Verbs

Verbs are the words that show an action, a feeling or a situation.  Without the verb, a sentence will make no sense.  In fact, verbs can constitute a sentence by itself.  In Mesoγeóiκa all verbs change form, one way or another, according to voice, mood, tense, aspect, person and number.  They are very systematic in this respect.  In Mesoγeóiκa, the verb in a sentence is made up of a particle plus the verb itself.  The particle shows the mood and tense of the verb and the verb suffux show the aspect, voice, person and number.

VOICES

There are three voices in Mesoγeóiκa: the active, passive and reflexive voices.

In the active voice, the subject of the verb is the doer.  The infinitive of the active verbs end in “-áρe.”  The active voice can act like a reflexive verb if it is accompanied by a reflexive pronoun. An example is "onoμaζáρe," which means "to name." 

In the passive voice, the subject of the verb receives the action.  The infinitive of the passive ends in “-éρe.”  An example is "onoμaζéρe," which means "to be named."  A construction called “fake passive” can be used instead.  If the true subject is mentioned, this construction precedes "de," when the subject is a person; "πoρ" when the subject is for impersonal means and "aπó" for all purposes.  This will translate to “by” in English. For example, “θa aμeρáμe de λam Maρíam” translates to “I am loved by Maria.”

The reflexive voice shows that the subject and the object of the verb are the same thing.    The infinitive of the active verbs end in “-íρe.”  An example is "eξeκuρaζíρe," which means "to get rest, to relax."  For the reflexive voice, the active voice may be used accompanied by the reflexive pronouns.  In the plural number, verbs in this aspect can have two meanings: the reflexive and the reciprocal meanings.

MOODS

There are four moods.  They are the indicative, the subjunctive, the conditional and the imperative moods.  The mood of the verb is shown on the particle of the verb.  A “θ” will indicate the indicative mood; an “n” will indicate the subjunctive; a “ζ” will indicate the conditional mood, while the imperative mood is indicated by the particle “aς.” This is because the imperative mood doesn’t show time.  It only shows the duration of the action or situation.

The indicative mood is used to make statements of fact, ask questions, and generally describe reality.  We use this mood if we want to express that the condition is real or fulfillable. 

The subjunctive mood is used in referring to conditions and situations that are contrary to fact, unlikely, uncertain or hypothetical.  It expresses that a certain action has not or may not take place because of some reason, and also if it is a possibility rather than a probability.  The present tense of this mood is used to refer to wishes, unreal conditions, and hypothetical events in the present or the future.  It is the contrary to fact, for example, "I wish he were home."  The past tense subjunctive is used to refer to wishes, unreal conditions, and hypothetical events relating to any time in the past. It is used as a translation of the infinitive of the verb use in English; in indirect quotes; and a politer form of the imperative.

The conditional mood expresses what would happen if it weren't for another circumstance.  It doesn't need the word "if" at the beginning of the sentence. For example, "σé ζa éρχa, бρáβo" and "ζa éρχa, бρáβo" mean exactly the same thing, where "σé" means "if."  The only difference is the emphasis of the mood is stronger in the first case. 

The imperative mood expresses commands, requests or orders. It can only be used in the second person singular and plural and the first person plural.  With the first person plural, the translation in English is "let's _____."  Commands to the public, use the formal second person plural.  To sound more polite, one can use the present subjunctive and future indicative. When talking to your superiors, it may sound a bit offensive to use this mood.

TENSES AND ASPECTS

There could only be three tenses in all: the past, the present and the future.   For each tense there could be plenty of aspects.  In this language there are only five: instantaneous, continuous, habitual, completed (or perfect) and prospective.  To indicate the different types of tenses, use "-e-" for the past tense, "-a-" for the present tense and "-u-'' for the future.  The aspect of the verbs are indicated by "-a-" for the continuous, "-o-" for the habitual aspects, "-e-" for the instantaneous aspect and "-i-" for the prospective aspect. Τhe use of the verb to have "haβáρe" is needed, for the completed (perfect) aspect.

There are two auxiliary verbs. One is for making the perfect tense, which is “haβáρe” and the other is “eσσáρe” for making the fake passive.

The present tense is to indicate that some action is in the present or has begun in the past and will be finished in the future. The past tense is used to indicate that some action is in the past.  The future tense is used to indicate that some action is in the future. 

