25.1 The seven tenses of ancient Greek can be divided into two inflection families: PRIMARY TENSES and SECONDARY TENSES (S 360, G 246). In general, PRIMARY TENSES refer to action in the PRESENT or FUTURE; SECONDARY TENSES refer to action in the PAST.
One of the main distinctions between the inflection of PRIMARY and SECONDARY verbs is the personal endings that each uses. This is clear in the following chart, which shows the overall scheme of verb endings (for a downloadable version, check the "printables" section to the right).
25.2 Here we can see that we have learned the three sets of PRIMARY ENDINGS (-μι, –ω or –μαι). Note the differences and similarities between these endings and the SECONDARY ENDINGS.
Notes on Stems:
- Most verbs build on their present stem, but some verbs build on their aorist stem.
- To mark the perfect or pluperfect, duplicate the initial sound of the stem.
- To mark secondary tenses, add an augment to the beginning of the stem.
Charts JPG
Printables