4.1 You have learned the Greek alphabet and other components of the Greek writing system. Let us turn now to Greek words: what they mean, how to form them, and how to understand them. We begin with perhaps the most essential word in a Greek sentence: the VERB. A verb describes an action. These actions most often are physical (to kick), mental (to think), or express states or conditions (to be).
An English verb form, on its own, often expresses only the action that is taking place, e.g. run, stop, exist. Greek, however, is a highly INFLECTED language. In other words, Greek INFLECTS, or changes, its verbs, nouns, pronouns, and adjectives to represent exactly how each of these words functions grammatically in a sentence. For a Greek verb, these inflections usually communicate FIVE pieces of information: PERSON, NUMBER, TENSE, MOOD, and VOICE.