Verb – ε-contract (contraction)

ObjectivesLearning objectives

• The morphology of ε-contract verbs when the ending begins with a vowel

VocabularyVocabulary

Noteδιό

The conjunction διό ‘therefore’ is a combination of the preposition διά and the relative pronoun ὅ. As we have seen, διά is commonly used to introduce the reason. Since ὅ can refer to any generic thing, the combined word διό eventually came to mean ‘for this reason’ or simply ‘therefore.’ Although the meaning is similar to οὖν, διό is not a postpositive.

NoteThe form of contract verbs

Contract verbs are taught in 3s rather than 1s. Dictionaries write the uncontracted stem followed by the 1s ending, e.g. περιπατέω. When referring to the lexical item, we normally write it in a similar way, but we teach the contracted 3s form to allow you to see the contraction taking place and to have you practice using the word with one of its real forms (περιπατῶ, not περιπατέω, is the 1s form, but the contracted ε is not apparent in περιπατῶ). As a reminder, the subject gloss of ‘he’ or ‘it’ are used for the sake of brevity and do not reflect a gender requirement of the verb.

GrammarGrammar Topic: Verb – ε-contract (contraction)

ε-contract verbs have a stem ending in ε which normally contracts or lengthens when combining with the endings on the verb. In later lessons, you will learn α-contract and ο-contract verbs, but the ε-contract class is the most common.

NoteLuo ε-contractions

• ε contracts with other vowels according to the following rules:
• With o-class vowels, short ο contracts to ου, and long ω and ου contract to ω and ου
• With e-class vowels, ε contracts to ει, and η contracts to η

• Besides the Luo ind forms given in the chart, the remaining act forms would be κρατε-εις → κρατεῖς (2s), κρατε-ετε → κρατεῖτε (2p)
• The Luo med-psv forms all have short theme vowels besides φοβῇ, so they either contract as ε + ε = ει or ε + ο = ου, e.g. φοβε-ομαι → φοβοῦμαι and φοβε-εται → φοβεῖται
• All Eluon act and med-psv endings have short vowels, so they either contract as ε + ε = ει or ε + ο = ου, e.g. ἐκρατε-ε → ἐκράτει and ἐκρατε-ον → ἐκράτουν; ἐκρατε-ομην → ἐκρατούμην and ἐκρατε-ετο → ἐκρατεῖτο
• The Luo inf ending -ειν contracts to form -ειν with the accent shifted, e.g. κρατε-ειν → κρατεῖν
• The Luo impv endings both start with -ε, so they contract to form -ει, e.g. κρατε-ε → κράτει and κρατε-ετε → κρατεῖτε (notice the sg form is identical to the ind sg form except for the accent placement, and the pl forms in the ind and impv are actually identical)
• The Luo act and med-psv parts always have o-class vowels, so they contract to either ω or ου, e.g. κρατε-ων → κρατῶν and κρατε-οντος → κρατοῦντος and κρατε-ουσα → κρατοῦσα and κρατε-ομενος → κρατούμενος