Core Four -μι Verbs - Aorist Tense
Table of contents
- Core Four -μι Verbs
- Athematic Aorists
- δίδωμι, τίθημι, ἵημι: 3rd Singular Aorist Active
- δίδωμι, τίθημι, ἵημι: Short Vowel Stem Forms
- ἵστημι
Core Four -μι Verbs
As we learned in the first unit, verbs generally belong to one of two major conjugations: -ω / thematic or -μι / athematic. This has not affected us too much so far, given that the distinction between -ω and -μι verbs will affect the present tense, which we’ll learn about after Exam 2, and the distinction is largely immaterial when it comes to the aorist active and middle; we have only been concerned so far with whether a third principal part is first aorist or second aorist.
However, it is important to note four -μι verbs that are extremely common in ancient Greek because their conjugations in the aorist active and middle on the third principal part do not follow regular patterns. These verbs are called the core four -μι verbs, and their dictionary entries are as follows:
- δίδωμι … ἔδωκα … ἐδόθην - to give, grant, allow
- τίθημι … ἔθηκα … ἐτέθην - to put, place
- ἵημι … -ἧκα … -εἵθην - to hurl, throw, send; (middle voice) to rush, hurry
- ἵστημι … ἔστησα or ἔστην … ἐστάθην - (active and 1st aorist transitive) to make stand up, set up, cause to stop; (passive and 2nd aorist intransitive) to stand, be set up, stop
Athematic Aorists
The core four -μι verbs exhibit a third principal part that conjugates in the aorist active and middle with some rules that don’t follow what we’ve already learned. Despite the fact that their third principal parts end in -α, we cannot simply classify the verb as first aorist or second aorist and apply the appropriate endings; we have to take special stem changes and new endings into account for some forms of the aorist active and middle.
δίδωμι, τίθημι, ἵημι: 3rd Singular Aorist Active
The four verb forms that we know how to create from a verb’s dictionary entry are the:
- 3rd singular aorist active
- 3rd plural aorist active
- 3rd singular aorist middle
- 3rd plural aorist middle
And until now, we have conjugated a verb into those forms by classifying it as first aorist or second aorist, removing the appropriate ending from the 3rd principal part, and attaching an appropriate ending. For example:
μείγνυμι … ἔμειξα … ἐμίγην - to mix [first aorist]
- ἔμειξεν, “she mixed”
- ἔμειξαν, “they mixed”
- ἐμείξατο, “she mixed (for herself)”
- ἐμείξαντο, “they mixed (for themselves)”
λείπω … ἔλιπον … ἐλείφθην - to leave [second aorist]
- ἔλιπεν, “he left”
- ἔλιπον, “they left”
- ἐλίπετο, “he left (for himself)”
- ἐλίποντο, “they left (for themselves)”
For δίδωμι, τίθημι, ἵημι, however, the only form that is formed regularly according to the rules that we know is the 3rd singular aorist active. Thus:
δίδωμι … ἔδωκα … ἐδόθην - to give
- ἔδωκεν, “he gave”
τίθημι … ἔθηκα … ἐτέθην - to put, place
- ἔθηκεν, “she placed”
ἵημι … -ἧκα* … -εἵθην - to hurl, throw, send
- -ἧκεν, “he hurled”
* The dash before the third principal part of ἵημι means that the forms that are built on that principal part are usually part of a compound verb, defined as a verb that is prefixed by a preposition to add meaning to it, as described in the unit on prepositions. Thus, for example:
ἀφίημι … ἀφῆκα … ἀφείθην - to send away (ἀπό + ἵημι)
- ἀφῆκεν, “she sent away”
δίδωμι, τίθημι, ἵημι: Short Vowel Stem Forms
This leaves three more verb forms per verb to create:
- 3rd pl. aorist active
- 3rd sg. aorist middle
- 3rd pl. aorist middle
For each of these forms, each of the core four -μι verbs uses a different stem entirely than the one in the dictionary entry. This is called a short vowel stem, so called because the vowel in the stem is an omicron or epsilon, and you simply need to memorize them:
- δίδωμι > ἐδο-
- τίθημι > ἐθε-
- ἵημι > -εἱ-
To these stems, we then add a different set of endings than the ones we learned with regular verbs. These are called secondary athematic verb endings:
| aor. act. | aor. mid. | |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd sg. | –* | -το |
| 3rd pl. | -σαν | -ντο |
* This dash indicates that this “ending” is actually an absence of an ending. While this particular (lack of) ending doesn’t apply to δίδωμι, τίθημι, or ἵημι (since the 3rd sg. aor. act. is formed regularly as explained above), it will apply to the second aorist of ἵστημι – more on this below.
So, here are the full charts for the aorist active and middle forms of δίδωμι, τίθημι, and ἵημι:
| δίδωμι | τίθημι | ἵημι | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd sg. aor. act. | ἔδωκε(ν) | ἔθηκε(ν) | -ἧκε(ν) |
| 3rd pl. aor. act. | ἔδοσαν | ἔθεσαν | -εἷσαν |
| 3rd sg. aor. mid. | ἔδοτε | ἔθετο | -εἷτο |
| 3rd pl. aor. mid. | ἔδοντο | ἔθεντο | -εἷντο |
The core meaning of the parse of each form has not changed: aorist tense still means an action occurred in the past instantaneously, and active and middle still indicate the same relationship of the verb’s action to the subject. All that has changed is the way in which some of these forms are conjugated. For example:
- ἔδοσαν, “They gave”
- ἔθετο, “She placed (for herself)”
- ἀφεῖσαν, “They sent away”
ἵστημι
ἵστημι has two different third principal parts: ἔστησα and ἔστην. The first is a completely regular first aorist (meaning its active plural form does not use a short vowel stem and an athematic ending, and middle forms based on this principal part are extremely rare). The latter is called ἵστημι’s second aorist (even though it does not end in -ον) and it follows a completely athematic conjugation pattern: you generate the stem by taking off the -ν and then conjugate using the secondary athematic verb endings listed above, meaning an absence of an ending for 3rd singular and -σαν in the 3rd plural.
| ἔστησα | ἔστην | |
|---|---|---|
| 3rd sg. | ἔστησε(ν) | ἔστη |
| 3rd pl. | ἔστησαν | ἔστησαν |
The major difference between the first aorist and the second aorist for ἵστημι is in the meaning of each aorist. The forms of ἔστησα are transitive, and as a result, they take direct objects. For example:
- ὁ κόρος τοὺς ἵππους παρὰ τὴν οἰκίαν ἐστήσεν. The boy made the horses stand near the house.
The forms of ἔστην, on the other hand, are intransitive and generally won’t take direct objects. For example:
- οἱ ἵπποι παρὰ τὴν οἰκίαν ἔστησαν. The horses stood near the house.
Be aware, though, that the 3rd plural of both forms looks exactly the same: ἔστησαν. Both, however, are formed from different components:
- ἔστησαν from ἔστησα = ἐ- (augment) + -στησ- (stem) + -αν (1st aorist ending)
- ἔστησαν from ἔστην = ἐ- (augment) + -στη- (stem) + -σαν (athematic ending)
You will often need context to tell which form of the aorist ἔστησαν derives from. For example, the presence of a direct object will indicate that you’re dealing with the transitive form of the verb, rather than the intransitive form which doesn’t take a direct object:
- τοὺς ἵππους παρὰ τὴν οἰκίαν ἔστησαν. They made the horses stand near the house.
- παρὰ τὴν οἰκίαν ἔστησαν. They stood near the house.