# επιτίθεμαι: verbs on -θεμαι/-εμαι?



## eno2

Hi,

Is this a special case or are there more verbs ending on -θεμαι/ -εμαι instead of -ιέμαι/-ομαι/-ώμαι?


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## διαφορετικός

All verbs on -θεμαι seem to stem from θέτω (the mediopassive form of which is τίθεμαι):
Λεξικό της κοινής νεοελληνικής

I don't know whether there are other verbs with the ending -εμαι.


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## eno2

Ah, from  θέτω, thanks.
Wikileksiko  only gives    Ενεργητική φωνή 
θέτω - Βικιλεξικό


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## διαφορετικός

You're welcome.
There's a link to τίθεμαι on Βικιλεξικό, but no inflection table, unfortunately. There's an alternative:
Modern Greek Verbs - θέτω, έθεσα, τίθεμαι, τέθηκα - I put, set, impose, submit


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## dmtrs

Διαφορετικός is right.
Verbs that stem from τίθεμαι: παρατίθεμαι, συντίθεμαι, επιτίθεμαι, υποτίθεμαι, εκτίθεμαι... (Many of them are less or not at all handy in some tenses -including Present- or persons in modern Greek.)
The 'parts' (and I do not mean syllables) of the verb are τί-θε-μαι, where only -μαι is the actual verb passive ending. 
The 'ending' -εμαι, apart from -θεμαι, can only be found in verbs in -ιέμαι (as you already note), I think.
There are also two other expanded 'endings' in passive voice, except those you mention: -ούμαι (περιποιούμαι, ασχολούμαι...) and -άμαι (κοιμάμαι, θυμάμαι...). In ancient Greek -υμαι and -ημαι were also found (άρνυμαι, κάθημαι...).


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## eno2

Yes, of course, κοιμάμαι, θυμάμαι...  and  those on -ούμαι  I knew, I just was astonished about the unknown ending -θεμαι.
I'll have to check the meaning of those compounds of τίθεμαι  because  some of them seem to be of great use.


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## bearded

eno2 said:


> astonished about the unknown ending -θεμαι


To the 'astonishing' verb endings you might as well add 'eimai'. Both tithemai and eimai are modern mediopassive forms of the Ancient Greek verbs títhemi and eimí (in A.G. there were verbs in -mi - 1st person active - besides those in -o).  Many irregularities of Mod.Greek can be easily explained through Ancient Greek and its evolution..


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## eno2

Well I'll be astonished, but warned, when I encounter such an 'eimai'  ending too.


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## bearded

eno2 said:


> an 'eimai' ending


You are right, είμαι is a complete verb. Here, the ending (also astonishing) is probably -mai only (2nd person ei-sai..).


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## eno2

Actually I meant an -eimai ending (you spelled it in Latin Alphabet) in a verb with more than two syllables or in a compound verb.


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## bearded

Then I'm not sure that it really exists. My bad. I should have written: the -mai ending in 'eimai'.


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## Helleno File

Thanks eno2 and others for the question and the helpful answers and explanations.  Of the varying forms of the passive I hadn't noticed -εμαι as a separate type - but at least it seems to apply to only one verb. 

I do know υποτίθεται as a very useful third person impersonal verb meaning to be supposed to: υποτίθεται ότι πέταξα στην Αθήνα χθες - "I was supposed to fly to Athens yesterday". My Greek teacher has to remind us constantly that it can take any tense and is only followed by ότι, not να.


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## Perseas

eno2 said:


> Is this a special case or are there more verbs ending on -θεμαι/ -εμαι instead of -ιέμαι/-ομαι/-ώμαι?


"Τίθεμαι" and its compounds (see some of them in #2 )  is indeed a special case as you stated.
It's about an archaic verb, which is used in Mod. Greek, but if one wants to use it, one should also use the correct archaic forms.
That said, not all forms of the archaic "τίθεμαι" are used in Mod. Greek. I can't imagine someone saying "ετιθέμην", "τεθήσομαι" or "εθέμην". Βasically we use the Present tense ("τίθεμαι, τίθεσαι, τίθεται, τιθέμεθα, τίθεσθε, τίθενται"),  the form "τεθώ" and participles like "τιθέμενος/η/ο" or "τεθειμένος/η/ο".

