Harpy. Graphic. Epistle. Tropic. The Cosmos. Cosmetic. Big. Melancholy. Paradox. Autonomy. Pragmatic.
LESSON XI
Verbs in μι
The great mass of Greek verbs, whatever their variations of person and tense may be, agree in this one prominent feature, that the first person singular of the present indicative ends in ω, as in Latin ō, possibly a relic of the pronoun ἐγώ, I. But there is a small class of verbs in familiar use which, instead of the ω, affix to the first person μι, evidently identical with the English me and the German mich—a confusion of the nominative and accusative cases familiar to our ears in French and vulgar English, when we say it is me instead of it is I. Whatever may have been the original form of the verbs in μι, as a matter of practice, if we fling off the μι from the present, the future and the tenses cognate with it may be formed directly from an assumed form in ω: thus ἵστημι, I cause to stand, στήσω, I will cause to stand, as if from στάω; τίθημι, I place, θήσω, I will place, as if from θέω; δείκνῡμι, I show, δείξω, I will show, as if from δείκω; and δίδωμι, I give, future δώσω, I will give, as if from δόω, the Latin dō evidently preserving the simple form from which δίδωμι comes by the prefix of δι and the suffix μι.
Present
| ἵστημι, | ἵστης, | ἵστησι, | I, thou, he |  | cause to stand. |
| ἵσταμεν, | ἵστατε, | ἱστᾶσι, | we, you, they |
Imperfect
| ἵστην | ἵστης | ἵστη |
| ἵσταμεν | ἵστατε | ἵστασαν |
Second Aorist
| ἔστην | ἔστης | ἔστη |
| ἔστημεν | ἔστητε | ἔστησαν |