| Present Passive Indicative Function | ||||||||||||||||||
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We have already seen how the present active indicative represents continuous action performed by the subject (e.g., lu,w, I am loosing). Now we shall see that the present passive indicative represents continuous action received by the subject: lu,omai Another way of stating the difference between the active and passive voices is to say that the in the active voice the subject is acting (or doing the action), whereas in the passive voice the subject is being acted upon. Hence:
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| Parsing Present Passive Indicative Verbs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In order to parse or analyze present passive indicative verbs, one must first recognize that they are formed from the primary middle suffixes. (1) The primary middle suffixes:
As we shall see, the present passive indicative endings (below) will not look identical to the primary middle suffixes (above), but one will profit greatly from memorizing the primiary middle suffixes, since they will form the basis for other tenses in the middle or passive voice.
(2) More importantly, one needs to memorize the present passive indicative
suffixes:
Observe how the connecting vowels appear here after the same pattern that we have learned before: an o before a m or n; otherwise an e is used as the connector. The second person singular looks irregular, but it is not exactly. Evidentally the Greeks often did not like the creation of an intervocalic sigma, as we have in the form lu,esai. Therefore, the s was dropped, the adjacent e an a contracted to form an h, and the i became subscript! (3) The final step, of course, is to recognize the stem or lexal of the verb so that one can determine its lexical entry, and consequently, its meaning. |
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| Using a Parsing Form to Parse Present Passive Indicative Verbs | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Up until now the tense, person, number, and lexical entry for any given verb have been subject to change, but the voice has always been active. Now you must be aware of the fact that not all verbs you encounter will automatically be active in voice. You will also come across passive verbs, like the ones in the following parsing table:
These verbs would be translated respectively: he is being taught; they are being saved; and they are being glorified. |
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| Translating Present Passive Indicative Verbs |
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The present passive indicative is usually translated into English by using the English present tense of the verb "to be" (i.e., "is" [sg] or "are" [pl]), following by the the present participle for the verb "to be" (i.e., "being"), followed by the past participle of the verb that one is wanting to make passive (e.g., "taught," or "saved"). The result is: he is being taught they are being saved they are being glorified
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| Passive Voice and Types of Agency | ||||||||||||
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In Black's text (Learn §84) there is a discussion of the types of agency that are associated with the passive voice. Therefore, we will only summarize them here. The following table lists each of the three types of agency, a brief description, and some marks to look for to identify that particular kind of agency.
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