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The Perfect Tense is a tense of verbs in Koine Greek. It is usually used to show that a past event has occurred with present ongoing consequences. For example, [[λελυκεν]] is translated as "he has destroyed".
In most cases, the perfect form of a verb is created by adding a reduplication prefix (as shown below) and a specific ending.
===Forming the Perfect Active Indicative===
Using the verb [[λυω]] (I destroy), the forms are
* λελυκαν - First Person Singular Perfect Active Indicative - I have destroyed
* λελυκας - Second Person Singular Perfect Active Indicative - You have destroyed
* λελυκε(ν) - Third Person Singular Perfect Active Indicative - He has destroyed
* λελυκαμεν - First Person Plural Perfect Active Indicative - We have destroyed
* λελυκατε - Second Person Plural Perfect Active Indicative - You have destroyed
* λελυκασι(ν) - Third Person Plural Perfect Active Indicative - They have destroyed
====Reduplication====
A verb in the perfect tense begins with a prefix that is formed by taking the first letter of the verb (for example: λ in λυω, and adding an ε). Hence the reduplication prefix for λυω is λε and the reduplication prefix for [[γραφω]] is γε
There are numerous exceptions to this rule.
For certain starting letters of the verb, the reduplication prefix changes from what would be expected.
* θ -> τε
* χ -> κε
* φ -> πε
For many (but not all) verbs starting with σ, the reduplication is a single ε. This is not called an augment.
Some verbs are irregular.
====Ending with a κ====
Following the stem of the vowel is a κ which is then followed by the specific ending. Hence, a perfect active verb can be recognized by the presence of reduplication and a κ.
For [[Koine Greek: Verbs - Contract|contract verbs]] (εω, αω and οω verbs) the final vowel undergoes a lengthening prior to the κ+ending being added - α becomes η, ε becomes η and ο becomes ω
==Quotes==