Greek Verb Recognition for Common Entrance
Greek Tenses – Partial Overview
|
Present
I am stopping
|
Imperfect
I was stopping
|
Future
I shall stop
|
First Aorist
I stopped
|
Second Aorist
I took
|
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
I
You (s)
He/she/it
We
You (p)
They
|
παύω
παύεις
παύει
παύομεν
παύετε
παύουσι(ν)
|
ἔπαυον
ἔπαυες
ἔπαυε(ν)
ἐπαύομεν
ἐπαύετε
ἔπαυον
|
παύσω
παύσεις
παύσει
παύσομεν
παύσετε
παύσουσι(ν)
|
ἔπαυσα
ἔπαυσας
ἔπαυσε(ν)
ἐπαύσαμεν
ἐπαύσατε
ἔπαυσαν
|
ἔλαβον
ἔλαβες
ἔλαβε(ν)
ἐλάβομεν
ἐλάβετε
ἔλαβον
|
| Notes | You make this tense by adding the personal ending to the stem – nothing else | You make this tense by adding the augment, usually ἐ-, at the front. This shows past continuous action | You make this tense by adding the tense marker -σ-. This shows future time | This is the first aorist. You usually see an augment at the front and -σα- inside the verb. Think α for aorist | This is the second aorist. It still has an augment, but it does not use -σα-. Instead, it adds the imperfect endings to a more or less altered stem. Here we use λαμβάνω as the example |
Present has no augment and no future marker.
Imperfect usually adds ἐ- at the front.
Future usually adds -σ-.
First aorist often adds ἐ- and -σα-.
Second aorist often adds ἐ-, but changes the stem instead of adding -σα-.
