Lesson 7 | Perfect Participles
[1] Reduplication
Perfect participles communicate stative aspect. Stative aspect focuses on the results of an action. Like present participles, perfect middle and passive voice participles take the same form. This means that there are less forms to learn than aorist participles. Once again though, you do not need to memorize every form. Instead, focus on learning the three key features for each kind of participle.
One of the clearest and most consistent marks of the perfect tense-form is reduplication. This means that the first letter of the stem doubles. For example, a perfect, active, participle, nominative, masculine, singular from λύω would double the λ and add an ε: λελυκώς. Or, a perfect, active, indicative, 1st person, singular from λύω would be λελυκα. Do you see how the first letter of the stem doubles?
However, it is not always so straightforward. In their textbook Reading Biblical Greek, Richard Gibson and Con Campbell provide five helpful rules that explain reduplication in the perfect tense-form.
- Stems that begin with a consonant double the initial letter and put an epsilon between the initial letter and its double. E.g. λελυκώς.
- Stems that begin with an aspirated consonant (φ; χ; θ) double the initial letter but in its de-aspirated form (π, κ, τ). E.g. πεφίληκως.
- Stems that begin with a vowel or vowel combo lengthen the vowel instead of doubling it. E.g. ἠγαπημένην (from ἀγαπάω).
- Stems that begin with two consonants in a row or a σ, ζ, or ξ often add only an epsilon instead of doubling. E.g. ἔγνωκως (from γινώσκω with the aorist stem used in the perfect: γνω).
- Verbs with a preposition attached to the front of the verb stem (like παρακαλέω or ἀποστέλλω) double the initial letter after the preposition. E.g. ἀπολελυμένην (from the verb ἀπολύω, meaning “to release”).
You do not need to perfectly memorize these rules. However, you should take time to read them carefully so that you understand how different verbs might look in the perfect tense-form.
