Historical Grammar
εἰμί (ἐσ-, cp. Lat. es-se) am has only the present and future systems.
| PRESENT | IMPERFECT | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative | Subjunctive | Optative | Imperative | Indicative |
| Sing. 1 εἰμί | ὦ | εἴην | ἦ or ἦν | |
| 2 εἶ | ᾖς | εἴης | ἴσθι | ἦσθα |
| 3 ἐστί | ᾖ | εἴη | ἔστω | ἦν |
| Dual 2 ἐστόν | ἦτον | εἴητον or εἶτον | ἔστον | ἤστον |
| 3 ἐστόν | ἦτον | εἰήτην or εἴτην | ἔστων | ἤστην |
| Plur. 1 ἐσμέν | ὦμεν | εἴημεν or εἶμεν | ἦμεν | |
| 2 ἐστέ | ἦτε | εἴητε or εἶτε | ἔστε | ἦτε or ἦστε (rare) |
| 3 εἰσί | ὦσι | εἴησαν or εἶεν | ἔστων | ἦσαν |
Infin. εἶναι Participle ὤν, οὖσα, ὄν, gen. ὄντος, οὔσης, ὄντος, etc. (305)
FUTURE (with middle forms):
ἔσομαι, ἔσῃ (or ἔσει), ἔσται, ἔσεσθον, ἔσεσθον, ἐσόμεθα, ἔσεσθε, ἔσονται, opt. ἐσοίμην, inf. ἔσεσθαι, part. ἐσόμενος, -η, -ον.
a. The imperative 3 pl. ἔστωσαν occurs in Plato and Demosthenes; ὄντων in Plato and on inscriptions.
b. In composition ὤν retains its accent, as ἀπών, ἀποῦσα, ἀπόντος, etc.; and so ἔσται, as ἀπέσται (426 e).
The optative forms εἴημεν, εἴητε, εἴησαν are found only in prose writers. εἶμεν occurs in poetry and Plato, εἶτε only in poetry, εἶεν in poetry and prose and more frequently than εἴησαν.
The indicative εἰμί is for *ἐσ-μι (37); εἶ is for *ἐσι (originally ἐσ-σί, 463 b); ἐσ-τί retains the original ending τι; εἰσί is for (σ-)εντι, cp. Lat. sunt; ἐσμέν, with σ before μ despite 105; the σ is due to the influence of ἐστέ. The subjunctive ὦ is for ἔω, from ἐσ-ω; the optative εἴην is for ἐσ-ιη-ν; εἶμεν for ἐσ-ῑμεν, cp. Lat. sīmus. The infinitive εἶναι is for ἐσ-ναι; the participle ὤν is for ἐών, from ἐσ-ων.
Syntax & Usage
917. Copula. — An indeterminate verb that serves simply to couple a predicate substantive or adjective to the subject is called a copula: Ξενοφῶν ἦν Ἀθηναῖος Xenophon was an Athenian.
a. The most common copulative verbs are εἶναι be and γίγνεσθαι become. Many other verbs serve as copulas: καθίστασθαι become, πεφῡκέναι, ὑπάρχειν, πέλειν (poetical) be, δοκεῖν seem, φαίνεσθαι appear, καλεῖσθαι, ὀνομάζεσθαι, ἀκούειν, κλύειν (poetical) be called, τυγχάνειν, κυρεῖν (poet.) happen, turn out, αἱρεῖσθαι be chosen, νομίζεσθαι be regarded, κρίνεσθαι be judged, and the like.
918. a. The copula is strictly the predicate or is a part of the predicate with its supplements.
b. The above verbs may also be complete predicates: ἔστι θεός there is a god.
c. For the omission of the copula, see 944.
d. A predicate substantive or adjective stands in the same case as the subject when coupled to it by a copulative verb (939).
e. For εἶναι added to a copulative verb, see 1615.
919. Object. — A verb may have an object on which its action is exerted. The object is a substantive (or its equivalent, 908) in an oblique case. An object may be direct (in the accusative) or indirect (in the genitive or dative): Κῦρος δώσει ἓξ μνᾶς (direct) τῷ δούλῳ (indirect) Cyrus will give six minae to the slave, ἔλαβον τῆς ζώνης (indirect) τὸν Ὀρόντᾱν (direct) they took hold of Orontas by the girdle X. A. 1. 6. 10.
Loquentes Practice Reference
Our drill practices the present indicative of εἰμί. Smyth § 768 above sets the present indicative, subjunctive, optative and imperative beside the imperfect indicative, then gives the infinitive εἶναι, the participle ὤν, οὖσα, ὄν and the future ἔσομαι. Note the two cells Smyth leaves empty — εἰμί has no imperative in the 1st person singular or plural — which are reproduced empty rather than filled in.
Source note: the CCEL/Somsel mirror this site is otherwise certified against stops at Part 2 § 573; the live mirror returns HTTP 404 for smyth_2Vu_uni.htm through smyth_2Vz_uni.htm. §§ 768–770 are transcribed directly from the Internet Archive scan of the American Book Company 1920 first edition (Public Domain Mark 1.0), held at data-src/sources/smyth-1920-pd/ and hash-pinned in data-src/grammar-sources.yaml.