Learn about the asigmatic aorist tense stem of verbs in the active voice
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Brandon: Hello everyone, and welcome back to GreekPod101.com. This is Intermediate, Season 1, Lesson 7: Catching A Cold in the Heat of the Greek Summer. I’m Brandon. |
| Stefania: And I’m Stefania. |
| Brandon: In this lesson, we'll focus on the aorist tense stem of verbs in active voice, and specifically on the asigmatic aorist. |
| Stefania: This conversation takes place at Erato and Natalia’s house. It’s between Erato and Natalia, and they’re talking about Natalia’s cat. |
| Brandon: And since the characters are sisters, they’ll be using informal Greek. Okay, let's listen to the conversation! |
Lesson conversation |
|---|
| Ναταλία: Τι έχεις ψιψίνα μου; Φταρνίστηκες πάλι; |
| Ερατώ: Τι έγινε, είναι καλά η Τσίκου; Τσίκου, τι έχεις; |
| Ναταλία: Από χτες φταρνίζεται συνέχεια. Νομίζω κρύωσε επειδή την έκανα μπάνιο προχτές το βράδυ. |
| Ερατώ: Μα καλά, πώς κι έτσι; Καλοκαιριάτικα; |
| Ναταλία: Ξέρω κι εγώ... θα την πάω στον κτηνίατρο. Την τελευταία φορά που αρρώστησε, της έδωσε αντιβίωση. |
| Ερατώ: Πάρ' τον τώρα που είναι ακόμα νωρίς. Αν έχει χρόνο, μπορεί να τη δει το απόγευμα. |
| Ναταλία: Δίκιο έχεις, θα τον πάρω αμέσως. |
| Ερατώ: Κοίτα την πώς έγειρε πάνω στο μαξιλάρι… θα της βάλω μια κουβερτούλα μήπως κρυώνει, για να ζεσταθεί. |
| Ναταλία: Αχ, κακόμοιρή μου Τσίκου! |
| Brandon: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Ναταλία: Τι έχεις ψιψίνα μου; Φταρνίστηκες πάλι; |
| Brandon: What's wrong kitty? Did you sneeze again? |
| Ερατώ: Τι έγινε, είναι καλά η Τσίκου; Τσίκου, τι έχεις; |
| Brandon: What happened? Is Tsikou well? Tsikou, what's wrong? |
| Ναταλία: Από χτες φταρνίζεται συνέχεια. Νομίζω κρύωσε επειδή την έκανα μπάνιο προχτές το βράδυ. |
| Brandon: She's been sneezing constantly since yesterday. I think she caught a cold because I gave her a bath two nights ago. |
| Ερατώ: Μα καλά, πώς κι έτσι; Καλοκαιριάτικα; |
| Brandon: But, how come? In the middle of summer? |
| Ναταλία: Ξέρω κι εγώ... θα την πάω στον κτηνίατρο. Την τελευταία φορά που αρρώστησε, της έδωσε αντιβίωση. |
| Brandon: I have no idea... I'll take her to the vet. The last time she got sick he gave her antibiotics. |
| Ερατώ: Πάρ' τον τώρα που είναι ακόμα νωρίς. Αν έχει χρόνο, μπορεί να τη δει το απόγευμα. |
| Brandon: Call him now because it's still early. If he has time, he can see her in the afternoon. |
| Ναταλία: Δίκιο έχεις, θα τον πάρω αμέσως. |
| Brandon: You're right; I'll call him right away. |
| Ερατώ: Κοίτα την πώς έγειρε πάνω στο μαξιλάρι… θα της βάλω μια κουβερτούλα μήπως κρυώνει, για να ζεσταθεί. |
| Brandon: Look how she laid down on the pillow. I’ll put a small blanket on her in case she’s cold, so she can get warm. |
| Ναταλία: Αχ, κακόμοιρή μου Τσίκου! |
| Brandon: Oh, my poor Tsikou! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Stefania: Oh, poor kitty indeed! |
| Brandon: Yeah… Is it common for people in Greece to have pets? |
| Stefania: Oh, yeah. Many people even take care of or adopt stray dogs and cats. |
| Brandon: Are there any organizations that take care of stray animals? |
| Stefania: There are some organizations that pick up wounded stray animals, take care of them, and then put them up for adoption. Some organizations also help save endangered species or educate people against animal cruelty. These organizations mainly rely on volunteers and monetary donations, unless they’re organized by local municipalities. |
| Brandon: And what about animal cruelty in Greece? |
| Stefania: Well, Greece opposes animal cruelty, and the laws are very strict. Anyone who breaks animal cruelty laws can face steep fines and imprisonment. So if you witness animal cruelty, you can call the police. |
| Brandon: Well, that's good to know. Okay, now let’s move on to the vocab. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Brandon: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| : The first word we shall see is: |
| Stefania: ψιψίνα [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: kitty |
| Stefania: ψιψίνα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: ψιψίνα [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: φταρνίζομαι [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to sneeze |
| Stefania: φταρνίζομαι [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: φταρνίζομαι [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: συνέχεια [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: constantly, continually, always |
| Stefania: συνέχεια [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: συνέχεια [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: κρυώνω [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to be cold, to cool down, to catch a cold, to go cold (figuratively) |
| Stefania: κρυώνω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: κρυώνω [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: κτηνίατρος [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: veterinarian |
| Stefania: κτηνίατρος [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: κτηνίατρος [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: αρρωσταίνω [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: to get sick, to upset (figuratively) |
| Stefania: αρρωσταίνω [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: αρρωσταίνω [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: αντιβίωση [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: antibiotic |
| Stefania: αντιβίωση [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: αντιβίωση [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: κουβερτούλα [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: small blanket |
