Module 24

Contract Verbs

The Verb

In Greek and in English verbs have the same definition and functions. Verbs are words that represent actions (throw) and states of being (be or exist). They differ in the same fundamental way that Greek nouns differ from their English counterparts: they use endings to create meaning in a way that English does not. The Greek verb (ῥῆμα) in its finite form has an ending that indicates what person and number the subject is. The Greek infinitive has an ending that indicates that it is unmarked for person and number.

Contract Verbs

As you have seen in Modules 10, 17, and 19, contractions occur when the stem of the first or second principal part ends in an alpha or epsilon. Contractions also occur when the stem ends in an omicron. These vowels contract with the initial vowel or diphthong of the ending in specific ways.

Accenting Contract Verbs

When creating the form of a contract verb, you must accent before you contract: ποιοῦμεν < ποιέομεν, not ποίουμεν.

Contract Verbs in Alpha

If the stem of principal part I or II ends in alpha, the alpha contracts with the endings in accordance with the following chart:

Present Indicative Active of ὁράω

To the present active, middle, and passive tense stem ὁρα-, add the correct endings.

Present Infinitive Active of ὁράω

To the tense stem ὁρα-, add the active infinitive ending.

1. Note the absence of the iota subscript.

Imperfect Indicative Active of ὁράω

To the augmented tense stem ἑωρα-, add the correct endings.

1. nu-movable is NEVER added to the third person singular of the imperfect indicative active of contracted verbs. Thus ἑώρᾱ but ἐβάδιζε (ν).
2. The accent on a contracted ultima is a circumflex. Accents elsewhere are determined by the rules for possibilities of accent.

Contract Verbs in Epsilon

If the stem of principal part I or II ends in epsilon, the epsilon contracts with the endings in accordance with the following chart:

Present Indicative Active of δοκέω

To the present active, middle, and passive tense stem δοκε-, add the correct endings.

Present Infinitive Active of δοκέω

To the present active, middle, and passive tense stem δοκε-, add the active infinitive ending.

Imperfect Indicative Active of δοκέω

To the augmented tense stem ἐδοκ-, add the correct endings.

1. nu-movable is NEVER added to the third person singular of the imperfect indicative active of contracted verbs. Thus ἐδόκει but ἐβάδιζε (ν).
2. The accent on a contracted ultima is a circumflex. Accents elsewhere are determined by the rules for possibilities of accent.

Contract Verbs in Omicron

If the stem of principal part I or II ends in omicron, the omicron contracts with the endings in accordance with the following chart:

Present Indicative Active of ἀξιόω

To the present active, middle, and passive tense stem ἀξιο-, add the correct endings.

Present Infinitive Active of ἀξιόω

To the present active, middle, and passive tense stem ἀξιο-, add the active infinitive ending.

1. Note the absence of the iota.

Imperfect Indicative Active of ἀξιόω

To the augmented tense stem ἠξιο-, add the correct endings.

1. nu-movable is NEVER added to the third person singular of the imperfect indicative active of contracted verbs. Thus ἠξίου but ἐβάδιζε (ν).
2. The accent on a contracted ultima is a circumflex. Accents elsewhere are determined by the rules for possibilities of accent.

Practice Translating Contract Verbs. Translate the below sentences, adapted from a variety of ancient Greek writers. To come to an accurate understanding of the sentences, use your knowledge of endings and their functions. If you forget an ending or function, remember to use the Case and Function Chart in Appendix I and the Adjective, Adverb, Noun, and Pronoun Chart in Appendix VIII to assist you. After you finish translating each sentence, check your understanding with the answer in the Answer Key. After you have read through all of the sentences once, read them again at least two more times. In each subsequent reading, your understanding improves.

1. ταύτην μὲν οὖν χρὴ νομίζειν οὐ τὴν αἰτίαν τῶν πάντων κακῶν εἶναι (Lysias).
2. μετὰ δὲ ταύτην ἡ Δράκοντος πολιτεία ἦν, ἐν ᾗ καὶ τῶν νόμων ἀριθμὸν ἔγραψε πρῶτον. ἐν ἐκείνοις τοῖς νόμοις μία ζημία, θάνατος. οἱ θεσμοὶ ἐκαλοῦντο χαλεποί.
3. ὁ μὲν τὰ ἔπη ἐν ἐλαφρῷ ποιεῖ καὶ ἄπαρνός ἐστι μὴ νοσέειν· οἱ δὲ αὐτῷ πιστεύουσιν ὥστε αὐτὸν κτείνουσι καὶ ἐσθίουσι (Herodotos).
4. αἱ γυναῖκες δοκοῦσιν ἐμοὶ ταὐτὰ* τοῖς ἀνδράσι ποιεῖν. *ταὐτά = τὰ αὐτά
5. τὴν αὐτὴν ζημίαν καὶ ἐπὶ ταῖς παλλακαῖς τε καὶ γυναιξὶν ἠξίου γίγνεσθαι (Lysias).
6. πίστεις οὐ γὰρ ἔχω εἰπεῖν ἀλλ’ ἢ ταύτας ὅτι οὐδὲν εἰς τοῦτον πρότερον ποιήσω ἢ πρὸς αὐτοὺς λέγω. αἱροῦμαι λέγειν πρῶτον μᾶλλον ἢ ποιεῖν.
7. οὐ γὰρ ἀξιῶ οὔτ’ ἐγὼ φεύγειν τὴν ἐμαυτοῦ πατρίδα οὔτε ἀξιῶ τοῦτον τοσαύτην δίκην παρ’ ἐμοῦ λαβεῖν.
8. μετὰ δὲ ταῦτα, ἐπειδὴ ἔκτεινεν οὓς αὐτὸς περὶ πλείστου ποιεῖται, δρόμῳ ἔφυγε.
9. ἐπεὶ ταῦτα πρὸς ἐμαυτὸν ἐνόουν, ἔγνων ὡς γραῦς ἐμὲ διδράσκειν ἕτοιμον οὐ βλέψει (Lucian).
10. οἶδα ὅτι αὐτὸς φέρω εὐγενῶς τὰ ἐν ποσὶ καὶ προθύμως βαδίζω καὶ μὴ νοῶ τὰ κακὰ ἃ οἴσω. ἐδόκει ἐμοὶ φεύγειν τάχιστα (Lucian).

