Imperfect Tense 6

Imperfect Six

3 prose examples

Plato Phaedo 58a καὶ ἐθαυμάζομεν γε

Thucydides uses Imperfect where others might use Aorist

οἱ Κερκυραῖοι ἔπεμπον τὴν ὠφελίαν ἄσμενοι

 The Corcyreans sent the assistance gladly.

Xenophon Anabasis 1.3.2.

καὶ πρῶτον μὲν ἐδάκρυε πολὺν χρόνον ἑστώς.

 Οἱ δὲ ὁρῶντες ἐθάυμαζον καὶ ἐσιώπων.

And at first he wept for a long time while standing and the others watching were amazed and silent.

Imperfect Tense 5

Imperfect Tense Five

The – μι verbs follow a pattern of Vowel + ν, V + ς, V, V + μεν, V + τε, V + σαν

ἵστημι ἵστην ἵστης ἵστη ἵσταμεν ἵστατε ἵστασαν

τίθημι ἐτίθην ἐτίθεις ἐτίθει ἐτίθεμεν ἐτίθετε ἐτίθεσαν

δίδωμι ἐδίδουν ἐδίδους ἐδίδου ἐδίδομεν ἐδίδοτε ἐδίδοσαν

Imperfect Tense 4

Imperfect Tense Four

λυω > ελυον but some examples

α + ε > η ἄγω > ᾖγον

αι + ε > ῃ αἰσθάνομαι > ᾐσθάνομην

ε + ε > η ἐλαύνον > ἤλαυνον

sometimes ει ἔχω > εἶχον and N. B. εὑρίσκω > εὕρισκον

ο + ε > ω ὀφείλω > ὤφειλον BUT ὁράω > ἐώρᾱ and N. B. ὠθέω > ἐώθουν

Next some – μι verbs

Imperfect tense 3

Imperfect Tense Three

Classical Greek has 4 PRIMARY Tenses:

Present Future Perfect Future Perfect

There are also 3 SECONDARY Tenses for PAST ACTIONS

IMPERFECT AORIST PLUPERFECT

The Imperfect is used to describe continuous habitual repeated past actions.

All of these secondary tenses have an initial ε added called the augment.

Some are irregular and have irregular Imperfect forms with a pluperfect meaning.

Like Attic ἔοικε

However the laws of contraction apply to augment e

see the next post.

Imperfect Tense Two

Imperfect Tense Two

A pattern used for the Imperfect and the Second Aorist

ἐ παίδευ ο ν ἐ augment then the stem

ἐ παίδευ ε ς then unless it's a contract verb

ἐ παίδευ ε ( ν ) ον ες ε ( ν ) ομεν ετε ον

ἐ παίδευ ο μεν

ἐ παίδευ ε τε

ἐ παίδευ ο ν

A contract Verb like φιλεω would become ἐφιλουν ἐφιλεις ἐφιλει ἐφιλουμεν ἐφιλειτε ἐφιλουν in the Imperfect Tense. Some irregular verbs have σαν instead of ον.

The Middle Imperfect endings are – μην - σο - το - μεθα - σθε - ντο.

Imperfect Tense One

STESICHORUS ON THE SETTING SUN

̓Αέλιος δ̕ ̒Υπεριονίδας δέπας ἐσκατέβαινε χρύσεον,

and Helios the son of Hyperion into the golden bowl descended,

So what 's special about this opening line of Stesichorus' poem.

You can read the rest of the text in Trypanis P. 154 of the Penguin paperback edition.

Like many fragments of ancient verse it survived in an incomplete form because it was quoted in a later text as an example of metre or dialect by an author who never realised so many literature would become to the ravages of time.

I've cited this opening line because it has an excellent example of the Imperfect Tense.

Eskatebaine is the Imperfect and poetic form of the Verb εἰσκαταβαίνω go down into and the topic of the next few blog posts will be the Imperfect Tense of Greek Verbs.