Formation of finite verbs: recessive accent
The accent on finite verb forms in ancient Greek is recessive, meaning that the accent recedes as far back from the end of the word as the possible, in accordance with the rules governing accentuation.
Review the general principles of accent in the preliminaries section. Can you see how they imply the following rules of thumb for placing accent on a recessive verb form?
- The accent cannot recede further back than the antepenult. Therefore, the accent will reside on one of the last three syllables of a finite verb form, even if it has more than three syllables.
- If the ultima is long, the accent can only recede to the penult and is an acute accent on the penult.
- If the ultima is short (recall that final -αι and -οι are usually short):
- a. if there are three or more syllables in the form, the accent will recede to the antepenult and be an acute accent on that syllable.
- b. if there are two syllables, the accent will be on the penult. Since the ultima is short, when the penult is accented its form will depend on the quantity of the penult syllable: if it is short, the accent will be acute. If it is long, the accent will be a circumflex.
In addition, if a finite verb form is only one syllable and that syllable is long, it will carry a circumflex accent.
Tip: other situations with circumflex accents on finite verb forms
We will see that when vowels contract and two vowels combine to one sound, circumflex accents mark those contractions when possible under the rules for circumflex accents.