Ancient Greek

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History of the
Greek language
(see also: Greek alphabet)

Proto-Greek (c3000BC)

Mycenaean (c1600BC-1100BC)

Ancient Greek
Dialects: Ionic, Attic, Doric, Aeolic

Koine Greek (from c323 BC)

Medieval Greek (c330-1453)

Modern Greek (from 1453)
Dialects: Tsakonic, Pontic, Katharevousa

Ancient Greek refers to the stage in the history of the Greek language corresponding to Classical Antiquity, which normally applies on two ancient periods of Greek history: Archaic and Classic Greece. The Ancient era of Greek history normally includes also the Hellenistic (post-Classic) age, however that period formally composes its own stage in the Greek Language known as Hellenistic Greek. For information on the Greek language prior to the creation of the Greek alphabet, see articles Mycenaean Greek and Proto-Greek.

Dialects of Ancient Greek

Main article: Greek dialects

The origins, early forms, and early development of the Ancient Greek dialects are not well understood.

There are several competing theories about what Greek dialect groups may have existed between the divergence of early Greek-like speech from the common Indo-European language (not later than 2000 B.C.), and about 1200 B.C. The only certainly-known dialect from this period is Mycenaean, but it is assumed that there were others, certainly the Northwest/Doric group or its predecessor.

The dialects of the pre-classical and classical period appear documented in writing beginning in the 8th Century B.C., and they certainly developed well before this date.

The most standard formulation currently for the pre-classical and classical dialects is four or five major groups:

Northwest Greek/Doric
Aeolic (with major Boeotian, Thessalian, and Aegean/Asiatic Aeolic subdivisions)
Attic-Ionic
Arcado-Cyprian
and possibly Pamphylian

Each of these major groups is comprised of individual regional and local dialects, with for example distinctions between Peloponnesian Doric and Island Doric, and distinctions between the Doric of cities in the Peloponnese such as Sparta and Corinth.

The Arcado-Cyprian group appears to be closest to Mycenaean Greek, and is likely its direct descendant. Northwest/Doric is the most distinct from the others. Controversy on the early history of Greek dialects generally focuses on the nature of Aeolic, and Attic-Ionic -- with various configurations of independent development or relations to Mycenaean or Northwest/Doric proposed.

The relations between the dialects are likely obscured by significant amounts of influence on each other.

After the conquests of Alexander the Great in the 3rd Century B.C., a new international dialect known as Koine or Common Greek developed, largely based on Classical Attic, but with influence from other dialects. This dialect slowly replaced most of the older dialects, although Doric dialect has survived to the present in the form of the Tsakonian dialect of Modern Greek. By about the 7th Century A.D., the Koine had slowly metamorphosized into Medieval Greek.

Sound changes

These sound changes since Proto-Greek affect most or all Ancient Greek dialects:

Syllabic /r/, /l/ become /ro/ and /lo/ in Mycenean Greek and Aeolic Greek; otherwise /ra/ and /la/, but /ar/ and /al/ before resonants and analogously.
Loss of /h/ from original /s/ (except initially) and of /j/.
Loss of /w/ in many dialects (later than loss of /h/ and /j/).
Loss of labiovelars, which were converted (mostly) into labials, sometimes into dentals or velars.
Contraction of adjacent vowels resulting from loss of /h/ and /j/ (and, to a lesser extent, from loss of /w/); more in Attic Greek than elsewhere.
Rise of a distinctive circumflex accent, resulting from contraction and certain other changes.
Limitation of the accent to the last three syllables, with various further restrictions.
Loss of /n/ before /s/ (incompletely in Cretan Greek), with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel.

Note that /w/ and /j/, when following a vowel and not preceding a vowel, combined early on with the vowel to form a diphthong and were thus not lost.

The loss of /h/ and /w/ after a consonant were often accompanied by compensatory lengthening of a preceding vowel. The loss of /j/ after a consonant was accompanied by a large number of complex changes, including diphthongization of a preceding vowel or palatalization or other change to a directly preceding consonant. Some examples:

/pj/, /bj/, /phj/ -> /pt/
/lj/ -> /ll/
/tj/, /thj/, /kj/, /khj/ -> /s/ when following a consonant; otherwise /tt/ (Attic), /ss/ (Ionic)
/gj/, /dj/ -> /zd/
/mj/, /nj/, /rj/ -> /j/ is transposed before consonant and forms a diphthong with the preceding vowel
/wj/, /sj/ -> /j/, forming a diphthong with the preceding vowel

The results of vowel contraction were extremely complex and differed from dialect to dialect. Such contractions occur in the inflection of a number of different noun and verb classes and are among the most difficult aspects of Ancient Greek grammar. They were particularly important in the large class of contracted verbs, denominative verbs formed from nouns and adjectives ending in a vowel. (In fact, the reflex of contracted verbs in Modern Greek – i.e. the set of verbs derived from Ancient Greek contracted verbs – represents one of the two main classes of verbs in that language.)

