present tense verb stems

Since the aorist and perfect tenses are formed in fairly limited ways and are easy to spot and classify as "first " or "second", it has always been tempting to bring the same kind of order to the present tense. Why not have "first" and "second" presents? The reason is that there is a much wider variety of ways of making a present tense stem than an aorist or perfect tense stem.

Kühner counts eleven different things you can do to a verb stem to arrive at the present tense stem (§220), Goodwin counts eight (§§566–622), Smyth six (§§496–531) and Schwyzer eight (1:672–737). Each treatment is interchangeable since it's the same information; what follows is mainly a blend of Smyth and Schwyzer. Note that some verbs exhibit two methods of formation (eg γιγνωσκω).

1. simple or "root" stems, in which the present stem is largely the verb stem, or root, itself eg

• ειμι from εσ- stem

• λυω from λυ-

• τηκω from τακ-

2. reduplicated stems, in which the present stem is a doubled version of the root eg

• διδωμι < δο-

• γιγνομαι < γεν-

Nb these last four methods of formation have in common the fact that they add some element to the end of the stem.

3. nu stems, in which the present stem finds some form of ν added in eg

• δακνω

• αισθανομαι

• λαμβανω

• δεικνυμι

• βαινω

4. tau stems normally add τ to a stem ending in π β or φ, eg

• κοπτω < κοπ-

• βλαπτω < βλαβ-

• the stem of these verbs is normally visible in the second aorist passive (εκοπην, εβλαβην)

5. -σκω stems, originally denoting the beginning of an action (hence these are also called "inceptives") yet rarely so in preserved Greek eg

• γηρασκω

• θνηισκω

• γιγνωσκω

6. iota stem presents add ι to a verb stem but it is frequently invisible due to sound rules eg

• stems ending in δ unite with ι to make -ζω stems (αρπαζω)

• stems ending in κ or χ unite with ι to make -ττω stems (φυλαττω)

• stems ending in λ unite with ι to make -λλω stems (αγγελλω)

• -αινω, -αιρω, -εινω, -ειρω etc suffer epenthesis and see the iota change place and join the vowel of the stem (eg φαν-, τεν-, φθερ-)

• contract verbs are originally iota stem presents