The instantaneous aspect is used to indicate that it is in a point in time, or it is seen as a point in time.  For example, "Mark ate an apple."  This example is in the past tense and has the instantaneous aspect.  It tells the listener that Mark ate the apple once and the event is just a point in time. Another example is “the Romans tolerated nothing.”  Although the Romans existed, as one people, for many centuries; all those centuries are seen as a point in time.

The habitual aspect shows repetition.  For example, "Mark was going to school at the age of 16." This means that Mark didn't go to school once at the age of 16 but many times at the age of 16.  The continuous aspect is to indicate that something is happening, was happening or will be happening over a period of time.  This period of time may be as short as one millisecond or one lifetime of a star, up in the sky.  For example, "it was raining yesterday."  Here the continuous aspect is used, suggesting it was considered to be over a period.  The speaker viewed the situation as a period of time and not as a point in time, in which case the instantaneous aspect would have been used.  The second reason of using the continuous aspect is when one action happens during another.  For example, "it started raining when I was walking home.”  This means during the period of walking home, the rain started.  When I started walking home, there was no rain, but some time while walking, the rain started.  The third reason of using the continuous aspect is to show that one is in the middle of doing something but is not necessarily doing it at that time.  For example, "I'm reading a book on psychology now."  Even though, the word now is present, it doesn't mean that at this instant I'm doing just that.

Another aspect in Mesoγeóiκa is the completed or the perfect aspect.  It generally means that something is completed or finished by a particular time.  For example, "John will have eaten dinner when Terry sat to eat his."  Here, the example means that John is finished consuming food when Terry sat to begin consuming his. In other words, if two events happen one after the other, independent on the period of time between the happenings, the first event is in the perfect aspect and the second is in the instantaneous or the continuous aspect.  Compare, "John eats dinner when Terry sat to eat his."  In this example, at the time of Terry's arrival to the table, John finished his dinner, while in the other example; John finished his dinner before Terry’s arrival. 

The fifth and final aspect is the prospective, which in English is formed with the clause, "to be about to _____."  It indicates an action that would have happen if it wasn't for some circumstance.  For example, "Elena was about to get hit by a car when her husband saved her."  Here, if Elena's husband was a second too late, she would have been hit by the car.  Elena's future was obvious until her husband stepped in. 

The present tenses, in the indicative mood, can replace the future tense, when speaking of the very near future.  This usage is in English.  For example, two friends are at the shops and one of them asks “where is the CD shop.”  The other one replies “We are passing it now.”  Namely, the two friends will pass the CD shop very soon.

The future tense, in the indicative mood, may also be used for probable events.  You can translate the sentence, with this sense, with the present tense, with the same aspect, accompanied by the adverb “probably” or something similar.  The morphology of the verbs is down below, but here is an example with the habitual aspect. For example, Θu πiγenoτáis Σχoλíe (You will be going to school).  You are probably going to school.  The same future tenses, minus the perfect and prospective aspects, can be used to replace the imperative mood.  It is a less direct way of telling someone what to do.  In case of the example above, the translation would be, “You will be going to school!”

PERSON, NUMBER AND FORMALITY

There are three persons for the verb: the first, second and third person. The first person refers to the speaker; the second refers to the person spoken to and the third to the person being spoken about.  In English, the plural form of I, you, and he are we, you and they respectively.  When two or more parties, which grammatically speaking, fall under different persons, the plural person used is not clear.  For instance, if the subject of a verb is I and he, what grammatical ending will it take: that of the 1^st person, 2^nd person of 3^rd person plural?  Just like English, Greek and other languages, the plural forms used are determined by the table below..  The table below, in the first row, indicates that if the subject of the verb was I and you, then the verb will take the grammatical personal ending of the first person plural.  For example, Mo ce τo θu πiγenéμìo ad λam Πóλi, (I and you will go to the city).

 

Verbs have two numbers: the singular and plural.  The uses of the number are very clear.  It is only when the subject becomes impersonal; a grey area appears.