Sounds

Non-Greek scholars believe the pronunciation of Modern Greek has changed considerably from Ancient Greek, although the orthography still reflects features of the older language. See W. Sidney Allen, Vox Graeca – a guide to the pronunciation of Classical Greek. Cambridge University Press, 1974. ISBN 0-521-20626-X. Allen's "Vox Graeca" is replied to by Chrys C. Caragounis in "The error of Erasmus and un-Greek pronunciations of Greek" which was published in Filologia Neotestamentaria 8 (1995), pp. 151-185. The main disagreement is over timing; Caragounis argues that many features of modern Greek pronunciation already appeared in the 6th and 5th centuries BC, and that pronunciation was essentially modern by New Testament times.

The examples below are intended to represent Attic Greek in the 5th century BC. Although ancient pronunciation can never be reconstructed with certainty, Greek in particular is very well documented from this period, and there is little disagreement among non-Greek scholars as to the general nature of the sounds that the letters represented. Greek scholars on the other hand prefer to use modern pronunciation.

Vowels

Short vowels

The short e (ε in Greek orthography) is shown in the table as mid close vowel [e] but it may have been nearer to [ɛ].

	Front	Back
Close unrounded	i
Close rounded	y
Close-mid	e	o
Open	a

Long Vowels

The [u:] (ου in Greek orthography) may still have been [o:] in the fifth century.

khfk

	Front	Back
Close unrounded	iː
Close rounded	yː	uː
Close-mid	eː
Open-mid	ɛː	ɔː
Open	aː

Consonants

Erasmian Model

	Bilabial	Alveolar	Velar	Glottal
Plosive	p b	t d	k g
Aspirated Plosive	pʰ	tʰ	kʰ
Nasal	m	n	ŋ
Trill		r ̥ r
Fricative		s z		h
Lateral approximant		l

Note: [z] was an allophone of [s], used before voiced consonants, and in particular in the combination [zd] written as zeta ( ζ ). The [r ̥] (voiceless r) written as rho with a rough breathing ( ῥ ) was probably an allophone of [r].

Greek philologists have challenged the Erasmian derivations since the 19th century and this has resulted in stalemate. The following Greek model is proposed for the Attic Greek consonants.

Greek Model

	Bilabial	Labiodental	Dental	Alveolar	Palatal	Velar
Plosive	p b			t d	c ɟ	k g
Nasal	m	ɱ		n	ɲ	ŋ
Tap or Flap				ɾ
Fricative		f v	θ ð	s z	ç ʝ	x ɣ
Affricate				ts dz
Approximant					j
Lateral approximant				l	ʎ

Erasmian Morphophonology

Consonant classes

There are three main classes of consonants:

Stops. This include three subclasses: velars (k, g, kh), labials (p, b, ph), and dentals (t, d, th).
Sonorants are m, n, l, r.
Fricatives are s and h.

Consonant contractions

In verb conjugation, one consonant often comes up against the other. Various sandhi effects smooth these out.

Rules:

Most basic rule: When two sounds appear next to each other, the first assimilates in voicing and aspiration to the second.
- This applies fully to stops. Fricatives assimilate only in voicing, sonorants don't assimilate.
Before an s (future, aorist stem), velars become k, labials p, and dentals disappear.
Before a th (aorist passive stem), velars become kh, labials ph, dentals s.
Before an m (perfect middle first-singular, first-plural, participle), velars become g, nasal+velar becomes g, labials m, dentals and n become s, other sonants remain.

Compensatory lengthening

Note that there are different schemes for compensatory lengthening, depending on where it happens. The differences are in whether a becomes ā or ē, and whether e and o become the closed values ei /eː/ and ou /oː/ or the open values ē /ɛː/ and ō /ɔː/.

Augment

The indicative of past tenses adds (conceptually, at least) a prefix /e-/. This was probably originally a separate word, meaning something like "then", added because tenses in PIE had primarily aspectual meaning. The augment is added to the indicative of the aorist, imperfect and pluperfect, but not to any of the other forms of the aorist (no other forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist).

There are two kinds of augment in Greek, syllabic and quantitative. The syllabic augment is added to stems beginning with consonants, and simply prefixes e (stems beginning with r, however, add er). The quantitative augment is added to stems beginning with vowels, and involves lengthening the vowel:

a, ā, e, ē -> ē
i, ī -> ī
o, ō -> ō
u, ū -> ū
ai -> ēi
ei -> ēi or ei
oi -> ōi
au -> ēu or au
eu -> ēu or eu
ou -> ou

Some verbs augment irregularly; the most common variation is e -> ei (which in fact isn't really irregular - it most often stems from a contraction caused by the loss of 's' between vowels).

