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21.148 Principal Parts of Contract Verbs

When you learn a contract verb, you can see the contraction in the first principal part (present system) only. There are no contractions in the other principal parts of the verb, which you need to learn, just as you learn the principal parts for other verbs in your vocabulary (Principal Parts Chart).

You will see a general pattern in the principal parts of the contract verb, with the future stem formed by adding -ησω and the aorist stem by -ησα (aorist passive: ηθην). Here are some verbs that show this pattern:

προσκυνέω - προσκυνήσω - προεκύνησα
αἰτέω - αἰτήσω - ᾔτησα
ἀκολουθέω - ἀκολουθήσω - ἠκολούθησα

ζητέω - ζητήσω - ἐζήτησα (ἐζητήθην)
λαλέω - λαλήσω - ἐλάλησα (ἐλαλήθην)
ποιέω - ποιήσω - ἐποίησα (ἐποιήθην)
τηρέω - τηρήσω - ἐτήρησα (ἐτηρήθην)
περιπατέω - περιπατήσω - περεπάτησα (περεπατήθην)

φοβέομαι (ἐφοβήθην)

ἀγαπάω - ἀγαπήσω - ἠγάπησα (ἠγαπήθην)
γεννάω - γεννήσω - ἐγέννησα (ἐγεννήθην)
ζάω - ζήσω - ἔζησα

The contract verbs in omicron-omega follow a slightly different pattern with a future -ωσω and aorist -ωσα :

πληρόω - πληρώσω - ἐπλήρωσα (ἐπληρώθην)
σταυρόω - σταυρώσω - ἐσταύρωσα (ἐσταυρώθην)

There is also a variation in the verb καλέω and its compounds:

καλέω - καλέσω - ἐκάλεσα (ἐκλήθην)
παρακαλέω - παρακαλέσω - παρεκάλεσα (παρεκλήθην)

Although this is a not a hard and fast rule, most of the contract verbs do obey this general pattern for the formation of their principal parts.


Biblical Greek Online. Laura Gibbs, Ph.D. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License. You must give the original author credit. You may not use this work for commercial purposes. If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under a license identical to this one. Page last updated: April 9, 2005 8:06 PM


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