Download INTRODUCTION TO GREEK GRAMMAR Lesson 24

INTRODUCTION TO GREEK GRAMMAR
Lesson 24
Contract Verbs
First Aorist of Liquid Verbs
1.
Vocabulary:
ajgapa>w
I love
aite>w
I ask, request
ajkolouqe>w I follow (takes Dat.)
ajsqene>w
I am sick, weak
game>w
I marry
genna>w
I father, give birth to
dhlo>w
I show, indicate
doke>w
I seem, appear
ejlee>w
I pity
eujloge>w
I bless
eujcariste>w I give thanks
za>w
I live
zhte>w
qewre>w
kale>w
lale>w
marture>w
oJra>w
peripate>w
poie>w
stauro>w
thre>w
tima>w
file>w
I seek
I behold
I call
I speak
I bear witness, I testify
I see
I walk
I do, make
I crucify
I keep
I honor
I love
2. Rules of Contraction:
To this point no verb with a stem ending in a, e, or o has been studied. This type word forms a special
class of w verbs. These vowels contract with the connecting vowel in the present system to form a single long
vowel or diphthong. This contraction takes place in all forms of the present and imperfect tenses. They do not
occur in the other tenses because of the consonant tense indicators. Those tenses form in the regular way except
the s, k, etc. Note that kale>w is an exception to this rule; the future of kale>w is kale>sw rather than kalh>sw.
The following chart shows the regular contractions of these short vowels (the vertical column) with the
connecting vowel (the top line). a + e = ei ; a + ei = a, etc.
e
ei
h
h|
o
ou
w
oi
a
a
a|
a
a|
w
w
w
w|
e
ei
ei
h
h|
ou
ou
w
oi
o
ou
oi
w
oi
ou
ou
w
oi
3. Rules of Accent for Contract Verbs:
A. If either of the contracted syllables had an accent the resulting contracted syllable receives an accent.
Β. The accent is circumflex, if the first of the contracting vowels had the acute; but it is acute, if the
second vowel had the acute.
C. The accent on an uncontracted syllable will be recessive just as on any other verb.
4. Examples of Contract Verbs:
Present Active Indicative
gennw~ (genna>w)
filw~ (file>w)
dhlw~ (dhlo>w)
genna~|v (genna>eiv)
filei~v (file>eiv)
dhloi~v (dhlo>eiv)
genna|~ (genna>ei)
filei~ (file>eiv)
dhloi~ (dhlo>ei)
gennw~men (genna>omen)
filou~men (file>omen)
dhlou~men (dhlo>omen)
genna~te (genna>ete)
file~ite (file>ete)
dhlou~te (dhlo>ete)
gennw~sin (genna>ousin)
filou~sin (file>ousin)
dhlou~sin (dhlo>ousin)
The uncontracted forms are placed in parenthesis to show how the contracting was done. Keep in mind
that these uncontracted forms do not appear in the New Testament. Any present active or imperfect form of a
contract verb will follow these examples. The stem is identified and the regular required ending is added and the
contraction is formed. Work on these contractions until you feel comfortable working with different verbs.
Present Middle and Passive Indicative
gennw~mai (genna>omai)
filou~mai (file>omai)
dhlou~mai (dhlo>omai)
genna~sai (genna>esai)
genna~tai (genna>etai)
gennaw>meqa (gennao>meqa)
genna>sqe (genna>esqe)
gennw~ntai (genna>ontai)
filh|~ (file>h|)
filei~tai (file>etai)
filou>meqa (fileo>meqa)
filei~sqe (file>esqe)
filou~ntai (file>ontai)
dhloi~ (dhlo>h|)
dhlou~tai (dhlo>etai)
dhlou>meqa (dhloo>meqa)
dhlou~sqe (dhlo>esqe)
dhlou~ntai (dhlo>ontai)
5. Irregularities in Contract Verbs:
The student should expect irregular contractions from time to time. Lexical study will help to work these
out. Example: la>w (I live) has irregular forms in the indicative (which would be regular in the subjunctive):
lw~, lh~v, lh~, lw~men, lh~te, lw~sin for the present indicative active. The present active infinitive is lh~n.
6. The Liquid Future:
Verbs which have stems ending in l, m, n, r form their future tense by dropping the s, adding an e, and
then form regular contraction as if they were regular e contract verbs. Example: kri>nw (Ι judge) will not be
kri>nsw, etc., but krinw~, krinei~v, krinei~, krinou~men, krinei~te, krinou~si(n).
Only the accent show
the three singular forms and the third person plural are not present indicative active forms.
7. First Aorist Active and Middle of Liquid Verbs:
The conjugation of first aorist liquid verbs is like that of other verbs with one exception. The first aorist
active and middle of liquid verbs are formed not by adding -sa to the stem but by adding only -a and making
some changes within the word.
Example: me>nw, in the first aorist active indicative is e]meina and the first aorist middle indicative is
ejmeina>mhn. The first aorist subjunctive is mei>nw, the aorist infinitive is mei~nai and the first aorist active
participle nominative masculine singular is mei>nav. The internal change is normally the lengthening of the stem
vowel: a is lengthened to h except before r where it becomes a long a; e lengthens to ei; short i οr u simply
lengthens.