The augment is sometimes omitted in poetry (Epic Greek).

The augment sometimes substitutes for reduplication; see below.

Reduplication

All forms of the perfect, pluperfect and future perfect reduplicate the initial syllable of the verb stem. There are three types of reduplication:

Syllabic reduplication: Most verbs beginning with a single consonant, or a cluster of a stop with a sonorant, add a syllable consisting of the initial consonant followed by e. An aspirated consonant, however, reduplicates in its unaspirated equivalent: this is often referred to as Grassman's Law.
Augment: Verbs beginning with a vowel, as well as those beginning with a cluster other than those indicated previously (and occasionally for a few other verbs) reduplicate in the same fashion as the augment. Note that this remains in all forms of the perfect, not just the indicative.
Attic reduplication: Some verbs beginning with an a, e or o, followed by a sonorant (or occasionally d or g), reduplicate by adding a syllable consisting of the initial vowel and following consonant, and lengthening the following vowel. Hence er -> erēr, an -> anēn, ol -> olōl, ed -> edēd. This is not actually specific to Attic Greek, despite its name. This originally involved reduplicating a cluster consisting of a laryngeal and sonorant; hence h₃l -> h₃leh₃l -> olōl with normal Greek development of laryngeals. (Forms with a stop were analogous.)

Sometimes reduplication is irregular, for historical reasons. Hence lambanō (root lab) has the perfect stem eilēpha (not *lelēpha) because it was originally slambanō, with perfect seslēpha, becoming eilēpha through (semi-)regular change.

Grammatical forms

Ancient Greek, like all of the older Indo-European languages, is highly inflected. Ancient Greek is highly archaic in its preservation of Proto-Indo-European forms. Nouns (including proper nouns) have five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative), three genders (masculine, feminine and neuter), and three numbers (singular, dual and plural). Verbs have four moods (indicative, imperative, subjunctive and optative), three voices (active, middle and passive), as well as three persons (first, second and third) and various other forms. Verbs are conjugated in four main tenses (present, aorist, perfect, and future), with a full complement of moods for each main tense, although there is no future subjunctive or imperative. (The distinction of the "tenses" in moods other than the indicative is actually mostly of aspect.) In addition, indicative forms of the imperfect and pluperfect exist. Infinitives and participles for all corresponding finite combinations of tense and voice, excluding the imperfect and pluperfect.

Nouns

Ancient Greek nouns have three numbers (singular, dual, and plural), three genders (masculine, feminine, and neuter) and five cases (nominative, genitive, dative, accusative and vocative). The two major noun declensions are the vowel declension and the consonant declension. The vowel declension is split into the alpha-declension and the omicron-declension. There is also the minor consonant declension.

Alpha Declension

The alpha declension is predominantly, but not exclusively, feminine. Nouns belonging to the alpha declension have stems ending in alpha, short or long. In certain circumstances the alpha may change its length or become eta.

In the table below of feminine nouns there are three examples: long-alpha stem (ᾱ-stems), short-alpha stems (α-stems), and a stems which can end in eta (η-stems).

	Feminine
	*ᾱ-stems (χώρᾱ* khṓrā 'land')**						*α-stems (Μοῦσα* Moûsa 'Muse')**						*η-stems (τῑμή* tīmḗ 'honor')**
	Singular		Dual		Plural		Singular		Dual		Plural		Singular		Dual		Plural
Nominative	χώρᾱ	khṓrā	χώρᾱ	khṓrā	χῶραι	khôrai	Μοῦσα	Moûsa	Μούσᾱ	Moúsā	Μοῦσαι	Moûsai	τῑμή	tīmḗ	τῑμᾱ́	tīmā́	τῑμαί	tīmaí
Vocative	χώρᾱ	khṓrā	χώρᾱ	khṓrā	χῶραι	khôrai	Μοῦσα	Moûsa	Μούσᾱ	Moúsā	Μοῦσαι	Moûsai	τῑμή	tīmḗ	tīmā́	τῑμαί	tīmaí
Accusative	χώρᾱν	khṓrān	χώρᾱ	khṓrā	χώρᾱς	khṓrās	Μοῦσαν	Moûsan	Μούσᾱ	Moúsā	Μούσᾱς	Moúsās	τῑμήν	tīmḗn	τῑμᾱ́	tīmā́	τῑμᾱ́ς	tīmā́s
Genitive	χώρᾱς	khṓrās	χώραιν	khṓrain	χωρῶν	khōrôn	Μούσης	Moúsēs	Μούσαιν	Moúsain	Μουσῶν	Mousôn	τῑμῆς	tīmês	τῑμαῖν	tīmaîn	τῑμῶν	tīmôn
Dative	χώρᾳ	khṓrāi	χώραιν	khṓrain	χώραις	khṓrais	Μούσῃ	Moúsēi	Μούσαιν	Moúsain	Μούσαις	Moúsais	τῑμῇ	tīmêi	τῑμαῖν	tīmaîn	τῑμαῖς	tīmaîs

The short alpha stem is not present in masculine nouns, thus only ᾱ-stems and η-stems are declined.