In both numbers, there are two forms of the second person.  They are the familiar and formal forms.  The formal form is used between two adult strangers, when talking to superior (like a teacher or a boss).  These rules apply independent in whatever situation one may be in. For example, boss with his secretary goes sunbathing during their lunch.  Despite this activity, the secretary the polite form of you and the boss was using the familiar form of you.  Nevertheless, the familiar form is used amongst children, friends and relatives. It is also used when adults talk to children.

CONJUGATIONS

Verbs in Meσoγeóiκa, only have one conjugation.  Verb endings change according to voice, person and number.  The subject pronouns are only used for emphasis.  This is because the verb endings tell the listener who did the action or who is in a situation.  Despite this fact, there are three lots of tables for the verbs.  This is because each voice has its own conjugation.

PARTICIPLES AND GERUNDS

The gerund is the noun formed from the verb.  Usually the gerund cannot be predicted from the verb.  The gerund may end in “τióna,” “-oχóia” “-μénτe” etc.  If there is no such gerund, it will end in -ándo for the active verbs, -éndo for the passive verbs and -índo for the reflexive verbs.

The present participle takes no part in forming tenses.  They end in -ánτo, -énτo and -ínτo for the active verb, passive verb and reflexive verb respectively.  As verbs, they have two uses.  It is used with or without “en” (in, by, while).  For example “en sτudánτo, θe βλéπe únam Oμoρφiá” (While studying, I saw a beautiful thing.)  Another use of the present participle as a verb is when it is used with a weak personal pronoun or a noun.  When used this way, by default it is in the singular masculine gender in the nominative case.  Two examples are below.

1)      Κuaφφonánτo λen – Covering it

2)      Κuaφφonánτo λón Κórπon – Covering the body

Another use for the present participle is that it can be used as an adjective and hence a noun.  For this to happen, adjective endings must be added on.  When the present participle as in the example above, the tense, aspect, mood, person, number and voice of the verb is shown by the main verb of the sentence (i.e. by θe βλéπe)

The past participle have –áτo, -éτo and -íτo as endings for the active verbs, passive verbs and reflexive verbs respectively.  It is used to form the completed (perfect) tenses with the auxiliary verb haβáρe.  It can act as adjective and nouns, but endings are required.

When it is used for the perfect tenses it must have an adjective ending in the case of which the object of the verb is in, with the gender of the object.  For example, “Λe Σχoλíe θa haβángo βγaζáτoλ бónoλ Πeδιáλ.”  In other words, it must be either in the accusative or dative case if the verb is transitive.

Morphology

 The personal endings for all three voices are below:
 

VERB IN USE

All the components of the verb have been discussed above.  If all of the information above is put together, verbs are made the following way:

particle+stem+aspect+personal ending

The personal endings tell the listener about the person, number and voice of the verb.  The model of the particle is as follows:

mood+tense

For example, "θa," indicates that the verb is in the indicative mood, from "θ," and that it is in the present tense from "a." For the imperative mood, the particle is “aς” regardless.

In general, the formation of the verbs in all the tenses is below.  Notice that the conjugation within a tense is shown by the table above.

 

Below are paradigms of verbs in the active, passive and reflexive voices with all its finites.

δiaβaζáρe - to read.
onoμaζéρe - to be named
πλeníρe - to wash/clean oneself

****All finites are accented according to what ending they have and what voice they have.****

ORTHOGRAPHICAL CHANGES OF THE VERB STEM

Orthographically the ending of the stem changes when the end with the phoneme of s as in pleasure and s as in sand.  If the letter J is used, no changes are needed to be made.  When the stem of a verb or adjective ends with an S or J sound, this sound must be retained.  Thus, if Κ and G are used, and are pronounced soft; ь will have to be used before all vowels except E and I.

PREFIXED VERBS

Prefixes, which can stand alone, for example as an adverb or a preposition, tend to change the meaning of the verb in a regular way. If one knows what the word "class" and "room" mean, then the meaning of "classroom" would be clear. The same applies for this next example. The preposition "yπó" means "under" and the verb "γρaμiζáρe" means "to line (up)." Together as "yπoγρaμiζáρe," the meaning is "to underline." If you now replace the verb "γρaμiζáρe" with the verb "γρaφiζáre," which means "to write," the meaning becomes "to sign" or "to put one's signature down." In the second example the meaning is not that obvious, but on the other hand, one usually signs at the bottom of an agreement.

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