consonant-declension adjectives, from Unit 22

noun
τύχη, τύχης - fate; chance; fortune (good or bad); happening, event [Tyche]

sigma-stems
ἀληθής, ἀληθές - true, genuine; truthful
ἀσθενής, ἀσθενές - without strength, weak [myasthenia]
ἀσφαλής, ἀσφαλές - steadfast; safe, secure; trustworthy
δυστυχής, δυστυχές - unlucky, unfortunate
εὐγενής, εὐγενές - well-born; noble, high-minded [eugenics]
εὐτυχής, εὐτυχές - lucky, fortunate
πλήρης, πλήρης - full, full of (+ gen.)
σαφής, σαφές - sure, reliable; clear, distinct
ψευδής, ψευδές - lying, false, untrue

nu-stems with two endings
ἄφρων, ἄφρον - senseless, foolish
εὐδαίμων, εὔδαιμον - blessed with good δαίμων; fortunate, happy; wealthy [eudaemonism]
σώφρων, σώφρον - of sound mind; prudent; self-controlled; temperate, chaste

upsilon stems with three endings
βαθύς, βαθεῖα, βαθύ - deep, high [bathyscaph]
βαρύς, βαρεῖα, βαρύ - heavy [barometer]
βραχύς, βραχεῖα, βραχύ - short; small [brachylogy, brachistochrone]
γλυκύς, γλυκεῖα, γλυκύ - sweet, pleasant, delightful [glycerine, glucose]
ἡδύς, ἡδεῖα, ἡδύ - pleasant, welcome; glad, pleased
ἥμισυς, ἡμίσεια, ἥμισύ - half [hemisphere]

nu-stems with three endings
μέλας, μέλαινα, μέλαν - black, dark [melanism, melancholy]

ντ-stems
πᾶς, πᾶσα, πᾶν - all, every, the whole [pantomime]
... ἄπaς, ἄπασα, ἄπαν - all, the whole (strengthened form πᾶς)
χαρίεις, χαρίεσσα, χαρίεν - graceful, beautiful, elegant; clever

possessive adjectives (1st and 2nd person)
ἐμός, ἐμή, ἐμόν - my, mine
σός, σή, σόν - your, yours (sing.)
ἡμέτερος, ἡμέτερα, ἡμέτερον - our, ours
ὑμέτερος, ὑμέτερα, ὑμέτερον - your, yours (plural)

Reading Easy Greek

I reached a neat milestone last night with Morice's (Easy) Stories in Attic Greek. I was able to plow thru an entire story, before turning to the glossary to look up words. By no means did I know all the words, not at all. But I could understand most of the little words (prepositions, those goddam pronouns, and the connective adverbs) and the "real" words (nouns and verbs and such) I either knew, or could figure out from context, or could mentally leave the word untranslated. For example, the story was clearly about a poor man, who had a gift for the king --- a ῥαφανῖδα "raphanida." It was beautiful and large. His neighbors were amazed at it, and thought it was magical. And so on. I guessed that a ῥαφανῖδα was a domestic animal, or maybe a precious stone, or even a big tree. Whatever. I could go thru the story leaving ῥαφανῖδα and LOT of other words uncertain, but still get the gist of "who was doing what to whom." THEN, at the end, having plowed thru all the little words, figuring out the sentence structures, and already knowing some of the words, only then did I go look up all the words I didn't know. :)

Oh yes ... ῥαφανῖδα means "radish."

Morice's Stories in Attic Greek really is a good book. It has 260 short stories, very short --- about one hundred words each, that an intermediate Greek student can struggle through. "Intermediate" is a somewhat flexible term. At this point I am more of an "advanced beginner." But reading these little stories is a valuable, and enjoyable, adjunct to Mastronarde's grammar text, Introduction to Attic Greek, although I might have jumped the gun a little. Given the frequent use of participles in any Greek writing (including Morice's 19th Century 'retro' pedagogical efforts), it might be a good idea to get through "Uses of the Participle" (Unit 28) in Mastronarde, before attempting to read even "easy" Greek stories.

aorist vs. imperfect

Aorist means the simple past. "I did something."

Imperfect means an ongoing activity in the past. "I used to do something." The word 'imperfect' even suggests 'incomplete,' and that's not just a coincidence. The whole idea is ongoing, incomplete stuff.

Here are some examples. "James was sick." (IMPF) vs. "James threw up." (AOR) I don't mean to imply that they are synonyms or two sides of the same coin. Not at all. Here's another one: "We were looking for Johanna's earring." (IMPF) vs. "We found the earring." (AOR)

Or, "We lived at 123 Main Street." vs. "We bought a house at 123 Main Street."

I was doing some exercises in Mastronarde's book, and one was to translate English into Greek: "on that day the cavalry guarded the camp." I racked my brain, and struggled, and tried to figure out if it should be translated in Greek as aorist or imperfect. I guessed aorist. ... And was wrong. Grrr! ... But, okay, "guarding" could fit better into an ongoing activity for a day, rather than an instantaneous action (AOR).

The next exercise was "they begged the king." And I thought, "Okay, a one-time event ... they went and begged the king. Obviously Aorist." NOPE!!! Imperfect. Grrrr. I guess the sense is "they were begging the king."

Mastronarde's exercises are clearly designed 1) to cover material that has been presented, but 2) in a way that makes you think, rather than in the simplest possible fashion. It's not a "trick question" at all. But I can see (at other times too) Mastronarde tries to use exercises that really force you to think about what's been presented, rather than "oh .. of course."