The Imperfect Tense and Correlatives μέν and δέ - Lesson 10 From "From Alpha to Omega" by Anne Groton

"Present and future are two of Greek's four primary (or principal) tenses. This lesson introduces the imperfect tense, one of Greeks' three secondary (or historical) tenses." 

Translating the Imperfective Aspect. 

The imperfect tense expresses action in the past in the indicative mood, but always with the imperfective aspect. The imperfective aspect refers to a past action that continued or repeated many times [or that may be complete or may remain uncompleted into the present]. This can be indicated in English through was/were and adding "ing" to the verb, or it can be expressed simply with the verb as simple past but regarding an action that happened many times. I was running. We were running. I ran for years. I was trying to run. I was starting to run. I used to run. All of these fit within the imperfect tense. 

Uses the Present Stem
The stem of the imperfect tense uses the first principal part of verbs, but adds both an augment on the front of the word and new endings as well.

But With Augments, a Thematic Vowel, and Secondary Endings
By augment is meant a prefix that is added to the verb which lengthens it. This prefix also "signals that the verb is in a secondary tense," which can be helpful. There are two types of augments depending on the word: syllabic augments and temporal augments. 

Syllabic Augments

If the verb begins with a consonant, then an epsilon is added to its front (with a smooth breathing mark). Remember, there are as many syllables are vowels and diphthongs in a word, so this adds another syllable to the word, hence calling it a "syllabic augment". 

NOTE - If a verb begins with rho (rough breathing) then another rho is added along with the epsilon.

Temporal Augment

If the verb begins with a vowel or diphthong then that first letter is elongated. This elongation causes a change. (See Chart) 

NOTE - "No augment is needed if the present stem already begins with one of those long vowels or diphthongs." 

The Thematic Vowel and Secondary Endings

To the end of the stem is added a thematic vowel for the imperfect, either epsilon or omicron. From there personal endings are added, which combine to make the complete secondary endings of the imperfect form. 

The Movable "v"

The imperfect active indicative third person singular (like the 3rd person plural of the present) has an optional "v" and follows the same rule as the present. It is added when the word ends the sentence or the next word begins with a vowel. 

IRREGULAR EXCEPTION - "All of the verbs in Lessons 3-10 form their imperfects regularly except for ἔχω (originally σέχω), whose imperfect is εἶχον (from ἔσεχον; σ disappeared, and εε contracted to ει). The imperfect of εὑρίσκω is either εὕρισκον or ηὕρισκον. In compound verbs the augment usually comes between the prefix and the stem, and the last letter of the prefix, if it is a vowel, generally drops out; e.g., the imperfect of ἀπολείπω is ἀπέλειπον."

The Postpositive Particle "μέν"

By postpositive Groton here says: "Both are postpositive, i.e., they prefer not to be the first word in a their clause. Instead they like to come right after the first word in their clause." She then introduces the particle "μέν". "By itself "μέν" is a particle (a word whose primary function is to add certain nuance to the sentence) meaning 'indeed' or 'certainly'." 

The Postpositive Conjunction "δέ"

"By itself δέ is a conjunction meaning 'and' or 'but' (weaker than alla). It is frequently found after the first word of a sentence, where it helps smooth the transition from the preceding sentence." 

[δέ is also elided if the word that follows it begins with a vowel. So it will look like δ' ...] 

Correlatives

She introduces these two words because when they are both used in a sentence they can act as correlatives, meaning they correlate, compare, or connect two things or ideas in a sentence together. And so it would be translated something like "'on the one hand ... on the other hand'". In reality, though, one might not always write this out as completely. "You may decide to leave men untranslated and to translate de simply as 'and' or 'but' since an English sentence with 'on the one hand ... on the other hand' lacks the elegance of a Greek sentence with men ... de."

RULE: In these correlative sentences with men and de, the words being compared are placed right before men and then de. 

RULE: If there is a ou or me making a verb negative then keep the ou and verb together and place de after them. 

RULE: Men or de does not affect the relationship between words and their articles, even if they are placed between them. 

Demonstrative Pronouns with μέν and δέ

Vocabulary