Verb

Glossary

A verb is a word used to describe an action, event, or state of being. It is the main part of the predicate of a sentence.

Article

As stated in the Glossary, a verb is a word used to describe an action, event, or state of being.

The action of the verb may require an object to complete the action of the verb. Verbs that require a direct object to complete the action are Transitive_Verbs . Verbs that do not require a direct object to complete the action are Intransitive_Verbs . A few verbs can be used both as a transitive verb and as an intransitive verb.

A Linking_Verb does not express an action but connects the subject of the verb to additional information in the predicate.

Components of Verbs

Verbs are made up of six basic components:

  • The root which carries the basic meaning of the verb.
  • The Tense which indicates the speaker’s perspective or viewpoint of the time of action and the kind of action of the verb. The kind of action may be continuous, completed, or completed with an ongoing effect.
  • The Voice which indicates whether the subject performs the action (active voice), whether the action is performed on the subject (passive voice), or indicates that the subject does the action of the verb but also is somehow affected by the action of the verb or is participating in the action of the verb (middle voice). Many verbs are said to be deponent. A deponent verb is a verb whose stem is middle or passive in form, but active in meaning. The definitions of many verbs that are classified as deponent have a meaning that implies the participation of the person doing the action.
  • The Mood which indicates the speaker’s viewpoint of the verbal action in relation to reality. Greek has four moods: indicative, imperative, subjunctive, and optative.
  • Number which signifies whether one (singular) or more (plural) participants are indicated by a word.
  • Gender which indicates if the subject of the verb is masculine, feminine, or neuter.

Verbs must agree with the subject of the verb in both number and person. Therefore, the pronoun (I, you, he, she, or it) is included in the verb itself and it is not necessary for it to be restated as a separate word.

Parts

Verbs are made up of :
  1. The root is the most basic part of a word. The root conveys the basic meaning of the word. The root may be modified to make the word a noun, an adjective, a verb, or to indicate the tense of the verb.
  2. The stem is the form of the root in a particular verbal tense. For some verbs, the present tense stem is identical to the root, but this is not always the case.
  3. Prefix - A prefix may be added to the stem of a verb to change its tense or the meaning of the root.
  4. Suffixes and connecting vowels (and sometimes with a prefix) are added to the end of the stem to change the person, number, tense, mood, or voice of a verb.
  5. Connecting vowels are often added before the suffix to aid in pronunciation, but may also be used to change the mood of the verb.
Example: ἐπιγνώσομαι
prefix stem tense formative connecting vowel personal ending
επι γνω σ ο μαι

Note: In this example, επι is a prefix that serves to intensify the meaning of the verb γινώσκω (to know). It therefore changes the meaning from “to know” to “to really know”, or “to know completely”.