Irregular past tense

cosmasad

Member
Can anyone tell me what the reason is for how the past tense of the following verbs seems to be so different from the original word?

Βλέπω / είδα
Λέω/ είπα
Έχω/ είχα
Έρχομαι / ήρθα
 

Earion

Moderator
Staff member
In the first two cases it's a different verb altogether that supplies the past tense:

βλέπω (same as in ancient Greek) -- είδα from AG είδον, from AG root Fid- (the same as Latin vid-eo)
λέω or λέγω from AG λέγω -- είπα from AG είπον, originally έFεπον, proto-Greek root eweikʷon

In the third case it is the same verb originally, having taken various forms through time:

έχω from Proto-Greek hékʰō, from Proto-Indo-European seǵʰo -- In the past tense formed with the usual ektasis (an e- added in the beginning): e(h)ekhon > eikhon είχον

In the last case it is again another verb that forms the past tense:

έρχομαι (same as ancient Greek) -- ήρθα, or ήλθα, from AG ήλθον, originally from AG root ελθ--, which gave also future tense ελεύθ-σομαι > ελεύσομαι (it's the same root that gave ελευθ-ερία, the act of coming and going freely).
 
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