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Transitive and Intransitive

 

All verbs can be identified by whether or not they need a direct object to complete their meaning. TRANSITIVE verbs do take a direct object. INTRANSITIVE verbs do not. For example:

• Transitive verb (διδωμι): ἆθλα ἑτέροις δίδωσιν. He gives prizes (ἆθλα) to others (ἑτέροις).
• Intransitive verb (εἰμί): ἄξιοί ἐσμεν, ὦ Λακεδαιμόνιοι. We are worthy (ἄξιοί), Lakedaimonians.

While most verbs are either transitive or intransitive, some verbs can be BOTH.

• Transitive use (ἵστημι): ἱστᾶσιν ἱστὸν. They are standing/setting (up) the mast (ἱστὸν).
• Intransitive use (ἵστημι): ἱστᾶσι περὶ τὴν πόλιν. They are standing/stationed around the city (περὶ τὴν πόλιν).

While most English transitive verbs are also transitive in Greek, there are a handful of English transitive verbs, such as obey or serve, that are intransitive in Greek! If any Greek verbs are marked with (+ dat.) or (+ gen.), this means that the object of the verb is not in the accusative case (as we might expect in English), but rather in the dative or genitive case, respectively.

Such verbs, while INTRANSITIVE in Greek, effectively become TRANSITIVE when translated into English. For example, while a Greek would say that “I have trust for someone,” πιστεύω τινί, in English we can say – and so can translate the Greek – “I trust someone.” When learning Greek verbs, therefore, be sure to note whether they are transitive, intransitive, or both, and whether they take their object in a case other than the accusative. If in doubt, Greek dictionaries often mark whether a verb is used transitively or intransitively, usually with abbreviations such as trans. and intrans.

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Conjugations

 

The Latin verb conjugare means “to join together,” and from this verb CONJUGATE means to join a verb stem together with its endings. Thus conjugating the present indicative active of a Greek verb means saying or writing out all the forms in the present indicative active. From the practice of conjugating verbs, we can speak of a CONJUGATION. A conjugation is simply a set of verbs that all use the same endings. You can think of a conjugation as a verb family. Most inflected languages have a number of distinct conjugations. Latin, for example, has four main conjugations, French and Spanish have three.

Greek has two conjugations. They are named and identified by the 1st PERSON SINGULAR PRESENT INDICATIVE  ACTIVE ending that they use. The verbs that we met earlier use the 1st person singular present indicative active ending –μι, so they are known as “-μι verbs.” This is one conjugation.

Most Greek verbs belong to the other conjugation, known as  “-ω verbs,” because they use the 1st person singular present indicative active ending –ω. Both conjugations build and parse the same way. They just use somewhat different endings to designate person and number.

 

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Omega Verbs

 

As with the –μι conjugation, the –ω conjugation begins building a Greek verb with the VERB STEM.

λυ– “loosen, destroy”

λαβ– “take”

γνω– “know”

 

The Thematic Vowel

All –ω verbs have a sort of buffer sound just before the verb’s ending. This buffer is a vowel sound called the THEMATIC VOWEL (S 377). The –μι verbs do not have this vowel. This thematic vowel, usually an ο or ε, blends with the verb ending in a stable, consistent way, so you actually learn the thematic vowel and the personal ending together as one combined personal ending.

The good news is that the thematic vowel keeps the verb ending stable. Remember that some –μι verbs change vowel lengths or make other changes when a –σ– is added to a verb stem. Verbs of the –ω conjugation are not as susceptible to these types of changes because of the thematic vowel.

Generally speaking, verbs that use the thematic vowel (i.e., –ω verbs) are also called THEMATIC VERBS. Likewise, verbs that do not use the thematic vowel (i.e., –μι verbs) are called ATHEMATIC VERBS.

 

Personal Endings

To indicate person and number, –ω verbs need distinct personal endings, which are as follows:

–ω = I (1st person singular)	–ομεν = we (1st person plural)
–εις = you (2nd person singular)	–ετε = y’all (2nd person plural)
–ει = (s)he, it (3rd person sg)	–ουσι = they (3rd person pl)

Notice that the THEMATIC VOWEL is an ο sound in the 1st person (singular and plural) and the 3rd person plural, but an ε sound in the 2nd person (singular and plural) and the 3rd person singular.

 

Building a Greek Verb: Verb-Stem Presents

Let’s see how to form an –ω verb in the Present Tense, Indicative Mood, Active Voice. For a large number of –ω verbs, the VERB STEM and the PRESENT STEM are identical (S 499). One example is λυ-, loosen, set free, destroy. Putting it all together, the Present Indicative Active of λύω is as follows (S 382; GPH p. 69).

λύω  I loosen, set free, destroy	λύομεν we loosen, set free, destroy
λύεις you loosen, set free, destroy	λύετε you all loosen, set free, destroy
λύει (s)he, it loosens, sets free, destroys	λύουσι they loosen, set free, destroy

Note that –ω verbs follow all the regular RECESSIVE ACCENT rules. For the present active INFINITIVE, –ω verbs use the ending –ειν instead of –ναι. These infinitives accent the PENULT, just as the –μι infinitive does.

λύειν, “to loosen, set free, destroy”

 

Building a Greek Verb: –άνω verbs

Like some –μι verbs, adding a –ν– to the VERB STEM often marks a verb as PRESENT TENSE (S 523). To make a verb easier to pronounce, the stem often adds –αν– rather than –ν– by itself. For example, this stem looks (and sounds) like this:

λαβ = “take”  (verb stem)

λαμβαν = “take” (present tense stem)

Note that μ is added to make the verb easier to say.

The Present Indicative Active of λαμβάνω:

λαμβάνω  I take	λαμβάνομεν we take
λαμβάνεις you take	λαμβάνετε you all take
λαμβάνει (s)he, it takes	λαμβάνουσι they take

present, infinitive, active: λαμβάνειν

 

Building a Greek Verb: –σκω verbs

Unlike –μι verbs, –ω verbs have yet another specific marker to indicate the verb is in the present tense: –σκ– (S 526). Like some –μι verbs – e.g. δίδωμι – some (not all!) –σκω verbs duplicate the initial sound of the stem in the present tense. For example: γνω = “know” (verb stem) becomes γιγνωσκ = “know” (present stem).

The Present Indicative Active of γιγνώσκω:

γιγνώσκω I know	γιγνώσκομεν we know
γιγνώσκεις you know	γιγνώσκετε you all know
γιγνώσκει (s)he, it knows	γιγνώσκουσι they know

present, infinitive, active: γιγνώσκειν

– τὸ τέλος –

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