| Stefania: κουβερτούλα [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: κουβερτούλα [natural native speed] |
| : Next: |
| Stefania: μήπως [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: whether, lest |
| Stefania: μήπως [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: μήπως [natural native speed] |
| : And Last: |
| Stefania: κακόμοιρος [natural native speed] |
| Brandon: unfortunate, poor, crummy |
| Stefania: κακόμοιρος [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Stefania: κακόμοιρος [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Brandon: Let's have a closer look at the usage of the words and phrases from this lesson. What's our first word? |
| Stefania: We have the adverb συνέχεια, meaning "constantly," "continually," or "always." This is different from the feminine noun συνέχεια. |
| Brandon: Although their pronunciation and spelling is identical, the context will help you distinguish them. |
| Stefania: That’s right. Next we have the verb κρυώνω. |
| Brandon: Meaning "to be cold," "to cool down," or "to catch a cold." |
| Stefania: We also use κρυώνω figuratively to say that a relationship between people or even countries has gone "cold." |
| Brandon: For example? |
| Stefania: Μετά τον χωρισμό οι σχέσεις του με τα πρώην πεθερικά κρυώσανε. |
| Brandon: "After the separation, his relationship with his ex parents-in-law went cold." |
| Stefania: Yes. Now our last word is the conjunction μήπως, meaning "whether" or "lest." |
| Brandon: It can be used in direct, indirect, or even rhetorical questions. |
| Stefania: It expresses the hesitancy or uncertainty of the speaker, whether something might be going on or not. For example, Μήπως τηλεφώνησε κανείς όσο έλειπα; It means, "Did anyone call while I was gone?" |
| Brandon: Does it get translated here? I didn't see an English equivalent. |
| Stefania: In direct questions, we don't really translate it. It just expresses the general feeling of the speaker. Here it's "perhaps/maybe someone called." In our dialogue, however, μήπως introduces a subordinate clause and it means "lest," i.e. "for fear that" or "so as to prevent any possibility that." |
| Brandon: Which sentence is that? |
| Stefania: ...θα της βάλω μια κουβερτούλα μήπως κρυώνει, για να ζεσταθεί. Meaning, "...I’ll put a blanket on her in case she is cold, so she can get warm." We didn't use the exact word "lest" here because that's not what two sisters would probably say to each other, but the meaning is "for fear that," basically. |
| Brandon: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
| Brandon: In this lesson, you’ll learn about... the aorist tense stem of verbs in active voice and specifically, the asigmatic aorist. |
| Stefania: Previously we looked at the sigmatic aorist that has endings like -σα/ψα/ξα or -ήσα. Here the asigmatic aorist, which is more rare, is formed by adding a simple -α after the stem. |
| Brandon: This happens to verbs whose stems end in a liquid consonant... |
| Stefania: ...such as λ(λ), ρ, λν and ρν. For example: προσφέρ-ω changes to πρόσφερ-α, "to offer." |
| Brandon: Here we have the stems that end in a nasal consonant such as "m" or "n." |
| Stefania: For example: κρίν-ω becomes έκριν-α, “to judge.” Now listeners, be careful! Not all stems ending in "ν" form an asigmatic aorist. Check out our previous lesson to review the sigmatic aorist of "ν" ending stems. |
| Brandon: One thing we have to say about the asigmatic aorist in this lesson is that there are many exceptions and irregularities. Therefore, we’ve included some useful examples in tables in the lesson notes for you to study. |
| Stefania: Some irregularities happen to very common verbs, so you should learn those well! For example, verbs that end in -αίνω form three different groups here: |
| 1) those that lose the -αιν part in aorist, such as καταλαβαίν-ω, |
| Brandon “To understand” |
| Stefania that becomes κατάλαβ-α; 2) those that form the aorist ending in -ανα, such as ανασαίν-ω, |
| Brandon meaning “To breathe” |
| Stefania that becomes ανάσαν-α; and 3) those that form the |
| aorist ending in -υνα, such as ακριβαίν-ω, |
| Brandon “To become more expensive” |
| Stefania: that becomes ακρίβυν-α. |
| Brandon: Finally, there are three more groups of irregular verbs that form an asigmatic aorist. |
| Stefania: Those are the verbs that: |
| 1) change their stem completely in aorist. For example: λέ(γ)-ω, |
| Brandon “to say;” |
| Stefania becomes είπ-α, 2) change only their stem vowel. For example: φεύγ-ω, |
| Brandon “to leave;” |
| Stefania becomes έφυγ-α, |
| Stefania: and 3) get the ending -ηκα. For example: ανεβαίν-ω, |
| Brandon “To go up” |
| Stefania becomes ανέβ-ηκα. The verb here also lost the -αιν part. |
| Brandon: In our lesson notes we include an example from our dialogue conjugated in all of the active voice forms that use the aorist stem. You’ll notice that the endings between the sigmatic and the asigmatic aorist are the same. |
| Stefania: When you conjugate verbs that end with the irregular -ανα/-υνα/ηκα, just replace their final -α with the appropriate aorist endings from the table. Remember, the remaining -αν-/ and -υν- belong to the stem while the remaining -ηκ- is still part of the aorist ending. |
Outro |
| Brandon: Well, that’s all you need to know about the active voice aorist stem! As always, you can leave us a message at GreekPod101.com if you have any questions or comments. Thanks for listening, and we’ll see you next time. |
| Stefania: Γεια χαρά! |
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| Stefania: Just another effective method of learning and retaining thousands of vocabulary words. |
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| Stefania: Try it for yourself at GreekPod101.com |
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