|
MEANING:
(1) action continuing in the past; e.g. "I
was going".
(2) customary action in the past; e.g., "I
used to go."
(3) action repeated in the past; e.g., "I
kept on, continued going."
(4) action attempted in the past; e.g., "I
tried to go."
(5) action begun in the past; e.g., "I
began to go."
e)/bainon
could be
translated any one of these five ways; the
context determines the appropriate
translation.
FORMATION:
The imperfect is denoted by:
(1) secondary endings added to the
present verb stem
(2) augmentation of the verb
stem.
SECONDARY
ENDINGS
|
ACTIVE
|
|
I
|
-on
|
we
|
-omen
|
|
you
(s)
|
-ej
|
you
(pl)
|
-ete
|
|
he,
she
|
-e(n)
|
they
|
-on
|
|
text
place
holder
|
|
MIDDLE
|
|
I
|
-mhn
|
we
|
-meqa
|
|
you
(s)
|
-ou
|
you
(pl)
|
-sqe
|
|
he,
she
|
-to
|
they
|
-nto
|
|
AUGMENTATION
- Verbs beginning
with a consonant prefix the vowel
e0
to the verb
steme.g., lamba/nw
(present),
e0la&mbanon
(imperfect).
- Verbs compounded
with prepositions add
e0
to the stem of
the uncompounded form of the verb;
e.g., a)pobai/nw
(present),
a)pe/bainon
(imperfect).
- Verbs beginning
with a vowel lengthen the vowel; e.g.,
a)kou&w
(present),
h)/kouon
(imperfect).
- Note that
a)pore/w
is not a compound verb; thus,
h)po&roun.
|
AUGMENTS
|
|
the
vowel
|
becomes
|
e.g.
|
|
a
|
h
|
a#ptw,
h#pton
|
|
e
|
h
|
e0rwta&w,
h)rw&twn
|
|
o
|
w
|
o)fei/lw,
w!feilon
|
|
text
place
holder
|
|
Some exceptions to the
rules:
- o(ra&w
and e)/xw
augment by adding
e0,
since they formerly began with
consonants; thus,
e9wrwn
and
ei]xon.
(e9wrwn
appears to
have a double augment.)
- kaqeu&dw
which is not
used except in its compound form
augments the prefix; thus
e0ka&qeudon.
|