45.7 It may seem striking to consider the possible number of inflections that a Greek verb may undergo to reflect all possible tenses. It is perhaps more striking, however, that NO Greek verb was ever inflected in every possible tense (S 362). That said, some verbs are especially irregular or defective. For example, the following DEFECTIVE VERBS do not have a first principal part (i.e., the present tense).
- –, βιώσομαι, ἐβίων live
- –, ἐρήσομαι, ἠρόμην ask
Other verbs have peculiarities that must be memorized.
- ἥκω, ἥξω have arrived, be present
- This verb has a perfect active stem and perfect meaning, but it conjugates just as a regular –ω verb.
- κεῖμαι lie
- This verb serves as the perfect passive of τίθημι in the sense of to have been put somewhere.
- οἴομαι or οἶμαι (parenthetical) I think
- χρή it is necessary