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lesson 3 index     printable pages   

3.3: 1) Stems and endings of verbs

2) Asking questions

When  we conjugated in Lesson 1 the Present Indicative of a few verbs, I separated with a hyphen two elements: present stem and "ending."  In the current Lesson 3, we added  σ  to a few present stems and thus obtained the future stems of, again, a few regular verbs. A further distinction is important, even if it is not always apparent.  In these regular Greek verbs, and in most of the verbal forms of the Greek language, strictly speaking, the personal ending is not attached directly to the stem, but there is a vowel connecting stem and ending.  In the Present and the Future Tenses that we have studied, these "connecting vowels" also known as "thematic vowels" are, for the three persons of the singular and plural, the following.
 

Only the first and the second persons of the plural show clearly the three elements!  At this time you cannot yet explain the modifications that have taken place in the other forms.  We will return later to the reasons why, e.g.,   ε + ες > (becomes) εις. For now it will be useful, however, to understand that the connecting or thematic vowel, disguised or not, is there.   We will continue using the term "ending" inaccurately, since sometimes it will include the thematic vowel and sometimes it will not.

It is useful  to remember the sequence of the sounds of the thematic vowel: " ο, ε, ε, ο, ε, ο"

2) Asking questions

When we speak we not only make statements but quite frequently ask questions.  In English, when the question focuses on the verb, in most cases we need to use an auxiliary verb (Does he...? Do you...?) or invert the order of the verbal elements (Are we...?).  In Greek the verb does not need to change in order to make it interrogative. Questions are sometimes marked by particles such as  ἆρα, which should not be translated.  The Greek question mark looks like our semicolon.

A question about the subject would require in Greek the equivalent of "Who?": τίς; To ask "What?" the Greeks used (and still use)  τί;  These are forms of the Greek interrogative pronoun or adjective that we will study systematically later.    τίς is nom masculine or feminine.  τί is neuter, and therefore it may be nom or acc.

EXAMPLES

Statement:  ὁ ἰατρὸς θεραπεύει τὸν φίλον.

The doctor heals (his) friend.

Question:   θεραπεύει τὸν  φίλον ὁ ἰατρός;

The word order of the question has an effect on emphasis, but otherwise it is quite free.  The particle ἆρα may introduce it, without changing the meaning:  ἆρα θεραπεύει τὸν  φίλον ὁ ἰατρός;

The answer to the following question about the subject:

Who heals (his) friend?   τίς θεραπεύει τὸν  φίλον; would obviously be   ὁ ἰατρός.