Adverbs, Conjunctions, and Verbs

Adjectives, Nouns, and Pronouns

1. The asterisk indicates the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary, which you are to memorize.

Practice Translating. Translate the sentences below, which have been adapted from Euripides’ Helen (Ἑλένη). Remember the meanings and functions of the cases presented in Module 7. Use your memory to identify endings and their functions. If you forget an ending or a function, consult the Adjective, Adverb, Noun, and Pronoun Chart in Appendix VIII and the Case and Function Chart in Appendix I. Check your understanding with the translations in the Answer Key, making sure that you understand why each word translates as it does. Now go back and read each sentence two or three times, noticing with each rereading how much better your understanding of the sentence becomes. Make this a habit and you will improve quickly.

Adverbs and Verbs

Adjectives, Nouns, Pronouns

1. The asterisk indicates the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary, which you are to memorize.

Practice Parsing Greek Sentences. Parse each word of the sentence found below. For nouns and pronouns, give case and function. For verbs, give person, number, tense, mood, and voice. For adverbs and conjunctions, identify them. For prepositional phrases, give the preposition and the preposition’s object. For adjectives, specify the noun they agree with in gender, number, and case.

ὀχληρῶς ἔχεις καὶ τάχ’ ὠθήσομαι βίᾳ.

Check your answers with those in the Answer Key.

Prophecy and Seers

Many Greeks believed in the existence of a multitude of divine beings and believed that the deities took such an interest in mortal affairs that they intervened, caused events to happen, and predicted the future. Seers or prophets served as intermediaries between the divine and mortal spheres. The Greeks consulted seers for a variety of different reasons including decisions like should they marry, should they go to war, and who their parents were. Called a bastard while dining at a banquet, Oidipous consulted the oracle at Delphi to find out who his parents were. Uncertain about whether he should wage war against the Persians, Kroisos (Croesus), king of the Lydians, consulted many oracles to determine which ones were genuine. Kroisos’ test affirmed the validity of the oracle of Apollo at Delphi. Kroisos offered the oracle abundant gifts and asked if he should wage war against the Persians. To both Oidipous and Kroisos the oracle gave ambiguous answers. To Oidipous it replied that he would kill his dad and marry his mom. To Kroisos it replied that if he went to war, he would destroy a great empire. Oidipous tried to keep the oracle’s prediction from coming true by avoiding his parents. In fleeing from the prophecy and whom he thought were his parents, Oidipous fulfilled it, killing his biological dad Laios and marrying his birth mother Jocasta. Kroisos waged war against the Persians and destroyed a great empire, his own. To the common question of marrying, the Delphic oracle gave straightforward yes or no answers. Consulting the oracle about possibly doing something that was considered wrong—like handing over to an enemy someone to whom you have granted asylum—could result in divine vengeance and your death (Herodotos, Book I.159). When the Greeks, intent on sailing to Troy to recover Helen, were at Aulis stranded by contrary winds, they consulted a seer who replied that favorable winds would be granted if Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigeneia to the goddess Artemis. It may be that Artemis’ demand for a sacrifice was her divine punishment of Agamemnon for wanting to wage the Trojan war, causing much needless death and suffering. Dreams and portents also serve as intermediaries, giving mortals an indication of what may or may not happen. Today prediction, prophecy, and portents remain an integral part of our culture and play a significant role in literature, in science, and in people’s belief systems. Einstein’s theory of relativity predicts that the past, present, and future all exist concurrently. Time has been proven to be relative, slowing down the faster we approach the speed of light. If the future is already here, does this mean that prediction is merely the statement of what already is?

Module 24 Top 250 Vocabulary to be Memorized. Like learning the alphabet and endings, memorizing vocabulary is essential to acquiring language. The better you memorize the top 250 most frequently occurring vocabulary words, the greater mastery of the language you will have.

Adjective and Nouns

ἡμέρᾱ, ἡμέρᾱς ἡ day

ἱππεύς, ἱππῆος (ἱππέως) ὁ knight, cavalryman; horseman, rider

ἵππος, ἵππου ἡ ὁ horse; (fem.) cavalry

νέος, νέᾱ, νέον new, fresh, young; strange, unexpected

ποταμός, ποταμοῦ ὁ river

τέλος, τέλεος (τέλους) τό end, boundary; power; office; (acc.) finally

τόπος, τόπου ὁ place, spot

Verbs

πάσχω, πείσομαι, ἔπαθον, πέπονθα, ------, ------ suffer, have done to one

φεύγω, φεύξομαι, ἔφυγον, πέφευγα, ------, ------ flee; be banished; be in exile; be a defendant