spast

7/28/2019 spast

1/4

Modern Greek Grammar

Konstantinos Athanasiou

All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in digital form or any other form, by print, photoprint,

microfilm or any other means without written permission from the author Konstantinos Athanasiou.

12.3.2 The simple past / The simple past is used to describe an action, an event or condition that occurred in the past without

being interested in its duration. The action or the event described was completed at some point.

Duration or habit is expressed in Greek by the Imperfect tense.

. I went to the park yesterday.

. I saw Maria yesterday.

12.3.2.1 Formation of the simple past of the active voice

Characteristics of the past tense of the active voiceThe personal endings of the of the active voice are: -, -, -, -, -, -.

The letters , (+), (+) before the endings are typical letters of the . However,

there are verbs that form the without these letters, as you will see below.

In the the verbs are in principle stressed on the third-to-last syllable.

Group A, 1st

conjugation

The augment (prefix) -

Two-syllable verbs take in the the augment - with the stress mark on it. By taking theaugment these verbs bear the stress mark on the third-to-last syllable. The augment dissapears if the

stress mark is not to be found on the - as in the first and second person plural. When two-syllable

verbs have a preposition as a prefix, the augment is placed after the preposition and before the verb. If

the preposition ends in a vowel, then this vowel disappears. Notice that the vowel in the preposition

remains and that the preposition changes into , for example:

(collect) -

(give way) -

(allow) -

(sign) -

(describe) -

(express)

Attention: There are verbs that do not take the augment - (see the list with the irregular verbs):

(want) (Imperfect tense)

(know) -

(drink)

(raise, revoke) -

Formation steps

The verbs (read) and (write) are used as examples:

1. Find the present stem of the verb (omit -)- -

2. Change the last letter of the present stem into , ofby applying the following rules: If thestem of the present tense ends in:

a vowel or

, , , , , , , , , (exception: -)

, , , , or

Notice that certain verbs (often ancient Greek verbs), whose present stem ends in -, -, -, -,

retain these letters in the , sometimes with modifications in the ste m, for example

(stay), (err, make a mistake) (see the list with the irregular

verbs).

- -

This is the past stem of the verb.

7/28/2019 spast

2/4

7/28/2019 spast

3/4





The verbs used above are conjugated in the following table:

B1 B2

I loved I laughed

you you ...

I telephoned

you

12.3.2.2 Formation of the past tense of the medio-passive voice

CharacteristicsThe endings of the of the medio-passive voice are the same as in the active voice:

-, -, -, -, -, -.

The verbs in the of the medio-passive voice are also stressed on the third-to-last syllable.

Group A, 1st

conjugation

CharacteristicsThe lettercombinations -- and --before the endings are typical of the of the

medio-passive voice of the A verbs (the following lettercombinations as well but less often: --, -

-, --, --, -()-, -()-).

Formation stepsThe verbs (get paid) and (be bought) are used as example:

1. Find the present stem of the verb (omit -, -)- - - - - -

2. Change the last letter of the stem of the present tense into , of(or sometimes into --, --, --, --, -()-, -()-), this is the past stem of the medio-

passive voice of the verb. The following rules may in principle be applied:If the past tense of the active voice ends in:

- - or

- -

- - /

- - - -

3. Place the lettercombination -- after the past tense stem of the medio-passive voice:-- --

4. Place the personal endings of the (-, -, -, -, -, -) in the end and putthe stress mark on the third-to-last syllable.

--

--

--

--

The verbs used above are conjugated in the table below:

I was (or got) paid

you were paid

I was bought

you were bought

7/28/2019 spast

4/4





Groep B, 2nd

conjugation and verbs with the archaik conjugation

CharacteristicsThe lettercombination --before the endings is typical of the of the medio-passive

voice of the B verbs (the following lettercombinations as well but less often: --, --, --

, --, --).

Formation stepsThe verbs (be loved), (be bored), (sleep) en (narrate) are used

as example:

1. Find the present stem of the verb (omit -, -, -, -)B1 B2 Archaic conjugation

- -

-

() - -

2. Place after the present stem the lettercombination -- (or one of the followinglettercombinations: --, --, --, --, --), this is the past stem of the medio-passive

voice of the verb

B1 B2 Archaic conjugation-- -- -- --

3. Place the letters -- after the past stem of the medio-passive voiceB1 B2 Archaic conjugation

--- --- --- --

4. Place the personal endings of the (-, -, -, -, -, -) in the end and putthe stress mark on the third-to-last syllable

B1 B2 Archaic conjugation

--- ---

--- ---

...

---

---

---

---

...

One verb of each group is conjugated in the table below:

1 2 Archaic conjugation

I was loved

you were loved

I slept

you slept

I narrated

you narrated

spast

Documents