Verbs and Tenses
Verbs and Tenses - Ρήματα και Χρόνοι
The basic characteristics of verbs (‘rimata) are: person, number, voice, tense and mood.
The use of personal pronouns isn’t essential in Greek, as the verb form indicates who performs the action and when. The Greek language uses second person plural, instead of singular, to denote politeness. Not all verbs have forms that correspond to all the characteristics (for example, some only have a passive voice). Verbs can also be regular (oμαλά, oma’la), meaning that only suffixes change for each form, or irregular (ανώμαλα, a’nomala), where the entire word may change in certain forms.
| Person | Number | Voice | Tense | Mood |
| First, second, third | Singular, plural | Active, passive | Present, Past, Past Continuous, Simple Future, Future Continuous, Present Perfect, Past Perfect, Future Perfect | Indicative Imperative Subjunctive |
Person and number - Πρόσωπο και αριθμός
The person (‘prosopo) and number (arith’mos) of the verb indicate who is performing the action, therefore they provide information about the subject of the phrase. The suffix provides this information and sometimes a personal pronoun is used before the verb for added emphasis.The person shows whether the subject is the speaker or someone else and the number shows if there are one or more people or things involved in the sentence.
| Person | |
| Singular (Ενικός) | Plural (Πληθυντικός) |
| First person (Πρώτο πρόσωπο) I (εγώ) | First person (Πρώτο πρόσωπο) Us (εμείς) |
| Second person (Δεύτερο πρόσωπο) You (εσύ) | Second person (Δεύτερο πρόσωπο) You (εσείς) |
| Third person (Τρίτο πρόσωπο) Him/Her/It (αυτός, αυτή, αυτό) | Third person (Τρίτο πρόσωπο) Them (αυτοί, αυτές, αυτά) |
Voice - Φωνή
Verbs usually have two voices, active and passive. This is shown in the suffix of the verb and some verbs only have one voice. In Greek, when a verb ends in -ω or -ώ in the first person singular, it is in the active voice. When the verb ends in -αι, it is in the passive voice. The active (energiti’ki) voice shows that the subject is performing an action while the passive (pathiti’ki) voice denotes that the subject is affected by an action. The passive voice is also used to show that someone performs an action on themselves or that an action is mutually or collectively performed among two people or more.
| Example (παράδειγμα) | |
| Ενεργητική φωνή (active voice) | Ψήνω μπισκότα (I bake cookies) |
| Παθητική φωνή (passive voice) | Τα μπισκότα ψήνονται (Cookies are baked) |
Tense - Χρόνος
The tense (‘hronos) shows when the activity described by the verb is performed. It can either denote the present, the past or the future.
| Tense | ||
| Present (Παρόν, pa’ron) | Past (Παρελθόν, parel’thon) | Future (Μέλλον, ‘melon) |
| Present (Ενεστώτας, ene’stotas), Present Perfect (Παρακείμενος, para’kimenos) | Past (Αόριστος, a’oristos), Past Continuous (Παρατατικός, paratati’kos), Past Perfect (Υπερσυντέλικος, ipersin’delikos) | Simple Future (Στιγμιαίος Μέλλοντας, stiγmi’eos ‘melondas), Future Continuous (Εξακολουθητικός Μέλλοντας, exakoluthiti’kos ‘melondas), Future Perfect (Συντελεσμένος Μέλλοντας, sindeles’menos ‘melondas) |
Examples
| Irregular verb “to eat” (τρώω) in the active voice | First Person Singular | Second Person Singular | Third Person Singular | First Person Plural | Second Person Plural | Third Person Plural |
| Present | Εγώ τρώω | Εσύ τρως | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό τρώει | Εμείς τρώμε | Εσείς τρώτε | Αυτοί- αυτές -αυτά τρώνε |
| Present Perfect | Εγώ έχω φάει | Εσύ έχεις φάει | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό έχει φάει | Εμείς έχουμε φάει | Εσείς έχετε φάει | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά έχουν φάει |
| Past | Εγώ έφαγα | Εσύ έφαγες | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό έφαγε | Εμείς φάγαμε | Εσείς φάγατε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά έφαγαν |
| Past Continuous | Εγώ έτρωγα | Εσύ έτρωγες | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό έτρωγε | Εμείς τρώγαμε | Εσείς τρώγατε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά έτρωγαν |
