Contract verbs look more difficult than they really are. Like so many things in languages, everyday usage and fluency of speech dictate many "irregularities". So, whereas
παιδεύω, παιδεύεις , παιδεύομεν ....
sounded good to ancient Attic Greek ears,
obviously did not.
So, for fluency and ease of speech - ancient Greek was a spoken language after all - the verb endings combined with the a/e/o of the stem to form what look like irregular endings but are in fact regular endings in disguise. And we speak of "contract" verbs in -a, in -e or in -o according to the end vowel of the stem.
| 1. Contract verbs in -ε- | Contractions | |||
| Present Indicative | ||||
| φιλέω | => | φιλῶ | έ + ω => ῶ | |
| φιλέεις φιλέει |
=> => |
φιλεῖς φιλεῖ |
έ + ει => εῖ | |
| φιλέομεν | => | φιλοῦμεν | έ + ο => οῦ | |
| φιλέετε | => | φιλεῖτε | έ + ε => εῖ | |
| φιλέουσιν | => | φιλοῦσιν | έ + ου => οῦ | |
| Imperative | ||||
| φίλεε | => | φίλει | ε + ε => ει | |
| (φιλέετε | => | φιλεῖτε) | ||
| Infinitive | ||||
| (φιλέειν | => | φιλεῖν) | ||
| 2. Contract verbs in -α- | Contractions | |||
| Present Indicative | ||||
| βοάω | => | βοῶ | ά + ω => ῶ | |
| βοάεις βοάει |
=> => |
βοᾷ͂ς βοᾷ |
ά + ει => ᾷ | |
| βοάομεν | => | βοῶμεν | ά + ο => ῶ | |
| βοάετε | => | βοᾶτε | ά + ε => ᾶ | |
| βοάουσιν | => | βοῶσιν | ά + ου => ῶ | |
| Imperative | ||||
| βόαε | => | βόα | α + ε => α | |
| (βοάετε | => | βοᾶτε) | ||
| Infinitive | ||||
| (βοάειν | => | βοᾶν ) | ! attention ! NO ι subscript | |
| 3. Contract verbs in -o- | Contractions | |||
| Present Indicative | ||||
| πληρόω | => | πληρῶ | ό + ω => ῶ | |
| πληρόεις πληρόει |
=> => |
πληροῖς πληροῖ |
ό + ει => οῖ | |
| πληρόομεν | => | πληροῦμεν | ό + ο => οῦ | |
| πληρόετε | => | πληροῦτε | ό + ε => οῦ | |
| πληρόουσιν | => | πληροῦσιν | ό + ου => οῦ | |
| Imperative | ||||
| πλήροε | => | πλήρου | ο + ε => ου | |
| (πληρόετε | => | πληροῦτε) | ||
| Infinitive | ||||
| (πληρόειν | => | πληροῦν) | ! attention ! οῦν NOT οῖν | |