Contract Verbs

Contract Verbs: 

Contract Verbs Greek Grammar I

Objectives: 

Objectives Re-examine how the Present Active Indicative is formed. Observe the transformations that take place with contract verbs. Observe examples of the three contract formation patterns.

Present Active Indicative: 

Present Active Indicative The Present Active Indicative is made of three parts: Present Stem Omicron or Epsilon Thematic Vowel Primary Active Endings We put them together like this: Present Stem + Thematic Vowel + Primary Active Endings. The stem never changes between person and number.

Present Active Indicative: 

Present Active Indicative pisteu,w – I am believing. pisteu + o + - = pisteu,w pisteu + e + j = pisteu,eij pisteu + e + i = pisteu,ei pisteu + o + men = pisteu,omen pisteu + e + te = pisteu,ete pisteu + o + nsi = pisteu,ousi$n % Once again, notice that the stem never changes here.

Contract Verbs: 

Contract Verbs Contract verbs are called this because they have vowels at the end of the stem that do change when they bump up against other letters. There are three classes of contract verbs: alpha contracts epsilon contracts omicron contracts The most common of these are epsilon contracts.

Transformations: 

Transformations Vowel o e i a w a a| e ou ei o ou ou oi

Alpha Contracts: 

Alpha Contracts avgapa,w Stem Thematic Vowel Ending Form Meaning avgapa & &o& & avgapw / I love avgapa & &e& &j avgapa |/j You love avgapa & &e& & i avgapa |/ He/She /It Loves avgapa & &o& &men avgapw /men We love avgapa & &e& & te avgapa / te You love avgapa & &o& & nsi avgrapw / si$n % They love

Epsilon Contracts: 

Epsilon Contracts poie,w Stem Thematic Vowel Ending Form Meaning poie & &o& & poiw / I do poie & &e& &j poiei /j You do poie & &e& & i poiei / He/she/it does poie & &o& &men poiou /men We do poie & &e& & te poiei / te You do poie & &o& & nsi poiou / si$n % They do

Omicron Contracts: 

Omicron Contracts plhro,w Stem Thematic Vowel Ending Form Meaning plhro & &o& & plhrw / I fill plhro & &e& &j plhroi /j You fill plhro & &e& & i plhroi / He/She /It fills plhro & &o& &men plhrou /men We fill plhro & &e& & te plhrou / te You fill plhro & &o& & nsi plhrou / si$n % They fill

Observations: 

Observations Contract verbs follow the same pattern as other verbs. The endings of contract verbs are the same even if they look a little different. When you see a circumflex accent ( / ) in a verb, it is normally hiding a contraction. The lexical forms of contracts show the contract vowels even though you will never see the lexical form in the NT text.

Observations: 

Observations Only six alpha contracts occur more than 50 times in the NT text: avgapa,w ( genna,w ( evrwta,w ( evperwta,w ( za,w ( o`ra,w ) Only one omicron contract occurs more than 50 times in the NT text: plhro,w ) Epsilon contracts are very common.

Recap: 

Recap The Present Active Indicative is formed by adding the Present Stem + Thematic Vowels + Primary Active Endings. The stems don’t change when inflected. The last letter of contract stems will change when it meets with the Thematic vowel. Despite the contractions, the endings are still the same: &w( &j( & i ( &men( & te ( & si$n %) Focus on the similarities rather than the differences.

Objectives: 

Objectives Re-examine how the Present Active Indicative is formed. Observe the transformations that take place with contract verbs. Observe examples of the three contract formation patterns.