Αόριστος/Aorist/Simple Past tense in Greek

Αόριστος/Aorist/Simple Past tense in Greek

Lesson 42

            Αόριστος, the Greek Simple Past tense is used to describe an action took

            place  εχθές/χθες/χτες (yesterday), προχθές (the day before yesterday),

            τον προηγούμενο μήνα/τον περασμένο μήνα (last month), πριν από

            έναν μήνα (one month ago), πριν από τρεις εβδομάδες (3 weeks ago),

            την προηγούμενη εβδομάδα/την περασμένη εβδομάδα (last week),

            πέρσι/πέρυσι (last year) or generally to describe an action took place

            before the moment of speaking. It is used to describe an action took

            place in past for a short while, or for a long while when we want to

            describe an entire action as a single event. We use Αόριστος when we

            talk about something started and finished in past.

            The first thing you should know about Αόριστος is that almost all the

            active verbs in Simple Past are stressed in the third from the end

            syllable. Even the two syllable (in Present tense) verbs. We will learn

            these verbs in one of the next lessons.

            The second thing you should know is that all the active verbs have in

            Simple Past the same personal endings.

-α

-ες

-ε

-αμε

-ατε

-αν/-ανε

            Νοw we will learn  how to form from Ενεστώτας (the Greek Present

            tense) Αόριστος. We will divide the active verbs in small groups to learn

            Aόριστος easily. First we will learn the verbs ending in Present tense in

            -ώνω. For example, ακυρώνω (I cancel).

 Let’s see step by step how to make its Simple Past form.

1.      We remove the Present tense’s ending, so the last  syllable, the syllable

-νω. ακυρώ-νω.

2.      We add to the stable part of the verb (ακυρώ-) the consonant σ (sigma),

ακυρω – σ –

3.      We add the Simple past tense’s personal endings.

ακυρω-σ-α.

4.      We put the accent mark on the third from the end syllable.

α-κύ-ρω-σα.

We follow the same steps for all the active verbs ending in Present

tense in –ώνω.

Οne more example:

ανακοινώνω (I announce).

1.      We remove the last syllable (-νω).

ανακοινώ-

2.      We add to the stable part of the verb (ανακοινώ-) the consonant σ (sigma).

ανακοινω – σ –

3.      We add the Simple Past tense’s endings.

ανακοινω – σ – α

4.      We put the accent mark in the third from the end syllable.

ανακοίνωσα

           

Aόριστος
εγώ ακύρωσα	εγώ ανακοίνωσα
εσύ ακύρωσες	εσύ ανακοίνωσες
αυτός/ αυτή/ αυτό ακύρωσε	αυτός/αυτή/ αυτό ανακοίνωσε
εμείς ακυρώσαμε	εμείς ανακοινώσαμε
εσείς ακυρώσατε	εσείς ανακοινώσατε
αυτοί/ αυτές/ αυτά ακύρωσαν/ αυτοί / αυτές/ αυτά ακυρώσανε	αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά ανακοίνωσαν/ αυτοί/αυτές/αυτά ανακοινώσανε

The greek adjective ο πολύς-η πολλή-το πολύ and the adverb πολύ

The greek adjective  ο πολύς-η πολλή-το πολύ and the adverb πολύ

Lesson 41.

            The adjective ο πολύς – η πολλή – το πολύ (much, many, a lot of)

 is a very important Greek adjective.

            As an adjective it is used to describe a noun, so it has to agree in number

            (Singular, Plural), in gender (feminine, masculine, neutral) and in case

            (Nominative, Genitive, Accusative) with the noun. Let’s see first its

            declination and then we will see some examples.

           

Eνικός αριθμός / Singular
	αρσενικό/male	θηλυκό/female	ουδέτερο/neutral
Ονομαστική	πολύς	πολλή	πολύ
Γενική	πολύ	πολλής	πολύ
Αιτιατική	πολύ	πολλή	πολύ
Πληθυντικός αριθμός
Ονομαστική	πολλοί	πολλές	πολλά
Γενική	πολλών	πολλών	πολλών
Αιτιατική	πολλούς	πολλές	πολλά

            Examples:

1.      Πολύς κόσμος ήρθε στον γάμο του Γιώργου/ Many people came to

George’s wedding. The noun κόσμος (world, people) is a masculine

noun which is used in Nominative. In this example the noun κόσμος

is the subject of the sentence and the subject of a sentence is always

in Nominative. So we need the masculine form of the adjective in

Nominative Singular.

2.      Κάλεσες πολλούς μαθητές στο πάρτι σου;/Did you invite many students

to your party? The word μαθητές is the masculine noun ο μαθητής (student) in Accusative Plural. So we need the masculine form of the adjective in Accusative Plural.

3.      Έχει πολλή κίνηση σήμερα/ There is a lot of traffic today. The word κίνηση is the feminine noun η κίνηση (traffic) in Accusative Singular. So we need the feminine form of the adjective in Accusative Singular.

4.      Η ζωή πολλών γυναικών είναι δύσκολη./Many women’s life is difficult.

The word γυναικών is the feminine noun η γυναίκα in Genitive Plural, so we need the feminine form of the adjective in Genitive Plural.

5.      Πρέπει να πίνουμε πολύ νερό./We have to drink a lot of water. The word νερό is the neutral noun το νερό in Accusative Singular, so we need the neutral form of the adjective in Accusative Singular.

6.      Είδαμε πολλά σπίτια, αλλά δεν μας άρεσαν/We saw many houses but we didn’t like them. The word σπίτια is the neutral noun το σπίτι in Accusative Plural, so we need the neutral form of the adjective in Accusative Plural.

Let’s see now the adverb πολύ (much, very much).

The adverb πολύ, like all the Greek adverbs is an indeclinable word and it is always written with one λ (lamda) and υ (ipsilon).

We can use the adverb πολύ:

1.      To describe a verb: Πεινάω πολύ/ I am very hungry.

Σε αγαπώ πολύ/I love you very much.

2.      Before another verb: Μιλάς πολύ γρήγορα/ You are speaking very fast.

Περπατάς πολύ αργά/ You are walking very slowly.

3.      To describe an adjective: Ήταν μια πολύ όμορφη ημέρα/ It was a very beautiful day.

O Δημήτρης είναι πολύ δυνατός/Dimitris is very strong.

4.      To describe a participle: Είμαι πολύ κουρασμένη/I am very tired.

Τα παιδιά είναι πολύ πεινασμένα/Children are very hungry.