11.70 The Imperfect Middle/Passive Indicative

Make sure you read Croy's notes about the imperfect middle and passive forms in section 70.

Now that you are learning different components of the Greek verbal system, it's a good idea to think about it systematically. You have already learned the present active and the present middle/passive, along with the imperfect active. Now it is time to learn the imperfect middle/passive.

The middle and passive forms are identical throughout the present system of the Greek verb (remember: the present system refers to the present aspect, not only to the present tense). Because the imperfect tense is part of the present system (and is formed from the present stem of the verb), the middle and passive forms are identical.

Remember that there are deponent verbs which have only middle forms. Now you can use the deponent verbs in the imperfect tense!

Just like the imperfect active, the imperfect middle and passive verbs have augment. You have to be able to supply the augment to verbs that start with a consonant, verbs that start with a vowel, and compound verbs. (Review the Augment Chart, which includes the deponent verbs.)

Here are some examples of imperfect middle and passive forms of verbs that you already know:

You might also find it helpful to compare all four of the forms of a particular verb so that you can see the present active, present passive, imperfect active, and imperfect passive all side by side: