Present Tense

An Ordinary Day

Κάθε πρωί ξυπνώ στις επτά η ώρα.
Every morning I wake up at 7 o'clock

Πλένω το πρόσωπό μου και βουρτσίζω τα δόντια μου.
I wash my face and brush my teeth

Η μητέρα μου ετοιμάζει το πρωινό και στρώνει το κρεββάτι μου.
My mother prepares the breakfast and makes (lays) my bed.

Μετά πηγαίνω στο σχολείο με τα πόδια. Περπατώ για δέκα λεπτά.
Then I go to school on foot. I walk for 10 minutes.

Το μεσημέρι τρώω το φαγητό που ετοιμάζει η μητέρα μου.
At noon I eat the food which my mother prepares.

Το απόγευμα διαβάζω ένα βιβλίο και μετά βλέπω τηλεόραση.
In the afternoon I read a book and then I watch (see) television

Το βράδυ ο αδερφός μου κι εγώ παίζουμε ποδόσφαιρο μαζί με τους φίλους μας.
In the evening my brother and I play football (soccer) with our friends.

Πηγαίνω για ύπνο στις ένδεκα το βράδυ.
I go to (for) sleep at 11:00 in the evening

Οι γονείς μου διαβάζουν ή βλέπουν τηλεόραση και πάνε για ύπνο πιο αργά.
My parents read or watch TV and go to sleep later

Grammar Notes

1. In this lesson we encounter the regular verbs of the active voice in the present tense (ενεστώτας). Each verb (e.g., "βλέπω") comprises a stem ("βλεπ-") and an ending ("-ω"). The ending has to aggree in person with its subject. Thus, different endings are used when the subject is in the first person singular ("-ω"), third person plural (-ουν), etc. The endings for the present tense of the regular verbs of the active voice are as listed below

   Person	Pronoun	Ending
   1st sing.	εγώ	-ω
   2nd sing.	εσύ	-εις
   3rd sing.	αυτός/ή/ό	-ει
   1st pl.	εμείς	-ουμε
   2nd pl.	εσείς	-ετε
   3rd pl.	αυτοί/ές/ά	-ουν(ε)

   Thus, the conjugation of our sample verb βλέπω is as follows

   Person	Verb
   1st sing.	βλέπω
   2nd sing.	βλέπεις
   3rd sing.	βλέπει
   1st pl.	βλέπουμε
   2nd pl.	βλέπετε
   3rd pl.	βλέπουν(ε)

   Note that the final "ε" in the third person plural can be omitted.
2. The verbs whose first person singular is stressed in the last syllable have somewhat different endings. There are two different "classes" of such verbs, which can be discriminated by the ending of the second person singular. The endinds are

   Person	1st Class	2nd Class
   1st sing.	-ώ	-ώ
   2nd sing.	-άς	-είς
   3rd sing.	-ά	-εί
   1st pl.	-άμε, -ούμε	-ούμε
   2nd pl.	-άτε	-είτε
   3rd pl.	-άν(ε), -ουν(ε)	-ούν(ε)

   For the sample verbs ξυπνώ (I wake up) and αργώ (I am late) the present tense is

   Person	I wake up	I am late
   1st sing.	ξυπνώ	αργώ
   2nd sing.	ξυπνάς	αργείς
   3rd sing.	ξυπνά	αργεί
   1st pl.	ξυπνάμε	αργούμε
   2nd pl.	ξυπνάτε	αργείτε
   3rd pl.	ξυπνάν(ε)	αργούν(ε)

   Note that the first and third persons plural of the verb "ξυπνώ" (and all verbs of the same class) can also be "ξυπνούμε" and "ξυπνούν," respectively. The verbs of these two classes are actually shortened versions of the verbs "ξυπνάω" and "αργέω", where the final vowel of the stem ("ά" and "έ," respectively) is merged with the first vowel of the ending. The merging rules are

   ά + ω ει ου ε = ώ ά ά,ού ά

   έ + ω ει ου ε = ώ εί ού εί

3. The verb "τρώω" (I eat) is an irregular verb, as are all the verbs whose stem ends in an accented vowel (in this case the stem is "τρώ-"). Thus the present tense for the verbs "τρώω" and "λέω" (I say) are

   Person	I eat	I say
   1st sing.	τρώω	λέω
   2nd sing.	τρώς	λες
   3rd sing.	τρώει	λέει
   1st pl.	τρώμε	λέμε
   2nd pl.	τρώτε	λέτε
   3rd pl.	τρών(ε)	λέν(ε)

   The general rule in this case is that the ending vowel is dropped except for the first and third persons singular. Thus, we can say that the endings in this case are

   Person	Ending
   1st sing.	-ω
   2nd sing.	-ς
   3rd sing.	-ει
   1st pl.	-με
   2nd pl.	-τε
   3rd pl.	-ν(ε)

4. Note that in Greek the verb can stand on its own and the pronoun is usually omitted. Hence, the English verbs "I eat," "she prepares" and "we play" are translated as "τρώω," "ετοιμάζει" and "παίζουμε" respectively, instead of "εγώ τρώω," "αυτή ετοιμάζει" and "εμείς παίζουμε."
5. When telling time, it is customary to add the phrase "η ώρα" at the end. Thus
   one o' clock = μία η ώρα
   three o' clock = τρεις η ώρα
   seven o'clock = επτά η ώρα
   Also, we can specify the part of the day which we refer to at the end. Thus "eleven o' clock in the evening" is "ένδεκα η ώρα το βράδυ" or simply "ένδεκα το βράδυ," and "ten o' clock in the morning" is "δέκα το πρωί." No preposition is used (in other words, "in" is not translated in Greek) before "το βράδυ" and "το πρωί." This is also true when referring to a part of the day ("at noon"="το μεσημέρι"). Finally, note that the article used when we want to specify a particular time is "τις." Thus, "at seven o' clock" is "στις επτά η ώρα."

Remarks

• The verb "πηγαίνω" may also be encountered as "πάω," which is conjugated like the verb "τρώω," since its stem ends in an accented vowel.
• The possessive pronoun "μου" ("my") as well as all short forms of possessive pronouns follow the noun they refer to. Thus, "my bed" is "το κρεββάτι μου" and "my mother" is "η μητέρα μου." The other possessive pronouns are

  English Pronoun	Greek Pronoun
  my	μου
  your (sing.)	σου
  his	του
  her	της
  its	του
  our	μας
  your (pl.)	σας
  their	τους

• Regarding word order, the Greek language is very flexible, as can be seen from the sentences above. No strict rules apply, unlike other languages (e.g., German).

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