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| Panos | Saturday 13th of August 2005 02:49:04 AM |
| Lesson no 7 - This is going to be a little more difficult. In the verbal system of Modern Greek, both the [b]tense[/b] and the [b]aspect[/b] are very important. The concept of the aspect is expressed by two different stems, the stem of the present and the stem of the aorist (simple past tense). From these two stems are formed all the tenses and the moods. There are eight tenses in Modern Greek Present ---Present Tense (Enestotas - Ενεστώτας ) ---Perfect or Present Perfect(Parakimenos - Παρακείμενος ) Past ---Aorist or Simple Past Tense (Aoristos - Αόριστος ) ---Imperfect or Past Continuous (Paratatikos -Παρατατικός ) ---Pluperfect or Past Perfect(Ipersintelikos - Υπερσυντέλικος ) Future ---Durative Future (Eksakoluthitikos Melondas - Εξακολουθητικός Μέλλοντας ) ---Punctual Future (Stigmieos Melondas Στιγμιαίος Μέλλοντας ) ---Future Perfect (Sindelesmenos Melondas - Συντελεσμένος Μέλλοντας ) and three moods Indicative (Oristiki - Οριστική ) Subjunctive (Ipotaktiki - Υποτακτική ) Imperative (Prostaktiki - Προστακτική ) The indicative is the most important mode. In greek dictionaries verbs are found in the first person singular of the indicative mode (unlike English or other languages that it is used the infinitive ). The subjunctive mode sometimes is like the infinitive or gerund of English. Imperative is used when giving orders or asking someone to do something. I will give an example with the verb “λύνω” which means untie, or solve (i.e. for mathematical problem) or loose, dismantle (i.e. a machine ), release, unfasten etc. I will write only the indicative mood which is the most important. ACTIVE VOICE (Ενεργητική Φωνή ) [b]Present (Ενεστώτας )[/b] 1st person singular λύν-ω 2nd λύν-εις 3rd λύν-ει 1st person plural λύν-ουμε 2nd λύν-ετε 3rd λύν-ουν [b]Imperfect (Παρατατικός )[/b] 1st person singular έλυν-α 2nd έλυν-ες 3rd έλυν-ε 1st person plural λύν-αμε 2nd λύν-ατε 3rd έλυν-αν [b]Dur. Future (Εξ. Μέλλοντας )[/b] 1st person singular θα λύν-ω 2nd θα λύν-εις 3rd θα λύν-ει 1st person plural θα λύν-ουμε 2nd θα λύν-ετε 3rd θα λύν-ουν The stem for the first 3 tenses is ‘λυν-‘. [b]Simple Past (Αόριστος )[/b] 1st person singular έλυσ-ω 2nd έλυσ-ες 3rd έλυσ-ε 1st person plural λύσ-αμε 2nd λύσ-ατε 3rd έλυσ-αν [b]Pun. Future (Στιγμ. Μέλλοντας )[/b] 1st person singular θα λύσ-ω 2nd θα λύσ-εις 3rd θα λύσ-ει 1st person plural θα λύσ-ουμε 2nd θα λύσ-ετε 3rd θα λύσ-ουν The stem for the above 2 tenses is ‘λυσ-‘. The remaining tenses (Perfect, Pluperfect and Future Perfect) are easy to conjugate because the verb remains the same for all persons. [b]Perfect (Παρακείμενος )[/b] 1st si. έχω λύσει 2nd si. έχεις λύσει, etc. [b]Pluperfect (Υπερσυντέλικος )[/b] 1st si. είχα λύσει, etc [b]Fut. Perfect (Συντ. Μέλλοντας )[/b] 1st si. θα έχω λύσει, etc. PASSIVE VOICE (Παθητική Φωνή ) [b]Present (Ενεστώτας )[/b] 1st person singular λύν-ομαι 2nd λύν-εσε 3rd λύν-ετε 1st person plural λυν-όμαστε 2nd λύν-εστε 3rd λύν-ονται [b]Imperfect (Παρατατικός )[/b] 1st person singular λυν-όμουν 2nd λυν-όσουν 3rd λυν-όταν 1st person plural λυν-όμασταν 2nd λυν-όσασταν 3rd λύν-ονταν [b]Dur. Future (Εξ. Μέλλοντας )[/b] 1st person singular θα λύν-ομαι 2nd θα λύν-εσε 3rd θα λύν-ετε 1st person plural θα λυν-όμαστε 2nd θα λύν-εστε 3rd θα λύν-ονται [b]Simple Past (Αόριστος )[/b] 1st person singular λύθ-ηκα 2nd λύθ-ηκες 3rd λύθ-ηκε 1st person plural λυθ-ήκαμε 2nd λυθ-ήκατε 3rd λύθ-ηκαν [b]Pun. Future (Στιγμ. Μέλλοντας )[/b] 1st person singular θα λύθ-ω 2nd θα λυθ-είς 3rd θα λυθ-εί 1st person plural θα λύθ-ούμε 2nd θα λυθ-ήτε 3rd θα λυθ-ούν *** The stem in the above 2 tenses is ‘λυθ-‘ The rest 3 tenses will not be written intentionally – left as an exercise, he he :))) | |
| phoenix9861 | Saturday 13th of August 2005 06:45:22 AM |
| HOLY COW!!! - oh man this looks soooooo hard. every verb goes through the same thing. I can't seem to picture greek children learning this. LOL oh man..... anyway enough of my complaining. thanx panos, ur lessons r very helpful. | |
| Panos | Saturday 13th of August 2005 09:31:30 PM |
| - I liked that holy cow thing. It is true that cows are sacred animals in India, isnt't it? :) Anyway, that is the situation with verb conjugation (unfortunately), and this is only for regular verbs. As for the Perfect tenses, the main verb doesn't change because the auxiliary verb 'έχω' (i have) does instead. So, you can't escape conjugation :)) | |
| phoenix9861 | Monday 15th of August 2005 03:11:25 AM |
