Language/Modern-greek-1453/Grammar/Past-Tense

In Greek, there are three past tenses. We use each tense for a different reason.

1. 1. Παρατατικός (paratatikΟs) We use this tense to talk about something that happened in the past for a long time of more than once Unlike English, we use the continuous tense to talk about past habits. It is a continuous tense and is translated into the Past Continuous tense in English. To form this tense, you add the letter 'ε' in front of the verb (this comes from the ancient Greek language) and the proper ending. Note: In modern Greek, the 'ε' in the beginning is eliminated for 1st and 2nd plural and when the verb starts with a vowel you can't add 'ε'. Also, the intonation is placed above the vowel of the third syllable counting from the end. ex.: (Εγώ) έ-παιζ-α = I was playing (Εσύ) έ-παιζ-ες = You were playing (Αυτός/Αυτή/Αυτό) έ-παιζ-ε = He/She/It was playing (Εμείς) παίζ-αμε = We were playing | Notice that there is no 'ε' in the beginning of the word. (Εσείς) παίζ-ατε = You were playing |Notice that there is no 'ε' in the beginning of the word. (Αυτοί/Αυτές/Αυτά) έ-παιζ-αν = They were playing Note: For a few verbs you have to place 'η' instead of 'ε', like the verb ξέρω (ksEro=know) that becomes ήξερα (Iksera=I knew).
   2. Αόριστος (aΟristos) We use this tense to talk about something that happened in the past for a short time or just once. It is a non-continuous tense. To form this tense, you add the letter 'ε' in front of the verb (this comes from the ancient Greek language), the proper ending and change the last letter (if the last letter is a consonant, there will be a table of the letter changes, but it's not always accurate, you will mostly learn that from experience) or add the letter 'σ' (if the last letter is a vowel, most times though, native Greek speakers have a different way of doing this, which you will be taught from experience). Note: In modern Greek, the 'ε' in the beginning is eliminated for 1st and 2nd plural and when the verb starts with a vowel you can't add 'ε'. Also, the intonation is placed above the vowel of the third syllable counting from the end. ex.: (Εγώ) έ-παι-ξ-α = I played (Εσύ) έ-παι-ξ-ες = You played (Αυτός/Αυτή/Αυτό) έ-παι-ξ-ε = He/She/It played (Εμείς) παί-ξ-αμε = We played | Notice that there is no 'ε' in the beginning of the word. (Εσείς) παί-ξ-ατε = You played | Notice that there is no 'ε' in the beginning of the word. (Αυτοί/Αυτές/Αυτά) έ-παι-ξ-αν = They played Note: For a few verbs you have to place 'η' instead of 'ε', like the verb ξέρω (ksEro=know) that becomes ήξερα (Iksera=I knew).
   3. Υπερσυνέλικος (ipersidElikos) We use this tense to talk about something that was completed in the past, or that something was completed before something else happened in the past. To for this tense, you use the past form of the verb έχω (Eho=have) and the infinitive form of the verb. ex. (Εγώ) είχα παίξει = I had played (Εσύ) είχες παίξει = You had played (Αυτός/Αυτή/Αυτό) είχε παίξει = He/She/It had played (Εμείς) είχαμε παίξει = We had played (Εσείς) είχατε παίξει = You had played (Αυτοί/Αυτές/Αυτά) είχαν παίξει = They had played {| class="wikitable" |Starting Letter |Changes into |- |κ, γ, χ, ττ |ξ |- |π, β, φ, πτ |ψ |- |τ, δ, θ, ζ |υσ |}