 | Wildly different past forms for τρώγω, λέω, βλέπω. Why? |
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I am asking this only out of curiousity. How come that these three verbs have two seemingly completely different stems? (τρώγω - έφαγα, λέω - είπα, βλέπω - είδα) Does anyone know the etymology of these word forms? Do the two kinds of stems come from the same word, or are they the result of the merger or two formerly separate verbs? Of course this won't help me learn Modern Greek, but it would be interesting to know the answer  |
| Re: Wildly different past forms for τρώγω, λέω, βλέπω. Why? |
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These are the three verbs in modern Greek which are irregular in the sense that their non-continuous (perfective) form is not derived in any way from their continuous (imperfective) form. And yes, each of these modern verbs [τρώ(γ)ω, λέ(γ)ω, βλέπω] are mergers of two different ancient verbs, where one verb supplied the present tense, and the other verb supplied the past (aorist) tense. Regards, Greg Brush |
