Verb – Present tense 3rd person singular

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• Basic information about accent placement in Greek
• The morphology and semantics of the present tense 3s

VocabularyVocabulary

PhonologyPhonology: Accent Placement

Verbs and nouns have different systems for accenting. There is no specific rule on which syllable a noun may be accented. Sometimes the accent will fall at the beginning of the word (e.g. ἄνθρωπος), and other times it will be at the end of the word (e.g. ἀδελφή). You must memorize where the accent is for each noun. Verbs, on the other hand, are all accented according to specific rules (they are introduced piecemeal in the lessons and summarized in Phonology A). For now, all verbs will be accented on the second to last vowel of the word, e.g. κρά ζει.

GrammarGrammar Topic: Verb – Present tense (3s)

The term person has to do with the identity of the subject, whether it is the speaker (1st person), addressee (2nd person), or someone else (3rd person). Singular (abbreviated sg or s) gives the number of participants in the subject, so singular just says that there is one person for the subject. Present tense describes the meaning of the verbal form as the event occurring at the time of speaking. Finally, verbs are events or states that describe what the subject is or does. While events are things that happen in the world, states are static situations that simply hold. The forms of verbs will normally be abbreviated, e.g. 1s is 1st person singular and 2p is 2nd person plural.

MorphologyMorphology: Verb – Present (3s)

• The -ει ending marks the 3s in the present tense, as in (ὁ δοῦλος) κράζ-ει.

SemanticsSemantics: Verb – Present tense (1 – Present progressive; 2 – Simple present)

Verb – Present: all 5 parts on one page →Also in Lesson 2.1, Lesson 6.3, Lesson 9.4, Lesson 10.4

Greek has a number of verbal forms, and we will present their forms and uses gradually. Summaries of each of the forms and all their uses can be found in Appendix 1. To begin our discussion of the Greek present tense, it can be equivalent to either the simple present (e.g. Rhoda plays soccer) or the present progressive (e.g. Rhoda is playing soccer). The former is a state or a habit that Rhoda has, and the latter is an action that Rhoda is currently doing. Some languages, like English, distinguish between different verbs in the present like this, but other languages, like Greek, do not. What the form means in Greek will depend on the context and the specific verb used, but some verbs like κράζει can have either interpretation:

In Matt 15:23, the Canaanite woman is in the midst of shouting when the disciples are speaking, and the typical English translation ‘she is shouting’ reflects this. In Luke 9:39, a boy’s father describes what happens to him repeatedly, though it may not be happening at the moment, and the typical English translation ‘he shouts’ correctly interprets it as a habitual. In both cases, the form of the Greek verb is the same.