Chapter 8: Your first verb tense: Present Active Indicative (PAI)

 

Note: you will need to learn these verb endings. Most Greek verbs use these endings to form present active indicative endings.

Day 1: Present Active Indicative verb ending: First person singular

• We will start with the easiest verb ending: This describes action happening now.
• We will use the same verb as an example for all verb endings: κρίνω which means "I judge."
• Pronounced like this: kri-no
• "kri" like in "criminal" and "no" like "no." Note, this is a long "o" sound because it is an omega.
• We will also use charts for each verb ending:

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge
second person
third person

Day 2: Present Active Indicative verb ending: Second person singular

• κρίνεις
• Pronounced like this: kri-nis
• "kri" like in "criminal" then "nis" like "nice."
• Note: ει is a diphthong, which means that the two vowels sound like one instead of two vowel sounds. See #4 at the bottom of this assignment.

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge
second person	κρίνειςyou (singular) judge
third person

Day 3: Present Active Indicative verb ending: Third person singular

• κρίνει
• Pronounced like this: kri-ni
• Sounds just like the ending above but without the "s."

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge
second person	κρίνειςyou (singular) judge
third person	κρίνειhe/she/it judges

Day 4: Present Active Indicative verb ending: First person plural

• κρίνομεν
• Pronounced like this: kri-no-men
• "kri" like in "criminal" then "no" like in "nod" then "men" like in "amend." Note, this is a short "o" sound since it is an omicron.
• Also, this "men" is said quickly and not like some people stretch the word "men" out.

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge	κρίνομενwe judge
second person	κρίνειςyou (singular) judge
third person	κρίνειhe/she/it judges

Day 5: Present Active Indicative verb ending: Second person plural

• κρίνετε
• Pronounced like this: kri-ne-te
• "kri" like in "criminal" then "ne" like in "necessary" then "te" like in "teddy."

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge	κρίνομενwe judge
second person	κρίνειςyou (singular) judge	κρίνετεyou (plural) judge
third person	κρίνειhe/she/it judges

Day 6: Present Active Indicative verb ending: Third person plural

• κρίνουσι
• Pronounced like this: kri-nou-si
• "kri" like in "criminal" then "nou" like in "noose" then "si" like in "sift."
• Remember that "ou" is a diphthong. You can see the note about it in #4 below.

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge I am judging	κρίνομενwe judge we are judging
second person	κρίνειςyou (singular) judge you are judging	κρίνετεyou (plural) judge you are judging
third person	κρίνειhe/she/it judges he/she/it is judging	κρίνουσιthey judge they are judging

Weekly exercises

1. κρίνομεν ὁ λόγος
2. ὁ ἀδελφός κρίνει ὁ υἱός
3. Χριστός κρίνει ὁ ἀδελφός
4. θεός ἢ Ἰησοῦς κρίνει ὁ ἄγγελος

Answers

1. We judge the word
2. The brother judges the son
3. Christ judges the brother
4. God or Jesus judges the angel

What you have learned so far

1. Alphabet

Greek small	Greek capital	English name	Sound
α	Α	alpha	short a
β	Β	beta	b
γ	Γ	gamma	g
δ	Δ	delta	d
ε	Ε	epsilon	short e
ζ	Ζ	zeta	z
η	Η	eta	ay
θ	Θ	theta	th
ι	Ι	iota	i/ee
κ	Κ	kappa	k
λ	Λ	lambda	l
μ	Μ	mu	m
ν	Ν	nu	n
ξ	Ξ	xi	x
ο	Ο	omicron	o
π	Π	pi	p
ρ	Ρ	rho	r
σ ς	Σ	sigma	s
τ	Τ	tau	t
υ	Υ	upsilon	u
φ	Φ	phi	ph
χ	Χ	chi	ch
ψ	Ψ	psi	ps
ω	Ω	omega	long o

2. Breathing marks and "h" sound: week 2

3. Accents: week 2

4. Diphthongs from letters we have covered so far:

• ει οι ου υι
• You can memorize them if you want. Or you can wait and I will tell you if each new word has a diphthong or not.

5. Definite article

• ὁ This is the masculine definite article and will be in front of masculine nouns.
• ἡ This is the feminine definite article and will be in front of feminine nouns.
• τό This is the neuter definite article and will be in front of neuter nouns.

6. "A"

• Greek does not have a word for "a."

7. Present Active Indicative endings

PAI	singular	plural
first person	κρίνωI judge I am judging	κρίνομενwe judge we are judging
second person	κρίνειςyou (singular) judge you are judging	κρίνετεyou (plural) judge you are judging
third person	κρίνειhe/she/it judges he/she/it is judging	κρίνουσιthey judge they are judging

Vocabulary (this will always be in alphabetical order)

ἀδελφός, ὁ	brother
ἄγγελος, ὁ	messenger, angel
ἢ	or
θεός, ὁ	God
Ἰησοῦς	Jesus
ἰχθύς, ὁ	fish
κρίνω	I judge
λόγος, ὁ	word
οὐ, οὐκ, οὐχ	not before a consonant, before smooth breathing, before rough breathing
σωτήρ, ὁ	savior
υἱός, ὁ	son
Χριστός, ὁ	Christ