Verb: μι

GrammarVerb – μι singular

Verbs in the regular pattern we have already learned are sometimes called thematic verbs, while μι verbs are called athematic verbs. Unsurprisingly, μι verbs lack the theme vowel found in normal present tense verbs like ἐσθίω. Although there are far fewer μι verbs than thematic verbs, many of the μι verbs are extremely common, making them essential to master.

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MorphologyVerb – μι singular

• The 1st person has the characteristic μ of 1st person, e.g. με.
• The 2nd person has the characteristic ς on the end.
• Classical form = -ς; alternative form = -ῖς
• The 3rd person has the moveable ν as in ἐστί(ν), which is itself an irregular μι verb.

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MorphologyVerb – μι plural

• The endings on pl μι verbs are similar to the regular verb endings (see 5.1.3.1):
• The 1st and 2nd person are the regular endings without the theme vowel.
• For the 3rd person pl, replace the ου in -ουσι(ν) with α, then attach this to the stem.
• The final vowel is part of the stem of the verb, so it will change with different verbs, (e.g. δίδο-μεν, τίθε-μεν and ἵστα-μεν).

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SemanticsVerb – Present (4 – Culminating Interpretation)

We characterized the present progressive use of the present as referring to that part of an event that did not include its endpoint, i.e. the event is in the midst of occurring. The culminating interpretation is essentially the opposite of the progressive use, since it specifies that the endpoint has been reached:

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SemanticsVerb – Present (5 – Historical Present)

The historical present is so called because even though the present tense form is used, the event being referred to occurs in the past. This use of the Greek present is not uncommon, and in fact, we have already seen an example in a previous lesson, which is repeated here:

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