Chapter 2 * * * * * * * Introduction to Verbs * * * * * * *

Transcript

1 Chapter 2 * * * * * * * Introduction to Verbs * * * * * * * In the first chapter, we practiced the skill of reading Greek words. Now we want to try to understand some parts of what we read. There are a lot of parts to any language, and it will take a lot of time and work to learn about all of the parts, but we are going to begin right now to understand some of the Greek New Testament. We are going to start with the most important and fundamental part of the Greek language. Most scholars would say that the verb is the central part of a Greek sentence. In fact, a Greek sentence might only have one word in it, the verb. We are going to learn some of the most basic forms of the Greek verb so that we can begin to read and understand some words from the Greek New Testament.

2 Some Greek Verbs Here is a first look at some Greek verbs. All of them come straight out of the Gospel of John. Read them, and we are going to learn to understand them in this lesson. φαίνει λέγετε ἀναβαίνω βλέπει κρίνω λέγομεν φωτίζει ἔχω περιτέμνετε λέγει πιστεύετε μένεις λέγουσιν λαμβάνει γινώσκει ἔχομεν μέλλουσιν γογγύζουσιν λέγεις πιστεύομεν ἔχετε λέγω ὑπάγω θέλομεν βαπτίζεις ἔχει κρίνει πιστεύεις πιστεύουσιν πέμπω βαπτίζω ἀκούω θαυμάζετε λαμβάνετε σκανδαλίζει γινώσκεις Personal Endings A Greek verb changes forms according to who the subject of the verb is. If the subject of the verb is I 1, the verb has one form. If the subject of the verb is they 2, the verb has another form. The part of the verb that changes is the ending, and the various ending forms are called personal endings. In English, verbs change this way a little bit, but not much: I eat, he eats, etc. Greek verbs have many different personal endings to learn. We are going to learn the basic set of them today. Learn the following chart well. Notice how all of the verbs above end in one or another of these forms. Subject I You (sing.) He/she/it We You (plur.) They Ending -ω -εις -ει -ομεν -ετε -ουσιν 1 Called first person singular first person because the speaker is the subject; singular because it is only one person 2 Called third person plural third person because the subject is not the speaker, nor the hearer, but a third party; singular because that third party is more than one person

3 Exercise 2a For each of the verbs that you read at the beginning of this chapter, identify the subject indicated by the personal ending of the verb. Example: φαίνει he the personal ending is -ει, which indicates he 1.) φωτίζει 19.) πιστεύετε 2.) λέγουσιν 20.) μέλλουσιν 3.) λέγεις 21.) ὑπάγω 4.) βαπτίζεις 22.) πιστεύουσιν 5.) βαπτίζω 23.) σκανδαλίζει 6.) βλέπει 24.) ἀναβαίνω 7.) λέγει 25.) περιτέμνετε 8.) ἔχομεν 26.) γινώσκει 9.) λέγω 27.) ἔχετε 10.) πιστεύεις 28.) κρίνει 11.) λαμβάνετε 29.) θαυμάζετε 12.) λέγετε 30.) λέγομεν 13.) ἔχω 31.) μένεις 14.) λαμβάνει 32.) γογγύζουσιν 15.) πιστεύομεν 33.) θέλομεν 16.) ἔχει 34.) πέμπω 17.) ἀκούω 35.) γινώσκεις 18.) κρίνω Stems and Endings The basic forms of Greek verbs that we are going to study today are made up of two simple parts, the stem and the ending. Basically, a verb stem that contains the idea of the verb (eat, sleep, run, live, or whatever other idea) is combined with a personal ending that tells who is doing that action. Together, you have a verb form that conveys an idea of a person doing an action: I sleep; he lives; they watch; we see; etc. In order to understand the meaning of a Greek verb, you have to recognize the meaning of the stem and the personal ending that is with it. Each stem has to be memorized separately (this is called learning vocabulary). Once you have learned the stem and know the personal endings, you will be able to understand basic verb forms. Let's practice with the Greek verb λέγω, which means I say. Notice how the form λέγω has the personal ending -ω,which indicates the personal subject I. If

4 you take the same stem and put a different personal ending on it, you get the same verb meaning, but with a different personal subject. For example, λέγεις has the personal ending -εις and means you say. The following chart shows the forms for the verb λέγω with all the basic personal endings and the resulting meanings. λέγω λέγεις λέγει λέγομεν λέγετε λέγουσιν I say You say (sing) He says We say You say (pl) They say Exercise 2b Now it is time for you to understand all of the verbs that you read at the beginning of this chapter. Use the vocabulary list at the end of this chapter to find the meanings of each of the stems of the verbs. Then put the verb meaning with the meaning of the personal ending, and give the resultant meaning of the word. Again, all of these are from the Gospel of John. You are beginning to understand parts of the Greek New Testament. Example: φαίνει he shines φαίνω means I shine. The personal ending is -ει, which tells me that φαίνει means he shines. 1.) φωτίζει 19.) πιστεύετε 2.) λέγουσιν 20.) μέλλουσιν 3.) λέγεις 21.) ὑπάγω 4.) βαπτίζεις 22.) πιστεύουσιν 5.) βαπτίζω 23.) σκανδαλίζει 6.) βλέπει 24.) ἀναβαίνω 7.) λέγει 25.) περιτέμνετε 8.) ἔχομεν 26.) γινώσκει 9.) λέγω 27.) ἔχετε 10.) πιστεύεις 28.) κρίνει 11.) λαμβάνετε 29.) θαυμάζετε 12.) λέγετε 30.) λέγομεν 13.) ἔχω 31.) μένεις 14.) λαμβάνει 32.) γογγύζουσιν 15.) πιστεύομεν 33.) θέλομεν 16.) ἔχει 34.) πέμπω 17.) ἀκούω 35.) γινώσκεις 18.) κρίνω

5 Chapter 2 Vocabulary List Memorize each of the following words. λέγω I say θέλω I wish, will βλέπω I see μένω I remain, stay, abide ἔχω I have, hold ἀκούω I hear πιστεύω I believe, trust κρίνω I judge λαμβάνω I take, receive γινώσκω I know σκανδαλίζω I cause to stumble Additional Vocabulary Use this list for reference during this lesson. You are not responsible right now to memorize all these words. γογγύζω I murmur πέμπω I send μέλλω I am about to θαυμάζω I wonder, am amazed περιτέμνω I circumcise ἀναβαίνω I go up βαπτίζω I baptize, wash ὑπάγω I go away φωτίζω I give light, shine