Verbs in Ancient Greek is by far the most complex part of the sentence.
They have four moods:
indicative
imperative
subjunctive
optative
Three persons:
first
second
third
Three numbers:
singular
plurar
dual (rare)
Three voices:
active
passive
middle
Most importantly, six combinations of tense and aspect:
present
perfect
aorist
future
pluperfect
futureperfect
They have also infinitives and participles
A beginner needs only to be able to understand and know: The present form of the indicative in the active voice and the first person of each different combination.
The baritone verbs, the verbs that are not accented in the ultima are the most common of verbs for example, "λύω" (I loose)
In the following list you can check the most basic forms of the verb "λύω"
Don't try to memorize it. Try to see if you can recognize the suffix in each word.
Present
λύω
λύεις
λύει
λύομεν
λύετε
λύουσι
Perfect
ἔλυον
ἔλυες
ἔλυε
ἐλύομεν
ἐλύετε
ἔλυον
Future
λύσω
λύσεις
λύσει
λύσομεν
λύσετε
λύσουσι
Aorist
ἔλυσα
ἔλυσας
ἔλυσε
ἐλύσαμεν
ἐλύσατε
ἔλυσαν
The following document contains the whole conjugation of the verb "λύω".
Now check if you did indeed understood where is the suffix.
Again, don't spend time memorizing anything. Just keep a grammar handbook close to you when studying any text.
They have four moods:
indicative
imperative
subjunctive
optative
Three persons:
first
second
third
Three numbers:
singular
plurar
dual (rare)
Three voices:
active
passive
middle
Most importantly, six combinations of tense and aspect:
present
perfect
aorist
future
pluperfect
futureperfect
They have also infinitives and participles
A beginner needs only to be able to understand and know: The present form of the indicative in the active voice and the first person of each different combination.
The baritone verbs, the verbs that are not accented in the ultima are the most common of verbs for example, "λύω" (I loose)
In the following list you can check the most basic forms of the verb "λύω"
Don't try to memorize it. Try to see if you can recognize the suffix in each word.
Present
λύω
λύεις
λύει
λύομεν
λύετε
λύουσι
Perfect
ἔλυον
ἔλυες
ἔλυε
ἐλύομεν
ἐλύετε
ἔλυον
Future
λύσω
λύσεις
λύσει
λύσομεν
λύσετε
λύσουσι
Aorist
ἔλυσα
ἔλυσας
ἔλυσε
ἐλύσαμεν
ἐλύσατε
ἔλυσαν
The following document contains the whole conjugation of the verb "λύω".
Now check if you did indeed understood where is the suffix.
Again, don't spend time memorizing anything. Just keep a grammar handbook close to you when studying any text.
Your browser does not support viewing this document. Click here to download the document.