	Masculine
	*ᾱ-stems (ταμίᾱς* tamíās steward)**						*η-stems (ποιητής* poiētḗs poet)**
	Singular		Dual		Plural		Singular		Dual		Plural
Nominative	ταμίᾱς	tamíās	ταμίᾱ	tamíā	ταμίαι	tamíai	ποιητής	poiētḗs	ποιητᾱ́	poiētā́	ποιηταί	poiētaí
Vocative	ταμίᾱ	tamíā	ταμίᾱ	tamíā	ταμίαι	tamíai	ποιητά	poiētá	ποιητᾱ́	poiētā́	ποιηταί	poiētaí
Accusative	ταμίᾱν	tamíān	ταμίᾱ	tamíā	ταμίᾱς	tamíās	ποιητήν	poiētḗn	ποιητᾱ́	poiētā́	ποιητᾱ́ς	poiētā́s
Genitive	ταμίου	tamíou	ταμίαιν	tamíain	ταμιῶν	tamiôn	ποιητοῦ	poiētoû	ποιηταῖν	poiētaîn	ποιητῶν	poiētôn
Dative	ταμίᾳ	tamíāi	ταμίαιν	tamíain	ταμίαις	tamíais	ποιητῇ	poiētêi	ποιηταῖν	poiētaîn	ποιηταῖς	poiētaîs

Omicron Declension

Nouns in the omicron declension can be masculine, feminine, or neuter, though they are predominantly masculine and neuter. Masculine and feminine nouns are declined alike.

	*Masculine and Feminine stems (λόγος* lógos 'word')**						*Neuter stems (δῶρον* dôron 'gift')**
	Singular		Dual		Plural		Singular		Dual		Plural
Nominative	λόγος	lógos	λόγω	lógō	λόγοι	lógoi	δῶρον	dôron	δώρω	dṓrō	δῶρα	dôra
Vocative	λόγε	lóge	λόγω	lógō	λόγοι	lógoi	δῶρον	dôron	δώρω	dṓrō	δῶρα	dôra
Accusative	λόγον	lógon	λόγω	lógō	λόγους	lógous	δῶρον	dôron	δώρω	dṓrō	δῶρα	dôra
Genitive	λόγου	lógou	λόγοιν	lógoin	λόγων	lógōn	δώρου	dṓrou	δώροιν	dṓroin	δώρων	dṓrōn
Dative	λόγῳ	lógōi	λόγοιν	lógoin	λόγοις	lógois	δώρῳ	dṓrōi	δώροιν	dṓroin	δώροις	dṓrois

The Article

Attic Greek has a definite article, but no indefinite article. The definite article agrees with its associated noun in number, gender and case. Proper names usually take the definite article. Adjectives are either placed between the article and noun or after the noun, in which case the article is repeated before the adjective. Dependent genitive noun phrases are positioned in exactly the same way, even though this frequently results in splitting the article and noun by a long dependent phrase. For example: τὸ τοῦ ἀνθρώπου ἔργον 'tò toû anthrṓpou érgon', literally "the (of the man) deed", or: "The deed of the man."

The definite article is declined thus:

	Masculine			Feminine			Neuter
	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	ὁ	τώ	οἱ	ἡ	τά	αἱ	τό	τώ	τά
Accusative	τόν	τώ	τούς	τήν	τά	τάς	τό	τώ	τά
Genitive	τοῦ	τοῖν	τῶν	τῆς	ταῖν	τῶν	τοῦ	τοῖν	τῶν
Dative	τῷ	τοῖν	τοῖς	τῇ	ταῖν	ταῖς	τῷ	τοῖν	τοῖς

Numerals

The numerals from 1-10 are:

	Abbreviation	Cardinal	Ordinal	Adverb
1	α´	εἷς heîs, μία mía, ἕν hén	πρῶτος prō̂tos	ἅπαξ hápax
2	β´	δύο dúo	δεύτερος deúteros	δίς dís
3	γ´	τρεῖς treîs, τρία tría	τρίτος trítos	τρίς trís
4	δ´	τέσσαρες téssares, τέσσαρα téssara, τέτταρες téttares, τέτταρα téttara	τέταρτος tétartos	τετράκις tetrákis
5	ε´	πέντε pénte	πέμπτος pémptos	πεντάκις pentákis
6	ϝ´	ἕξ héks	ἕκτος héktos	ἑξάκις heksákis
7	ζ´	ἑπτά heptá	ἕβδομος hébdomos	ἑπτάκις heptákis
8	η´	ὀκτώ oktṓ	ὄγδοος ógdoos	ὀκτάκις oktákis
9	θ´	ἐννέα ennéa	ἔνατος énatos	ἐνάκις enákis
10	ι´	δέκα déka	δέκατος dékatos	δεκάκις dekákis