| Past Perfect | Εγώ είχα φάει | Εσύ είχες φάει | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό είχε φάει | Εμείς είχαμε φάει | Εσείς είχατε φάει | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά είχαν φάει |
| Simple Future | Εγώ θα φάω | Εσύ θα φας | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό θα φάει | Εμείς θα φάμε | Εσείς θα φάτε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά θα φάνε |
| Future Continuous | Εγώ θα τρώω | Εσύ θα τρως | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό θα τρώει | Εμείς θα τρώμε | Εσείς θα τρώτε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά θα τρώνε |
| Future Perfect | Εγώ θα έχω φάει | Εσύ θα έχεις φάει | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό θα έχει φάει | Εμείς θα έχουμε φάει | Εσείς θα έχετε φάει | Αυτοί-αυτές-αυτά θα έχουν φάει |
| Irregular verb “to eat” (τρώω) in the passive voice | First Person Singular | Second Person Singular | Third Person Singular | First Person Plural | Second Person Plural | Third Person Plural |
| Present | Εγώ τρώγομαι | Εσύ τρώγεσαι | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό τρώγεται | Εμείς τρωγόμαστε | Εσείς τρώγεστε | Αυτοί- αυτές -αυτά τρώγονται |
| Present Perfect | Εγώ έχω φαγωθεί | Εσύ έχεις φαγωθεί | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό έχει φαγωθεί | Εμείς έχουμε φαγωθεί | Εσείς έχετε φαγωθεί | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά έχουν φαγωθεί |
| Past | Εγώ φαγώθηκα | Εσύ φαγώθηκες | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό φαγώθηκε | Εμείς φαγωθήκαμε | Εσείς φαγωθήκατε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά φαγώθηκαν |
| Past Continuous | Εγώ τρωγόμουν- φαγωνόμουν | Εσύ τρωγόσουν- φαγωνόσουν | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό τρωγόταν- φαγωνόταν | Εμείς τρωγόμασταν- φαγωνόμασταν | Εσείς τρωγόσασταν- φαγωνόσασταν | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά τρωγόντουσαν- φαγωνόντουσαν |
| Past Perfect | Εγώ είχα φαγωθεί | Εσύ είχες φαγωθεί | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό είχε φαγωθεί | Εμείς είχαμε φαγωθεί | Εσείς είχατε φαγωθεί | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά είχαν φαγωθεί |
| Simple Future | Εγώ θα φαγωθώ | Εσύ θα φαγωθείς | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό θα φαγωθεί | Εμείς θα φαγωθούμε | Εσείς θα φαγωθείτε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά θα φαγωθούν |
| Future Continuous | Εγώ θα τρώγομαι - φαγώνομαι | Εσύ θα τρώγεσαι- φαγώνεσαι | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό θα τρώγεται - φαγώνεται | Εμείς θα τρωγόμαστε- φαγωνόμαστε | Εσείς θα τρώγεστε - φαγώνεστε | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά θα τρώγονται - φαγώνονται |
| Future Perfect | Εγώ θα έχω φαγωθεί | Εσύ θα έχεις φαγωθεί | Αυτός- αυτή- αυτό θα έχει φαγωθεί | Εμείς θα έχουμε φαγωθεί | Εσείς θα έχετε φαγωθεί | Αυτοί- αυτές- αυτά θα έχουν φαγωθεί |
Mood - Έγκλιση
The Greek language has three moods: the Indicative, the Imperative and the Subjunctive. Their use depends on what the speaker wants to say. The indicative is used to describe and event, the imperative to give orders or make requests and the subjunctive to make a suggestion or express a wish.
The imperative only has a simple present and past tense. The subjunctive only has a simple present, simple perfect and simple past. However, not every verb has all forms. The moods are formed with different suffixes depending on the verb.
| Mood (‘Εγκλιση, ‘eglisi) | ||
| Indicative (Οριστική, oristi’ki) | Imperative (Προστακτική, prostakti’ki) | Subjunctive (Υποτακτική, ipotakti’ki) |
| The negative is formed with δεν before the verb. | Has no negative. Its negative is essentially the subjunctive negative. | It is formed with να or ας before the verb and μην in the negative form. |
Examples
| Τρώω το φαγητό μο | Φάε το φαγητό σου! | Ας φάμε το φαγητό μας. |
| I eat my food. | Eat your food! | Let’s eat our food. |