Verb tenses – GCSE Classical Greek OCR Revision

In Classical Greek, verb tenses refer to the time at which the action of a verb takes place.
There are primarily three tenses: present, past (or imperfect), and future.
Tenses also tell us about the aspect of the verb, i.e., whether the action is ongoing, completed, or yet to begin.

The present tense in Greek indicates an action that is currently happening or a general truth.
To form the present tense, the verb stem is generally used with various personal endings.
For example, the verb ‘λύω’ (I release) in the present indicative active changes as per the subject: λύεις (you release), λύει (he/she/it releases), λύομεν (we release), λύετε (you release), and λύουσι(ν) (they release).

The past tense (or imperfect) in Greek describes an action that took place in the past and is now finished.
It is formed by adding an augment, typically ε- or η-, to the verb stem, followed by the personal endings.
For example, with the augment, ‘λύω’ becomes ‘ἔλυον’ (I released), and with the corresponding changes, you get: ἔλυες (you released), ἔλυε(ν) (he/she/it released), ἐλύομεν (we released), ἐλύετε (you released), and ἔλυσαν (they released).

The future tense refers to an action that will occur in the future.
Often, the addition of a sigma (σ) to the verb stem forms the future tense, followed by the personal endings.
For instance, ‘λύω’ becomes ‘λύσω’ (I will release), and similarly: λύσεις (you will release), λύσει (he/she/it will release), λύσομεν (we will release), λύσετε (you will release), and λύσουσι(ν) (they will release).

Like declensions, recognizing and using these verb endings will require frequent practice.
Your task is to recognize and use these tenses appropriately in sentence structuring and translation.
Aside from these core tenses, Greek also has perfect, pluperfect, and future perfect to consider, which involve the action’s state of completion.