Numbers one through four are declined.

	one			two	three		four
Nominative	εἷς heîs	μία mía	ἕν hén	δύο dúo	τρεῖς treîs	τρία tría	τέσσαρες téssares	τέσσαρα téssara
Accusative	ἕνα héna	μίαν mían	ἕν hén	δύο dúo	τρεῖς treîs	τρία tría	τέσσαρας téssaras	τέσσαρα téssara
Genitive	ἑνός henós	μιᾶς miâs	ἑνός henós	δυοῖν duoîn	τριῶν triō̄̂n		τεσσάρων tessárōn
Dative	ἑνί hení	μιᾷ miâi	ἑνί hen	δυοῖν duoîn	τρισί trisí		τέσσαρσι téssarsi

Verbs

The Ancient Greek verbal system is extremely archaic, maintaining nearly all the complexities of Proto-Indo-European. It includes a distinction between a thematic (/oː/) class, with a "thematic" vowel /o/ or /e/ before the endings, and an athematic (/mi/) class, with endings added directly to the root. (Unlike in Sanskrit, nearly all athematic roots end in a vowel. The only exceptions are /es-/ "be" and /oid-/,/eid-/,/id-/ "know".) The endings are also distinguished as primary (used in the present, future, perfect and rare future perfect of the indicative, as well as the subjunctive) and secondary (used in the aorist, imperfect, and pluperfect of the indicative, as well as the optative). It also maintains the PIE middle voice and adds a passive voice, with distinctive forms only in the future and aorist (otherwise, the middle is used as a passive). All of the PIE tenses are maintained, as are all of the moods (with the possible exception of the Vedic Sanskrit injunctive), as well as the highly elaborated system of participles. (The corresponding infinitives are quite heterogeneous and appear to be a Greek-specific development from various PIE verbal nouns.) There are no periphrastic forms used anywhere in the verbal system except to represent some of the moods of the perfect tense, and alternate non-periphrastic forms exist for many of these. (The rare future perfect active is also formed periphrastically, except for the forms hestēksō "I will stand" and tethnēksō "I will be dead".)

Principal parts

Verbs have six principal parts: present (I), future (II), aorist (III), perfect (IV), perfect middle (V) and aorist passive (VI), each listed in its first-person singular form:

Part I forms the entire present system, as well as the imperfect.
Part II forms the future active and middle tenses.
Part III forms the aorist active and middle tenses.
Part IV forms the perfect and pluperfect active tenses, and the (exceedingly rare) future perfect active.
Part V forms the perfect and pluperfect middle tenses, and the (rare) future perfect middle.
Part VI forms the aorist and future passive tenses.

One principal part can sometimes be predicted from another, but not with any certainty. For some classes of verbs, however, all principal parts can be predicted given the first one. This mostly includes contracted verbs (present stem ending in /a/, /e/, /o/) and verbs ending in /eu/ and /izd/. There are also certain other regularities; for example, the stem in part IV often occurs in parts V and VI as well.

Present tense

The thematic present stem is formed in various ways:

With no suffix. (That is, the thematic endings, beginning with a thematic /o/ or /e/ vowel, is added directly to the verb stem.)
With a suffix /j/, which transforms the final consonant in various complex ways (/pj/, /phj/, /bj/ -> /pt/; /tj/, /thj/, /kj/, /khj/ -> /tt/ (Attic), /ss/ (Ionic); /gj/, /dj/ -> /zd/; /lj/ -> /ll/; /mj/ -> /jm/; /nj/ -> /jn/; /rj/ -> /jr/). Because stems in /g/, /k/ and /kh/ tend to become indistinguishable in other tenses (likewise for /d/, /t/, and /th/), the /tt/ and /zd/ presents were easily interchanged, with the tendency for all dental stems to move into the /zd/ class and all velar stems into the /tt/ class.
With a suffix /sk/.
With a suffix and/or infix /n/.

