# Past Tense



## ~ceLine~

Γεία σας!
Μαθαίνω Ελλήνικα. Τώρα ξερώ εωεστώτας και μέλλοντας μα δεν καταλάβα "past tense". Χρειάζομαι λίγο εξάσκηση.. Ευχαριστώ πολύ .! (Με την ευκερία Αγγλίκα παρακαλώ =)


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## anthodocheio

~ceLine~ said:


> Γεία σας!
> Μαθαίνω Ελλήνικα. Τώρα ξερώ ε*ν*εστώτας και μέλλοντας μα δεν καταλάβα "past tense". Χρειάζομαι λίγο εξάσκηση.. Ευχαριστώ πολύ .! (Με την ευκ*αι*ρία Αγγλίκα παρακαλώ =)


 
Hmmm...
And what is your question exactly? If you give us a question it will be much easier for us to reply.


And... welcome to the forums Celine, and good luck with your Greek lessons


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## ~ceLine~

Oh thank you =) .. I think that i've to study more for to can ask a better question, first of all sorry about it but i wanted to try everything that i know.
I don't understand past tense. Are there any solution? For example i found a  writing about present continuous then i got it. I looked about past tense also but i couldn't find anything & my books don't explain well.
Hope to that you can help me.
Thank you.


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## parakseno

Hello there and welcome to the forums!

Well, there isn't a tense in Greek that is called "(Simple) Past Tense". For expressing the past there are several tenses. The most frequent tense is the "aorist" (which simply states that the action took place in the past). Another tense is the "imperfect" which expresses an action that took place over a longer period of time (or better said it points out the duration of the action).

Now unless you post a more specific question, I'm afraid I won't be able to help you. What exactly is it that you don't understand about the past tense (and WHICH one of the past tenses)?

Be sure to check the Resources thread "Welcome to the Greek forum!". For example this page (listed in the resources) has some explanations on tenses.

Good luck!

Parakseno.


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## modus.irrealis

To add to parakseno's post, you can roughly equate the two Greek past tenses with French and Turkish as follows, using the verb "to see"

imperfect έβλεπα = je voyais = görüyordum
aorist είδα = je vis (j'ai vu) = gördüm

(Actually I don't know enough about Turkish to know how good these are as equivalents, so please correct me if I'm wrong.)


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## ~ceLine~

Thank you very much! 

I check the link & i think it can help me. Thank you Parakseno!
The example which modus.irrealis wrote is really good also!

You asked to me which past tense is that i don't understand. Both i think so. 

For example;
καταλαβένω (if the accent is false sorry, i don't know so well) = i undertand
καταλάβα (i found it in my book) = i understood

When i'm talking about now i use 'ω' (for 'I'), 'εις' (for 'you') and something like that, but i could find a schedule just for it and the future (I write 'θα' before the verbs).

I wanted to learn if there is a same schedule for others also. I asked a friend who is learning Greek & she said to me that i've to learn that by heart & i'll learn more by reading books. It must be a solution.

The link which parakseno has written is a little bit complicated but i think i'll find many things from there.


Thank you again!


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## ireney

Celine first of all let me welcome you to the site myself 

I don't want to confuse you and I'm afraid I don't speak any Turkish, but keep in mind that the "equation" used by modus is indeed a "rough" one  There's also Present Perfect you see and j'ai vu is closer in some cases to that than to the Aorist.



modus.irrealis said:


> To add to parakseno's post, you can roughly equate the two Greek past tenses with French and Turkish as follows, using the verb "to see"
> 
> imperfect έβλεπα = je voyais = görüyordum
> aorist είδα = je vis (j'ai vu) = gördüm
> 
> (Actually I don't know enough about Turkish to know how good these are as equivalents, so please correct me if I'm wrong.)


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## ~ceLine~

Thank you & i'm very happy to be in this site  .. 
(Why i couldn't find before =)


You're right ireney! I hope to can understand it more fast  .. As soon as i'm gonna get it, i'll write it here  ..


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## ireney

Oh by the way, I found a link in French 

It's for ancient Greek but since we've only changed the form of the tenses and not the tenses themselves it will be of use to you in both ancient and modern Greek. See here.

As for the endings I'm afraid you will have to learn them by heart but make sure you compare the different endings of the different past tenses and make the connections so that you will have less to remember


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## ~ceLine~

This link is super! Thank you! 

(I hoooppeee ittt )


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