§ 56. Verbs in μι insert σ before the final ι of the 3d pers. sing. Pres. Indic. act., and vary in a few other terminations, chiefly by contraction.
LESSON V.
VERBS--Continued.
§ 57. The root of every primitive verb is a monosyllable, consisting of a short vowel (α, ε, ι, ο, or υ) between two (usually simple) consonants. Sometimes one or the other of the latter has been dropped far back in the etymology. This root is most readily found in the 1st Fut., subject only to euphonic changes. The 2d Aor. always has a monosyllabic root, with a single vowel never long; but this may be somewhat different from the true root. Primitive verbs only have a 2d Aor.
§ 58. The Pres. and Imperf. commonly strengthen the root, either by adding a hard consonant, (sometimes more than one,) or (oftener) by changing the root vowel into the corresponding long one or diphthong.
§ 59. The following tenses add certain characteristic letters to the root:--
| 1st Fut. and 1st Aor. act. and mid., (of verbs not liquid,) and 3d Fut. | ο |
| 1st Aor. pass. | ϑ |
| 1st Fut. pass. | ϑησ |
| 2d Fut. pass. | ηο |
| 2d (in liquid verbs 1st) Fut. act. and mid. | ε |
| Perf. and Pluperf. Act. of pure and liquid verbs | κ |
| Perf. and pluperf. act. ending in a pi- or kappa-mute | (῾) |
§ 60. Tenses expressing past time (Imperf. and Aorists Indic.) prefix ε ("syllabic augment") to the root; this coalesces with an initial vowel ("temporal augment") into the corresponding long vowel or diphthong. The Perf., Pluperf., and 3d Fut. not only do the same throughout the moods, but also prefix to the syllabic augment the initial consonant of the root ("reduplication") when this is a simple consonant or a mute followed by a liquid. The Pluperf. prefixes a second syllabic augment to the reduplication.
§ 61. Initial ρ, (which is doubled after the syllabic augment,) βλ, γλ, and γν, do not, except in a few cases, allow the reduplication. Verbs compounded with a preposition generally take the augment, etc., between it and the primitive. A few other irregularities occur.
§ 62. Verbs are classified in conjugation according to the radical letter following the root vowel, or diphthong, in the 1st pers. sing. Pres. Indic. act., lexicon form: in "liquid" verbs (not derivatives in άνω, which is merely strengthened for άω) this is a liquid; in "pure" verbs it is absent, so that the root appears to end in a vowel, etc. Very many verbs seem to be anomalous in some of their forms in consequence of deriving these from an obsolete kindred root. The lexicon gives most of these peculiarities.