The verbs ending in ιέμαι/-ομαι/-ώμαι are a different case, because they own a Mod. Greek conjugation pattern (though, those ending in -ώμαι have some archaic forms).


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## Perseas

Helleno File said:


> I hadn't noticed -εμαι as a separate type - but at least it seems to apply to only one verb.


It's -μαι. Τί - θε - μαι. 
Not -εμαι.


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## Perseas

bearded said:


> Both tithemai and eimai are modern mediopassive forms of the Ancient Greek verbs títhemi and eimí (in A.G. there were verbs in -mi - 1st person active - besides those in -o).


Anc. Greek: τίθημι (active), τίθεμαι (mediopassive)
Mod. Greek: θέτω (active), τίθεμαι (mediopassive)


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## eno2

Perseas said:


> It's -μαι. Τί - θε - μαι.
> Not -εμαι.



Those standard passive endings are sometimes with  θ, sometimes with τ .  So we are talking  -not illogically- about 
-ιέμαι/-ομαι/-ώμαι/-ούμα /άμαι endings. Why not about -εμαι then? But it so happenes there is only 
*-θεμαι*

-----
Well, 'if one wants to use it'  you say. But from a first glance : some of those compounds have very good  use....
Also as Hellenofile remarks, 
υποτίθεται  
has a very attractive use. 
But isn't this  υποτίθεται  ='I am supposed to  a Present tense?


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## Perseas

eno2 said:


> Those standard passive endings are sometimes with  θ, sometimes with τ .  So we are talking  -not illogically- about
> -ιέμαι/-ομαι/-ώμαι/-ούμα /άμαι endings. Why not about -εμαι then? But it so happenes there is only
> *-θεμαι*


In fact, the common ending of all passive verbs is "-μαι". But in Modern Greek we classify verbs in categories according to their conjugation pattern; so there are verbs in -ιέμαι that are conjugated in the same manner, verbs in -ούμαι, -oμαι etc. As for τίθεμαι, it doesn't belong in any of these categories, it's unique, so it doesn't make any sense to say "-εμαι".
-----


eno2 said:


> Well, 'if one wants to use it'  you say. But from a first glance : some of those compounds have very good  use....
> Also as Hellenofile remarks,
> υποτίθεται
> has a very attractive use.
> But isn't this  υποτίθεται  ='I am supposed to  a Present tense?


Yes to all.


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## eno2

Perseas said:


> , so it doesn't make any sense to say "-εμαι".



OK
Now I know.
In fact, I added -εμαι in the title, just to make the number and possibility of verbs with an ending like this greater.


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## ioanell

bearded said:


> Both tithemai and eimai are modern mediopassive forms of the Ancient Greek verbs títhemi and eimí



Correct as for τίθημι (>Mod. Greek “θέτω”=to put, to place) and τίθεμαι (>Mod. Greek “τίθεμαι”=to be put, to be placed). The same does not apply to the basic verb είμαι (=to be), which, with its connective and auxiliary functions, is a category on its own and is not in the passive voice, but comes from the medieval είμαι, which in turn comes from the ancient εἰμί. (ancient εἰμί>med. είμαι>Mod. Greek είμαι)


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## bearded

ioanell said:


> Correct as for τίθημι


My wrong spelling 'tìthemi' originated from the fact that at Italian gymnasiums the allegedly 'ancient' pronunciation of A.Greek is adopted, so the letter η is pronounced as (long) e.



ioanell said:


> the basic verb είμαι (=to be)…. is not in the passive voice


According to an Italian book ''History of the Greek language'' (which I studied) the ancient verb eimì turned to medio-passive in the present tense - as shown by the endings in the persons eimai-eimaste(from eimetha)- eisthe… Is my book wrong on this point?


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## ioanell

bearded said:


> My wrong spelling 'tìthemi' originated from the fact that at Italian gymnasiums the allegedly 'ancient' pronunciation of A.Greek is adopted, so the letter η is pronounced as (long) e.



I didn’t mention any wrong spelling of yours, given that you wrote with Latin letters. On the contrary, I absolutely agree with you regarding τίθημι and τίθεμαι.



bearded said:


> According to an Italian book ''History of the Greek language'' (which I studied) the ancient verb eimì turned to medio-passive in the present tense - as shown by the endings in the persons eimai-eimaste(from eimetha)- eisthe… Is my book wrong on this point?



