Elementary New Testament Greek, 2014a

The Forms of the Present Passive for Contract and μ Verbs
You also recall that certain verbs (those whose roots ended in the vowels , , and ) experience a contraction of vowels between their vowel stems and the variable connecting
vowels. Furthermore, you recall that another family of verbs (the so-called μ verbs) do not use a connecting vowel to join the verb stem to the personal endings. Notice how this
plays out in the passive.
OMEGA CONJUGATION (using / connecting vowel) MI CONJUGATION (no connecting vowel used)
“Regular” A-Contract E-Contract O-Contract “o” stem “e” stem “a” stem “nu” stem
“to destroy” “to honor” “to make” “to show” “to give” “to place/put” “to stand” “to show” Translation
1s) μ μμ μ μ μ μ μ μ I am being -ed
2s) μ You are being -ed
3s) μ He/she/it is being -ed
1p) μ μμ μ μ μ μ μ μ We are being -ed
2p) μ Y’all are being -ed
3p) μ They are being -ed
Notes on Forms
1) You see that the 2nd singular personal ending () in the Omega Conjugation always contracts with previous vowels, whether with the connecting vowel alone (/), or the
vowel of the verb stem itself (, , or ). In each circumstance, the sigma () does not enjoy its position between vowels, drops out, and thereby instigates the contraction between
vowels. But you can see in the MI Conjugation the unaffected personal ending, which (in these circumstances) does not contract with any preceding vowel.
2) You see in all four example verbs of the MI Conjugation the “pure” personal endings uncomplicated by contractions. You can also see that the verb stems are perfectly consistent
and easily visible in every instance.
3) Even though you can see a fair amount of variation across these paradigms (especially with the vowel patterns connecting personal endings to verb stems), you can still discern
enough of each ending to parse and translate it accurately.
9: Active, Middle, Passive Voices
114