I tried bungee jumping; I scared
myself to death and will never do it again. I didn’t like the result of this action and I
probably won’t do it again in the future. It’s simple as simple past. Have a look at the
endings.
αγοράζω – αγόρασα
παίζω – έπαιξα
γράφω – έγραψα
What if I liked was I was doing. I tried yoga once and I loved it. As such up to this
moment I was doing yoga.
Now
αγοράζω
παίζω
γράφω
Past many times
αγόραζα
έπαιζα
έγραφα
Past once
αγόρασα
έπαιξα
έγραψα
As you see the last (common) endings in active voice for the past and the future are
the same. Why? When I was doing the action I was living the moment continuously
and as such it is connected to the present, so it keeps the letter before the ending (ζ or
φ). But in the absolute past the letter changes into σ, ξ or ψ.
The future doesn’t exist either. We plan judging based on the past to do or not to do or
just try things. I am planning to go Jet Ski. If I like it I will try again if not I will try
once and that’s it! In Greek is easy to detect the future because we always use the
word θα which stands for will.
Now
αγοράζω
παίζω
γράφω
Future Many Times
θα αγοράζω
θα παίζω
θα γράφω
Future once
θα αγοράσω
θα παίξω
θα γράψω
Any ‘Aha! experiences’ from both PAST & FUTURE tables ?
 If I used to do things in the past, I was living all these moments, just like in the
present, I keep the letter before the ending. At that time it was continuing
present.
 I will be doing things in the future, I will be living these things in the future
and as such they are going to be living moments. It is another reason to keep
the letter then, yes? I will be continuing present> the red one.
The form for using for ‘many times actions’ keeps the letter that exists in the present
tense.
 If I did something once in the past, the moments happened just once and they
won’t repeat themselves in the real world. I lived these moments once.
 I am not sure whether I continue doing something I will do in the future but up
to now I know that it will happen once.
The form for using ‘once actions’, keeps the letter that exists in the past> the green
one.
PRESENT-PAST-FUTURE ACTIONS: THE CONNECTION
It is not hard to follow me now. But this is the next lesson. If you want to do
something for further practice, try to actually write down all the endings for singular
and plural and find connections between them. If you connect things with things you
already know then you will create a grid that will help you to recall the needed words.
PAST ---------------------- PRESENT ------------------ FUTURE
Once
continuing moment
Once
Many times
Many times
Bye for now,
C u soon,
niki