Yes, I believe it is. Obviously, as the category of the verbs ending in -μι had already ceased to exist, and the options for verb endings were either -ω (active voice) or -μαι (passive voice), there was no chance for the verb to take any other form, e.g. the improbable “είμω”. As the _medieval_ Παρατατικός tense (=past continuous) of the verb *εἰμί*  was *ἤμην* and it coincided phonetically with the past continuous of verbs like e.g. κεῖμαι (=lie down)>ἐκείμην and κάθημαι (=sit)>ἐκαθήμην, it was most natural for *εἰμί* to be transformed into *είμαι*, according to κεῖμαι, κάθημαι and others ending in -μαι, the accent being ascended to the penultimate due to the Παρατατικός “ἤμην”.  But, that is far from considering that the verb *είμαι* is in the passive voice. Because of its special functions, as an auxiliary and connecting one, the verb “είμαι” is a category on its own and is not considered to belong to any voice, regardless of its passive form endings in _some_ of the present tense persons; endings which, according to eminent linguists, came about through a long process from forms of the ancient Present Tense and Past Continuous Indicative and even the Subjunctive Mood. Besides, no grammar book, whatsoever, gives such a classification for είμαι. It‘s the same as if “I am/to be” or “sum/esse” could ever be classified as being active or passive voice.


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## bearded

ioanell said:


> I didn’t mention any wrong spelling of yours


No, it was my spontaneous confession.  

Re είμαι
Thanks for your interesting explanation.


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## ioanell

You are welcome !


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## Αγγελος

A complicated explanation of an issue that troubles native speakers, too:
In addition to the verbs in -ω, Ancient Greek had a second (athematic) conjugation. Active verbs of that conjugation ended in -μι and have all been adapted to the first (thematic) conjugation (ending in -ω): ancient δείκνυμι , στρώννυμι, ίστημι, τίθημι, αφίημι have become δείχνω (but -δεικνύω in compounds, such as αποδεικνύω=prove or επιδεικνύω=exhibit, demonstrate), στρώνω, στήνω, θέτω, αφήνω... Some of their passive forms, however, are still used occasionally.
The passive of ίστημι was ίσταμαι (=I stand), and you may well encounter its compounds παρίσταμαι (=I attend), προΐσταμαι (=I am in charge of; the present participle προϊστάμενος means 'head' (of a service), 'hierarchical superior' and is extremely common), καθίσταμαι (=I become; the active form is καθιστώ = Ι render), αντικαθίσταμαι (=I am replaced by; the active form is αντικαθιστώ), συνίσταμαι (=Ι consist; the active form συνιστώ means both 'I recommend' and 'I constitute', but in the former sense the passive is συνιστώμαι, usually found only in the 3d person, συνιστάται/συνιστώνται), υφίσταμαι (=I undergo, also sometimes 'I exist'; the participle, υφιστάμενος, means 'hierarchically subordinate'), εξίσταμαι or εξανίσταμαι (=I rise up in protest) etc. 
The passive of τίθημι was τίθεμαι, still used by itself in the expression τίθεται το ζήτημα (=the question arises), and you will surely encounter its compounds εκτίθεμαι (= I am exposed_ or _exhibited), επιτίθεμαι (=I attack), κατατίθεμαι (=Ι am deposited), διατίθεμαι (=I am available _or_ willing), προτίθεμαι (=I intend _or _am willing), προστίθεμαι (=I am added).
Those verbs are not  used in the imperfect, which would have to be παριστάμην, διετιθέμην etc.  Their aorists, if they exist, are formed in -στάθηκα or -τέθηκα, subjunctive -σταθώ or -τεθώ, nad are conjugated regularly.
We might also mention in this connection the verb δύναμαι (= μπορώ, I can), conjugated δύνασαι, δύναται, δυνάμεθα, δύνασθε, δύνανται. The imperfect, hardly ever used except in jest, is ηδυνάμην, ηδύνασο etc. The aorist, also rare, is ηδυνήθην (να δυνηθώ). There is a participle δυνάμενος (= able). The word δύναμη comes from the same root.


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## bearded

A remarkably exhaustive excursus! Thanks to our Angel.


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