Two more sets of forms, and no new endings to learn. Both use the primary middle and passive endings from chapter 12 — -μαι, -σαι, -ται, -μεθα, -σθε, -νται — attached to a stem you already know how to build.
The perfect middle and passive is the verb's fifth principal part. What is new about it is not the endings but where they go: straight onto the reduplicated stem, with no connecting vowel in between.
The perfect middle and passive
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | λέλυμαι | λελύμεθα |
| 2nd | λέλυσαι | λέλυσθε |
| 3rd | λέλυται | λέλυνται |
Reduplication exactly as in chapter 10, then the ending. Because there is no connecting vowel the σ of the second singular survives here — λέλυσαι, not a contracted form.
The meaning is the perfect's meaning: a completed action whose result stands. As a passive, λέλυμαι is "I have been loosed", or simply "I am loosed".
One form dominates this whole category. γέγραπται — "it stands written" — accounts for 67 of the 202 perfect passive indicatives in the New Testament, one in three.
ταῦτα δὲ γέγραπται ἵνα πιστεύητε
"But these things have been written so that you may believe." Written then, and standing written now, which is why John chose the tense.
When the stem ends in a consonant
These endings begin with μ, σ, τ and ν, and a stem ending in a consonant has to meet them. The result is a spelling change, and there is no point learning the rules.
γράφω has the stem γραφ-. Before the -ται of the third singular the φ hardens to π: γέγραπται.
πέπεισμαι γὰρ ὅτι οὔτε θάνατος οὔτε ζωὴ
"For I am convinced that neither death nor life…" πείθω has the stem πειθ-, and before the -μαι the θ becomes σ: πέπεισμαι. Note the sense — not "I was persuaded" but "I stand persuaded", which is the perfect doing its work.
What to take from this is recognition, not derivation. A doubled first syllable and one of these endings means a perfect middle or passive, whatever has happened to the consonant in between.
The future middle
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | λύσομαι | λυσόμεθα |
| 2nd | λύσῃ | λύσεσθε |
| 3rd | λύσεται | λύσονται |
This one is simply the future stem — the second principal part, with its σ — plus a connecting vowel plus the same endings. And because there is a connecting vowel, the second singular contracts again: λύσῃ, from λύσεσαι.
The future passive is built on a different stem altogether and waits until chapter 15.
ἀπ’ ἄρτι ὄψεσθε τὸν υἱὸν τοῦ ἀνθρώπου
"From now on you will see the Son of Man." ὄψεσθε is the future middle of ὁράω — middle in form and plainly active in meaning.
ἔσομαι: the future of εἰμί
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | ἔσομαι | ἐσόμεθα |
| 2nd | ἔσῃ | ἔσεσθε |
| 3rd | ἔσται | ἔσονται |
Built on the stem ἐσ- with the same endings, and with this the paradigm of εἰμί is complete in every tense you need.
Learn it properly, because it is not a footnote: 186 of the 489 future middle indicatives in the New Testament belong to εἰμί — two in five. ἔσται alone occurs 118 times.
ἔσομαι αὐτῷ θεὸς καὶ αὐτὸς ἔσται μοι υἱός
"I will be God to him, and he will be a son to me."
Telling them apart
You now have three sets of forms ending in -μαι and -ται, and they are told apart by what sits in front of the ending.
| Form | Marker | Tense |
|---|---|---|
| λύεται | connecting vowel, nothing else | present |
| λέλυται | reduplication, no connecting vowel | perfect |
| λύσεται | σ before the connecting vowel | future |
Three words, one ending, and the whole difference is in the middle of them. This is the habit worth building from this chapter: read the front of the verb, not the back.
Adverbs
An adverb qualifies a verb, an adjective or another adverb, and Greek adverbs do not decline, which makes them the easiest words you will learn.
Many are made from adjectives by putting -ως where the genitive plural has -ων: καλῶν gives καλῶς, "well". Others are frozen case endings — σήμερον, "today", is an accusative. The rest simply have to be met and learned.
One in this chapter's list is worth a note. εὐθύς, "immediately", occurs 51 times in the New Testament and 41 of them are in Mark — in the shortest of the Gospels. It is the single clearest fingerprint of his style, and you will feel it as soon as you read him in Greek.
μέν … δέ
These two little words work as a pair, marking a contrast: μέν sets something up, and δέ answers it. "On the one hand… on the other."
Ἐγὼ μέν εἰμι Παύλου, Ἐγὼ δὲ Ἀπολλῶ
"I am of Paul; and I of Apollos." Usually the best English leaves μέν untranslated and renders δέ as "but" — the balance is in the Greek structure and does not need a word of its own.
With the plural article the pair means "some… others":
οἱ μὲν ἦσαν σὺν τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις οἱ δὲ σὺν τοῖς ἀποστόλοις
"Some were with the Jews, and others with the apostles."
Both words are postpositive — they never begin their clause, and stand second. μέν occurs 178 times, so this is a pattern to recognise rather than a curiosity.