Contracted verbs

An additional, extremely important class is that of contracted verbs, where the stem itself ends in a vowel, and the vowel contracts with the initial (thematic) vowel of the endings. There are three varieties, depending on whether the stem ends with /a/, /e/ or /o/, and the details of contraction are extremely complex. The earliest contract verbs arose from loss of intervocalic /s/ or /j/, when the latter (the present stem suffix /j/) was added to noun stems ending in a vowel; but soon, these verbs were formed directly from noun stems (so-called denominative verbs). Many later verbs were derived by analogy from various other kinds of nouns (compare the development of the denominative -āre, -ēre, and -īre classes in Latin, with -āre eventually becoming dominant regardless of the noun declension on which the verb was based).

Future tense

The future stem is normally formed from the verb stem (minus any present suffix) with /s/ added and a preceding short vowel lengthened. Verb stems in /m/, /n/, /l/ and /r/, however, as well as most stems in izd, usually add /e/ instead (deleting the zd in the case of these verbs), and form contracted futures, conjugated like contracted presents. (Note: Verb stems in /a/, /e/ and /o/, which form contracted presents, do not have contracted futures; rather, they have futures ending in /ēs/, /ēs/, and /ōs/, respectively. One verb, however, kaleō (kalô) "I call", forms a future based on its root /kal/. This will be a contracted future; hence, the present and future of this verb are both contracted and both identical.)

Aorist tense

The aorist stem is formed in three basic ways, with three corresponding sets of endings:

First or weak aorists add /s/ onto the verb stem (with a preceding short vowel lengthened, as for the future). The first aorist endings mostly begin with a thematic /a/, so alternatively the stem can be said to end with /sa/. (Note that the /s/ is absorbed following an /m/, /n/, /l/ or /r/, with compensatory lengthening of the preceding vowel. This is called a krypto-sigmatic aorist, as the 's' is 'hidden'.)
Second or strong aorists are formed by removing any present suffix or infix, and reducing the root vowel (to the zero-ablaut of PIE) if possible (mostly ei -> i). Some second aorists are formed by suppletion, i.e. the use of a completely different stem from the present form. Second aorists add the same endings as for the imperfect (in the indicative) and the present (all other moods, plus infinitives and participles); hence, the second aorist stem can never be the same as the present stem.
Root or athematic aorists. The stem assumes a form ending in a long vowel, and athematic endings are added directly onto it.

The aorist indicative (but no other form) also has an augment added onto the beginning.

Occasionally, two different aorists exist for a single verb, with different meanings: A first (or second) aorist with a transitive meaning, and a root aorist with an intransitive meaning. This was the origin of the aorist passive, which takes active athematic endings.

The aorist passive comes in two varieties, first and second. The first aorist adds thē onto the verb stem, while the second adds ē. Active athematic endings are added onto this.

Perfect tense

The perfect tense involves reduplication of the beginning of the stem (see below).

The perfect active stem (principle part IV) comes in two varieties:

First perfect, which usually adds k (sometimes ēk or ek). A preceding dental is lost and a preceding short vowel sometimes lengthened. The k-perfect is not added directly onto labial-final or velar-final stems; instead, the aspirated perfect is used, with a final labial becoming ph and a final velar kh.
Second perfect, which adds no suffix, but may modify the root vowel (into the o-ablaut of PIE).

The endings are the same in both cases.

The perfect middle stem (principle part V) is formed by direct addition of middle endings onto the (reduplicated) verb stem, with a preceding short vowel sometimes lengthened.

Occasionally, two different perfect actives exist for a single verb, with different meanings, analogously to aorists: A first perfect with a transitive meaning, and a second perfect aorist with an intransitive meaning. From prāttō "I do, I fare": peprākha "I have done", peprāga "I have fared". From phainō "I show": pephanka "I have shown", pephēna "I have appeared".

Sometimes the intransitive form of a perfect has a present meaning.

From (ap-)ollūmi "I destroy, I lose": (ap-)olōleka "I have destroyed, I have lost", (ap-)olōla "I am ruined". From peithō "I persuade": pepeika "I have persuaded", pepoitha "I trust".

Sometimes only one perfect exists, with a present, intransitive meaning. From histēmi "I set, I cause to stand": hestēka "I am standing". From rhēgnūmi "I break": errhōga "I am broken". From (apo-)thnēiskō "I die": tethnēka "I am dead". From mimnēiskō "I remind": memnēmai (middle) "I remember". From egeirō "I arouse": egrēgora "I am awake". From ktaomai (middle) "I acquire": kektēmai (middle) "I possess".

Deponents, semi-deponents

Some verbs, called deponent verbs, have a middle form but active meaning. Most such verbs have no active forms at all. There are two types:

Middle deponents have middle forms in all stems. These will have principal parts I, II, III and V only (sometimes also part VI, with passive meaning).
Passive deponents (less common) have middle forms in most stems, but passive form in the aorist. These will have principal parts I, II, V and VI only. (Most such verbs still have a middle future, not a passive future.)

