A Tour of Greek Morphology: Part 24
Now let’s look at the imperfect forms corresponding to the active omega verbs we looked at in the present way back in part 4.
We’ll use IA-1 through IA-5 for the distinguisher patterns corresponding to the verbs that followed PA-1 through PA-5 in the present.
| IA-1 | IA-2 | IA-3 | IA-4 | IA-5 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1SG | Xον | Xουν | Xουν | Xων | Xων |
| 2SG | Xες | Xεις | Xους | Xᾱς | Xης |
| 3SG | Xε(ν) | Xει | Xου | Xᾱ | Xη |
| 1PL | Xομεν | Xοῦμεν | Xοῦμεν | Xῶμεν | Xῶμεν |
| 2PL | Xετε | Xεῖτε | Xοῦτε | Xᾶτε | Xῆτε |
| 3PL | Xον | Xουν | Xουν | Xων | Xων |
Recall:
| PA-1 | barytone omega verbs |
|---|---|
| PA-2 | circumflex omega verbs with INF -εῖν / 3SG -εῖ |
| PA-3 | circumflex omega verbs with INF -οῦν / 3SG -οῖ |
| PA-4 | circumflex omega verbs with INF -ᾶν / 3SG -ᾷ |
| PA-5 | ζάω + compounds |
It is clear that the imperfect endings shown above had a theme vowel (alternating ο/ε exactly as with the present) which historically contracted with the preceding vowel (if it existed) under exactly the same rules as with the present forms (explained in detail in part 8).
| theme vowel | ending | |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | ο | ν |
| 2SG | ε | ς |
| 3SG | ε | - |
| 1PL | ο | μεν |
| 2PL | ε | τε |
| 3PL | ο | ν |
Too often with paradigms we only look at the person/number alternations within a fixed tense/aspect/voice. Let’s now look at the possible present / imperfect alternations in the endings we’ve seen (ignoring the augment for now):
| present | imperfect | |
|---|---|---|
| 1SG | Xω | Xον |
| Xῶ | Xουν or Xων | |
| 2SG | Xεις | Xες |
| Xεῖς | Xεις | |
| Xοῖς | Xους | |
| Xᾷς | Xᾱς | |
| Xῇς | Xης | |
| 3SG | Xει | Xε(ν) |
| Xεῖ | Xει | |
| Xοῖ | Xου | |
| Xᾷ | Xᾱ | |
| Xῇ | Xη | |
| 3PL | Xουσι(ν) | Xον |
| Xοῦσι(ν) | Xουν | |
| Xῶσι(ν) | Xων |
With 1PL and 2PL endings identical between present and imperfect.