Chapter 456A School Grammar of Attic GreekDickinson CollegeChristopher Francese
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456 Perfect Indicative.
a. Ἀπολελοίπᾱσιν ἡμᾶς they have left us. AN. I. 4, 8. ἀκηκόατε, ἑωρκατε, πεπόνθατε you have heard, have seen, have suffered. L. 12, 109.b. A completed act may result in a continued state, and some perfects are best rendered by an English present:
ἔγνωκα γάρ yes, I knοw him (have recognized, Lat. novi). S. or. 1117.
Among the most frequent of these perfects are
ἔστηκα (have become set), stand (363),
τέθνηκα (have died), am dead,
βέβηκα (have placed my feet firmly), stand firm,
πέφῡκα (have grown, been bοrn), am,
κέκτημαι (have acquired), possess,
μέμνημαι (have become mindful), remember,
ὄλωλα (have gone to ruin), am ruined,
πέποιθα (have believed), trust.c. With the above belong some perfects that show little or no trace of a perfect meaning. Such are
ἔοικα am like, ἔοικε it is likely,
εἴωθα am accustomed, δέδοικα, δέδια fear, and in poetry many others, δέδορκα see (δέρκομαι) being especially common:
Σὺ καὶ δἐδορκας κοὐ βλέπεις thou hast sight and seest not. S. OT. 413.d. In compound perfects (as in English) the form of εἰμι (or ἔχω in the sense of εἰμι) expresses a continued state, the participle a cσmpleted act; but in use there is often no clear distinction between these compound forms and simple forms.