Some verbs have active forms in some stems, middle or passive in others, with no middle or passive meaning. These are called semi-deponents and have many variations:

Most common are active verbs with middle future stems.
Some verbs are active verbs but with a middle perfect stem (dokeō "seem, think"; eirgō "imprison, prevent"; elenkhō "examine, confute"; thaptō "bury"; skedannūmi "scatter"; sphallō "trip up"; titrōskō "wound").
Some verbs are active verbs but with middle future and perfect stems (e.g. daknō "bite").
Some verbs are middle verbs but with an active perfect stem (e.g. gignomai "become").
Some verbs are middle verbs but with active aorist and perfect stems (e.g. haliskomai "be captured").
Other combinations exist as well.

Sample paradigms

Verbs in vowel stems

A completely regular eu verb: paideuō, paideusō, epaideusa, pepaideuka, pepaideumai, epaideuthēn "educate".
The standard paradigmatic verb: lūō, lūsō, elūsa, leluka, lelumai, eluthēn "free, release; (middle) ransom". (Note variable vowel length. In Homeric Greek, all parts have a short u.)
A regular contracted verb in e: poieō (poiô), poiēsō, epoiēsa, pepoiēka, pepoiēmai, epoiēthēn "make, do".
A regular contracted verb in a: nikaō (nikô), nikēsō, enikēsa, nenikēka, nenikēmai, enikēthēn "win". (Note how /a/ is lengthened to /ē/.)
A regular contracted verb in o: deloō (delô), delōsō, edelōsa, dedelōka, dedelōmai, edelōthēn "show".
A regular verb in izd: nomizdō, nomieō (nomiô), enomisa, nenomika, nenomismai, enomisthēn "consider, think, believe". (Note the normal contracted future in these types of verbs.)
A regular verb in azd: thaumazdō, thaumasō, ethaumasa, tethaumaka, tethaumasmai, ethaumasthēn "marvel at".

Verbs in consonant stems, no ablaut

Velar-stem: lēgō, lēksō, elēksa, lelēkha, lelēgmai, elēkhthēn "cease (+ gen.)". (Note regular use of the aspirated perfect.)
Velar-stem: arkhō, arksō, ērksa, ērkha, ērgmai, ērkhthēn "rule". (Note regular use of augment for reduplication in perfect due to initial vowel.)
Labial-stem: graphō, grapsō, egrapsa, gegrapha, gegrammai, egraphēn "write". (Second aorist passive.)
Labial-stem, with present /j/ suffix: blaptō, blapsō, eblapsa, beblapha, beblammai, eblaphthēn/eblabēn "harm". (Both first and second aorist passive with same meaning.)
Dental-stem: peithō, peisō, epeisa, pepeika, pepeismai, epeisthēn "persuade; (middle) obey (+dat.)". (This verb also has a poetic second perfect pepoitha meaning "trust")
Dental-stem: ereidō, ereisō, ēreisa, --, erēreismai, ēreisthēn "(cause to) lean, prop; press hard". (Semi-deponent, with middle perfect; Attic reduplication.)
Sonorant-stem, with present /j/ suffix: aggellō, aggeleō (aggelô), ēggeila, ēggelka, ēggelmai, ēggelthēn "announce". (Regular contracted future, as in all sonorant-stem verbs. Compensatory lengthening in the aorist, caused by the lost /s/, with a -> ē, e -> ei, i -> ī, o -> ou, u -> ū.)
Verb in ainō: sēmainō, sēmaneō (sēmanô), esēmēna, --, sesēmasmai, esēmanthēn "show, point out; signify, indicate". (Semi-deponent, with middle perfect.)
Verb in ainō: kraino, kraneō (kranô), ekrāna, --, kekrammai, ekranthēn "accomplish". (Semi-deponent, with middle perfect, but with slightly different middle perfect from previous verb. Note that ā never changes to ē after r.)
Verb in ūnō: aiskhūnō, aiskhuneō (aiskhunô), ēiskhūna, --, --, ēiskhunthēn "dishonor". (No perfect.)
Present /an/ suffix: aisthanomai, aisthēsomai, ēisthomēn, --, ēisthēmai, -- "perceive". (Deponent. Second aorist. Root aisth with suffix ē in some forms.)
Present /isk/ suffix: haliskomai, halōsomai, heālōn, heālōka, --, -- "be captured". (Semi-deponent, middle with active aorist and perfect. Root aorist. Irregular augment, both syllabic and quantitative – transfer of /h/ to beginning is normal. Suffix ō in some forms.)
Reduplicated present, with /sk/ suffix: gignōskō, gnōsomai, egnōn, egnōka, egnōsmai, egnōsthēn "know". (Semi-deponent with middle future. Root aorist. Irregular reduplication with augment. Suffix /s/ in parts V and VI.)

