The first and second persons
Up until now, we have been reading texts entirely in the third person (“he”, “she”, “they”, “it”). A significant part of Lysias 1 is narrated in the first person (“I”, “we”) as Euphiletos tells the jury about his personal experience, and at several points he directly speaks to the jury members in the second person (“you”). In addition, the narrative section includes quoted conversations where people speak to each other in the first and second person.
To form the first and second person forms, you follow exactly the same process as you do for third-person forms: you will use the same principal parts, and apply augment to the imperfect and aorist indicative exactly as you have done before, but you will use the appropriate ending for the first and second person-number combinations.
Here we provide the personal endings and describe the formation of the first and second persons, singular and plural, for the tenses (aorist and imperfect) of the indicative mood that we encountered earlier in Module 1. We show the third persons, singular and plural, in the charts, so that you can observe patterns across the personal endings. Now you will be able to form verbs whose subjects are first person singular (“I”), second person singular (“you”), first person plural (“we”), and second person plural (“you all”).
Aorist active, middle, and passive indicative
For the aorist active and middle indicative, you take the third principal part, drop the final -α, and add the personal endings in the chart below. For the aorist passive, you take the sixth principal part, drop the final -ην, and add the personal endings in the far-right column below. The accent is recessive.
| Person and Number | Active (3rd principal part) | Middle (3rd principal part) | Passive (6th principal part) |
|---|---|---|---|
| First singular | -α | -αμην | -ην |
| Second singular | -ας | -ω | -ης |
| Third singular | -ε(ν) | -ατο | -η |
| First plural | -αμεν | -αμεθα | -ημεν |
| Second plural | -ατε | -ασθε | -ητε |
| Third plural | -αν | -αντο | -ησαν |
Example:
| Person and Number | Active (3rd principal part) | Middle (3rd principal part) | Passive (6th principal part) |
|---|---|---|---|
| First singular | ἐκέλευσα | ἐκελευσάμην | ἐκελεύσθην |
| Second singular | ἐκέλευσας | ἐκελεύσω | ἐκελεύσθης |
| Third singular | ἐκέλευσε(ν) | ἐκελεύσατο | ἐκελεύσθη |
| First plural | ἐκελεύσαμεν | ἐκελευσάμεθα | ἐκελεύσθημεν |
| Second plural | ἐκελεύσατε | ἐκελεύσασθε | ἐκελεύσθητε |
| Third plural | ἐκέλευσαν | ἐκελεύσαντο | ἐκελεύσθησαν |
Second aorist active and middle indicative
The category of “second aorist” is only relevant to the aorist active and middle forms of the verb; it can be identified when the third principal part ends in -ον. (The passive voice is formed off of the sixth principal part, so there are no changes for the passive.) The process of creating the forms is the same as that of the first aorist; the accent is recessive.
| Person and Number | Active (3rd principal part) | Middle (3rd principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | -ον | -ομην |
| Second singular | -ες | -ου |
| Third singular | -ε(ν) | -ετο |
| First plural | -ομεν | -ομεθα |
| Second plural | -ετε | -εσθε |
| Third plural | -ον | -οντο |
Example from λαμβάνω, λήψομαι, ἔλαβον, εἴληφα, εἴλημμαι, ἐλήφθην
| Person and Number | Active (3rd principal part) | Middle (3rd principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | ἔλαβον | ἐλαβόμην |
| Second singular | ἔλαβες | ἐλάβου |
| Third singular | ἔλαβε(ν) | ἐλάβετο |
| First plural | ἐλάβομεν | ἐλαβόμεθα |
| Second plural | ἐλάβετε | ἐλάβεσθε |
| Third plural | ἔλαβον | ἐλάβοντο |
Aorist active and middle indicative of δίδωμι
The aorist active and middle forms of the verb δίδωμι are irregular and require special attention, as some of the forms are built on an alternative stem δο-:
| Person and Number | Active (3rd principal part) | Middle (3rd principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | ἔδωκα | ἐδόμην |
| Second singular | ἔδωκας | ἔδου |
| Third singular | ἔδωκε(ν) | ἔδοτο |
| First plural | ἔδομεν | ἐδόμεθα |
| Second plural | ἔδοτε | ἔδοσθε |
| Third plural | ἔδοσαν | ἔδοντο |
Imperfect active, middle/passive indicative of thematic verbs
Here we fill out the remaining persons and numbers of the imperfect indicative in the active, middle, and passive voices. As you learned in Module 1, you will use the stem from the first principal part (obtained by removing the final -ω), adding the past indicative augment to the front of the stem or lengthening an initial vowel, then adding the following endings. You will observe that the imperfect indicative active and middle/passive endings of thematic verbs are identical to those of the second aorist active and middle indicative.
| Person and Number | Active (1st principal part) | Middle and Passive (1st principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | -ον | -ομην |
| Second singular | -ες | -ου |
| Third singular | -ε(ν) | -ετο |
| First plural | -ομεν | -ομεθα |
| Second plural | -ετε | -εσθε |
| Third plural | -ον | -οντο |
Example from κελεύω:
| Person and Number | Active (1st principal part) | Middle and Passive (1st principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | ἐκέλευον | ἐκελευόμην |
| Second singular | ἐκέλευες | ἐκελεύου |
| Third singular | ἐκέλευε(ν) | ἐκελεύετο |
| First plural | ἐκελεύομεν | ἐκελευόμεθα |
| Second plural | ἐκελεύετε | ἐκελεύεσθε |
| Third plural | ἐκέλευον | ἐκελεύοντο |
Imperfect active, middle/passive indicative of the athematic verbs δείκνυμι and δίδωμι
For the athematic verbs δείκνυμι and δίδωμι, the full paradigms are provided below. Many of the forms will be familiar to you in light of patterns in the peronsal endings of thematic imperfect endings above.
| Person and Number | Active (1st principal part) | Middle and Passive (1st principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | ἐδείκνῡν | ἐδεικνύμην |
| Second singular | ἐδείκνῡς | ἐδείκνυσο |
| Third singular | ἐδείκνῡ | ἐδείκνυτο |
| First plural | ἐδείκνυμεν | ἐδεικνύμεθα |
| Second plural | ἐδείκνυτε | ἐδείκνυσθε |
| Third plural | ἐδείκνυσαν | ἐδείκνυντο |
| Person and Number | Active (1st principal part) | Middle and Passive (1st principal part) |
|---|---|---|
| First singular | ἐδίδουν | ἐδιδόμην |
| Second singular | ἐδίδους | ἐδίδοσο |
| Third singular | ἐδίδου | ἐδίδοτο |
| First plural | ἐδίδομεν | ἐδιδόμεθα |
| Second plural | ἐδίδοτε | ἐδίδοσθε |
| Third plural | ἐδίδοσαν | ἐδίδοντο |