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Primary and Secondary Tenses

The seven tenses of ancient Greek can be divided into two inflection families: PRIMARY TENSES and SECONDARY TENSES (S 360). In general, PRIMARY TENSES refer to action in the PRESENT or FUTURE; SECONDARY TENSES refer to action in the PAST.

One of the main distinctions between the inflection of PRIMARY and SECONDARY verbs is the personal endings that each uses. This is clear in the following chart, which shows the overall scheme of verb endings (pdf version here: Greek Verbs: Master List of Endings).

Here we can see that we have learned the three sets of PRIMARY ENDINGS (-μι, –ω or –μαι). Note the differences and similarities between these endings and the SECONDARY ENDINGS.

The Imperfect Tense

The first secondary tense that we are learning is the IMPERFECT. While it is among the most commonly used tenses of FINITE verbs, there is NO INFINITIVE form of the imperfect.

There are three steps to forming this tense.

1. In the Greek conception, the IMPERFECT tense is essentially the PRESENT tense shifted back into the past. In other words, the IMPERFECT was conceived of as a state of existence, or an action that was still going on in the past (S 1889). As a result, to form verbs in the IMPERFECT, Greek begins with the PRESENT TENSE STEM, not the verb stem.

• δεικνυ show
• λυ loosen
• λαμβαν take

2. To the beginning of this stem is added the AUGMENT ἐ– (S 429). This augment used to be a separate word that indicated that the verb was in the past. Gradually it became a prefix that signifies the past tense for indicative verbs.

With the addition of the augment, we now have the IMPERFECT TENSE STEM.

• ἐδεικνυ show
• ἐλυ loosen
• ἐλαμβαν take

3. SECONDARY personal endings are added to indicate person and number. As seen in the chart above, there are two sets of active secondary personal endings: those for athematic verbs (-μι verbs), and those for thematic verbs (-ω verbs).

Observe that for the secondary endings of –μι verbs, the 3rd person singular has no ending. This form simply stops with the ending of the verb’s present stem.

Note that –ω verbs have nearly identical secondary endings to –μι verbs. The main differences are that  –ω verbs:

• Add the thematic vowel
• Have identical 1st person singular and 3rd person plural ending

Bringing It All Together…

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of δείκνυμι (athematic) (GPH p. 157)

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of λύω (thematic) (S 383; GPH p. 70)

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of λαμβάνω (thematic)

More -μι Verbs

While the formation of the imperfect tense is relatively straightforward, there are a handful of –μι verbs that exhibit slight irregularities:

• δίδωμι give
• τίθημι put, make
• φημί say
• ἵστημι stand
• ἵημι throw
• εἰμί be

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of δίδωμι (S 416; GPH p. 124)

Note that δίδωμι uses –ου– in the singular (S 746b).

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of τίθημι (S 416; GPH p. 146)

Note that τίθημι uses –ει– in the 2nd and 3rd person singular (S 746b).

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of φημί (S 783; GPH p. 169)

This verb shows no irregularities!

Verbs with Initial Vowels

The remaining –μι verbs on our list all begin with a vowel or diphthong. If the verb stem begins with a SHORT vowel or DIPHTHONG, the augment ἐ– is not added (though see ἔχω, below, for an exception). Rather, the initial short vowel itself, including the short vowel of a diphthong, is augmented through LENGTHENING (S 435)!

Short initial vowels lengthen as follows when augmented:

• α = η (not long α).
• ε = η 
• ο = ω
• ι = ι (this ι is long)
• υ = υ (this υ is long)
• αι or ει = ῃ
• οι = ῳ
• ᾳ = ῃ
• αυ or ευ = ηυ

If the initial vowel is long – e.g. ἡδύνω sweeten – no lengthening occurs, since the vowel is already long.

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of ἵστημι (S 416; GPH p. 135)

This verb has an initial vowel augment, but it does not affect the way the vowel is written, since long and short ι are written the same.

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of ἵημι

As with ἵστημι, this verb has a long vowel augment, but it does not affect the way ι is written. Notice also that, as with τίθημι, this verb uses –ει– here in the 2nd and 3rd person singular (S 746b).

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of εἰμί (S 768; GPH p. 178)

The irregularities of the imperfect of εἰμί are many, and require memorization (S 771).

Contract Verbs

Recall that the rules of vowel contraction operate in verbs when the stem ends in one of the short vowels α, ε, or ο. In the imperfect, this final vowel of the stem contracts with the thematic vowel of the secondary endings of –ω verbs.

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of αἱρέω (S 385; GPH p. 111)

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of ἐρωτάω (S 385; GPH p. 102)

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of δηλόω (S 385; GPH p. 119)

The Imperfect, Indicative, Active of ἔχω

ἔχω is one of a handful of verbs in which the augment ἐ is added to a verb that begins with a vowel (S 431). In such instances, the augment CONTRACTS with the initial stem vowel:

Translation

The IMPERFECT TENSE indicates an action in the past that was ongoing, or used to take place over a period of time. Think of it as a bit of video of an action from the past. Therefore, the imperfect is usually translated as was/were verbing, used to verb, or kept verbing.

For example:

• ἐδίδουν = I was giving, I used to give, I kept giving
• ἐδίδοσαν = they were giving, they used to give, they kept giving

Prefixes

Finally, note that the AUGMENT attaches to the beginning of the verb’s present tense stem. Even if the verb is a compound with a prefix, the augment is normally added directly to the STEM, not the prefix. For example:

•  παρα + δίδωσι = παραδίδωσι  she hands over, delivers
  • παρα + ἐδίδου = παρεδίδου she was handing over, delivering
•  προς + τίθημι = προστίθημι I add to
  • προς + ἐτίθην = προσετίθην I was adding to
• ἐν + βάλλουσι = ἐμβάλλουσι they are throwing into
  • ἐν + ἔβαλλον = ἐνέβαλλον they were throwing into
• σύν + λαμβάνω = συλλαμβάνω I am collecting
  • σύν + ἐλάμβανον = συνελάμβανον I was collecting

– τὸ τέλος –