Verbs with ablaut

Labial-stem: leipō, leipsō, elipon, leloipa, leleimmai, eleiphthēn "leave". (Second aorist. Ablaut leip/lip/loip.)
Labial-stem: trephō, threpsō, ethrepsa, tetropha, tethrammai, etraphēn, etrephthēn "rear, bring up, nourish". (Second aorist passive. t/th alternation due to dissimilation of aspirates. Ablaut t(h)reph/t(h)roph/t(h)raph.)
Velar-stem: echō, heksō/skhēsō, eskhon, eskhēka, -eskhēmai, -- "have, hold". (Second aorist. Perfect middle occurs only in compounds. h/nothing alternation at beginning of stem due to dissimilation of aspirates. Ablaut (h)ekh/skh. Suffix ē in some forms.)
Sonorant-stem, with present /j/ suffix :speirō, spereō (sperô), espeira, esparka, esparmai, esparēn "sow". (Second aorist passive. Ablaut sper/spar.)
Sonorant-stem, with present /j/ suffix: "ballō, baleō (balô), ebalon, beblēka, beblēmai, eblēthēn "throw, hit". (Second aorist. Ablaut bal/blē.)
Present /n/ suffix: daknō, dēksomai, edakon, --, dedēgmai, edēkhthēn "bite". (Semi-deponent with middle future and perfect. Second aorist. Ablaut dak/dēk.)
Present /nj/ suffix: bainō, bēsomai, ebēn, bebēka, --, -- "go". (Root aorist. Ablaut ba/bē.)
Prefixed verb, present /nj/ suffix: apobainō, apobēsomai, apebēn, apobebēka, --, -- "go away, result". (Prefix precedes augment and reduplication. Final vowel of prefix elided before initial vowel.)
Present /an/ suffix, nasal infix: lambanō, lēpsomai, elabon, eilēpha, eilēmmai, elēphthēn "take". (Semi-deponent with middle future. Second aorist. Ablaut lab/lēb. Irregular reduplication.)
Present /an/ suffix, nasal infix: punthanomai, peusomai, eputhomēn, --, pepusmai, -- "ascertain". (Deponent. Second aorist. Ablaut puth/peuth.)
Reduplicated present: gignomai, genēsomai, egenomēn, gegona, gegenēmai, -- "become". (Semi-deponent, middle with active perfect. Second aorist and perfect. Ablaut gen/gon/gn. Suffix ē in some forms.)
Reduplicated present: pīptō, pesoumai, epeson, peptōka, --, -- "fall". (Semi-deponent with middle future. Second aorist. Ablaut pet/pt/ptō. Irregular long vowel in present reduplication. Irregular occurrence of contracted future. Irregular suffix s in future and aorist.)
Present /sk/ suffix: paskhō, peisomai, epathon, pepontha, --, -- "suffer". (Semi-deponent with middle future. Second aorist and perfect. Ablaut penth/ponth/path. Irregular assimilation of aspiration into present /sk/ suffix.)
Present /isk/ suffix: apothnēiskō, apothanoumai, apethanon, tethnēka, --, -- "die". (Semi-deponent with middle future. Second aorist. Ablaut than/thnē. No prefix in perfect; perfect means "be dead". Irregular occurrence of contracted future.)

Athematic verbs

These verbs have reduplication in the present, ablaut between short and long forms, a separate set of endings, and certain other irregularities that vary from verb to verb.

didōmi, dōsō, edōka, dedōka, dedomai, edothēn "give".
hīēmi, hēsō, hēka, heika, heimai, heithēn "let go, send forth".
histēmi, stēsō, estēsa (trans.) or estēn (intr.), hestēka (intr.), hestamai, estathēn "make stand; (middle or intr.) stand".
Prefixed verb: aphistēmi, apostēsō, apestēsa (trans.) or apestēn (intr.), aphestēka (intr.), aphestamai, apestathēn "cause to revort; (middle or intr.) revolt".

Suppletive verbs

These verbs all have complex irregularities, ablaut, second aorist and/or perfect, unexpected reduplication and/or augment, etc.

erkhomai, eîmi, ēlthon, elēlutha, --, -- "go, come".
legō, eraō (erô)/leksō, eipon/eleksa, eirēka, eirēmai/lelegmai, elekhthēn/errhēthēn "say, speak".
horaō, opsomai, eidon, heorāka/heōrāka, heōrāmai/ōmmai, ōphthēn "see".
pherō, oisō, ēnegka, ēnegkon, enēnokha, enēnegmai, ēnekhthēn "carry".
esthiō, edomai, ephagon, edēdoka, edēdesmai, ēdesthēn "eat".
pōleō, apodōsomai, apedomēn, peprāka, peprāmai, eprāthēn "sell".

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