| :) - yes, cows are sacred in India but i don't consider them sacred cuz i am Christian. Cows are sacred to hindus. But 'holy cow' is an expression here in US (which probably came from the idea of sacred cows) meaning 'oh my God, this is too much' or 'oh great, wat have i gotten myself into' or anything similar. | |
| phoenix9861 | Monday 15th of August 2005 03:11:50 AM |
| kai - i wish i could get away from these conjugations.... :( | |
| JimD | Sunday 30th of October 2005 10:51:26 PM |
| - I think the best way to learn these is probably by studying example sentences. It looks hard when the rules are set out like that, but really, English is not much simpler! It's just when you know the language already it's easy! ;) | |
| jelena | Thursday 06th of July 2006 05:48:26 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by panos74[/i] In greek dictionaries verbs are found in the first person singular of the indicative mode (unlike English or other languages that it is used the infinitive ). [/quote] I know the greek verbs can be found in dictionaries only as first person in singular, present tense. But, still, I wonder, is there something that would be a true infinitive, as in some other languages, and what it would be? Thanks | |
| Dusica | Friday 07th of July 2006 02:00:14 AM |
| - I think there is not such thing as infinitive in Greek. | |
| squeak | Friday 07th of July 2006 03:00:27 AM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by panos74[/i] Anyway, that is the situation with verb conjugation (unfortunately), and this is only for regular verbs. [/quote] Are there many irregular verbs in Greek? | |
| Jani | Sunday 09th of July 2006 05:42:29 PM |
| - [quote][i]Originally posted by squeak[/i] Are there many irregular verbs in Greek?[/quote] I guess it really depends on what the concept of many represents to you. :) Here are some... [url]http://www.cogsci.indiana.edu/farg/harry/lan/grkvbirr.htm[/url] | |
| squeak | Monday 10th of July 2006 01:21:13 AM |
| - Thanks, I\'ll have a look at that. Well, in the German I know, I\'d say about half the verbs are irreular. I\'d say that\'s a lot. ;) | |
| Tiger | Thursday 27th of July 2006 06:50:36 PM |
| - too much to compute............*gasp* how am i ever going to get it!......*gasp*..... .... .... | |
| squeak | Friday 28th of July 2006 11:36:15 PM |
| - Hey Tiger. Working on the next bit for you...should be done and sent in a while :) I find Greek a very logical language, I just don\'t work very logically :p. I struggle with the grammar, mostly. I was never taught English grammar, I think that\'s why. Struggle auf deutsch with grammar too. :( Ah well...it\'s a nice language. P.S. Might have found a way of recording on to pc, so hopefully an audio file coming your way soon :) | |
| nena77 | Saturday 19th of August 2006 09:54:52 PM |
| - Hello [quote]I think there is not such thing as infinitive in Greek.[/quote] Actually, there is something that we call infinitive, only it is not in a strict way. In ancient Greek there used to be infinitives, for example the infinitive of the verb έχω(have), would be έχειν (to have) and this could also be used in the place of the gerund. In modern Greek, infinitive is considered the third person singular of the verb. The verb έχω would have έχει as its infinitive. But it is mostly used as the subjunctive mood, in the second person. If we see this in a sentence, it would make more sense. Fighting is bad. (gerund) To fight is bad. (infinitive) Το να πολεμάει [κανείς] είναι κακό. (use of infinitive) Το να πολεμάς είναι κακό. (use of subjunctive) All the above sentences are grammatically correct. What we normally use to express the above sentence though is: Eίναι κακό να πολεμάς. I really hope I have written this in not a very complicated way ;) | |
| jelena | Sunday 20th of August 2006 08:32:38 AM |
| - No, not complicated at all. Thanks a lot :) | |
| Dusica | Sunday 20th of August 2006 02:56:45 PM |
| - Perfectly clear :) Thanks! | |
| jeffopoulos | Friday 25th of August 2006 06:55:13 PM |
| - Hi Panos, thanks for help on verbs. You gave an example of passive voice for λύνομαι. Are the 2nd and 3rd person singulars correct? PASSIVE VOICE (Παθητική Φωνή ) Present (Ενεστώτας ) 1st person singular λύν-ομαι 2nd λύν-εσε 3rd λύν-ετε Should it be 2nd λύν-εσαι 3rd λύν-εται The same for future continuous? 2nd θα λύν-εσαι 3rd θα λύν-εται I\'ll get back in my box if I\'m wrong. | |
| nena77 | Tuesday 29th of August 2006 03:46:05 PM |
| - Well done jeffopoulos! No need for boxes and restricted places now :) | |
| Kostas | Sunday 15th of April 2007 06:37:10 PM |
| - Jeffopoulos is absolutely right! Also, the Simple Past (Αοριστος) 1st person singular is \"ελυσα\". | |
